Traffic Surges At Classifieds

Online classified sites have soared in popularity in the last year, according to a new report by the Pew Internet & American Life Project and comScore Networks.

More than 26.3 million people visited one of the top 15 classified sites in September--marking an 80 percent increase from the 14.6 million people who landed at an online classifieds in September of 2004, according to the report. The total Internet population grew by just 7 percent in that same time.

Craigslist, which now offers classifieds in more than 100 U.S. cities, experienced the highest uptick with around 8.8 million visitors in September--up 156 percent from 3.4 million last year.

Other popular listings sites included Trader Publishing Company, which saw approximately 8.2 million visitors in September, up by 90 percent from the year before; Cars.com, which drew 3.7 million visitors, up year-over-year by 35 percent; and Apartments.com, which garnered 2.1 million visitors, also up by 35 percent.

Yahoo! Classifieds, meanwhile, saw its traffic plummet by 42 percent to 573,000 million visitors in September, from 979,000 the year before. Also experiencing traffic drops were Abracat Property (959,000 visitors in September, marking a 30 percent year-over-year decline) and the RegionalHelpWanted.com sites (685,000 visitors in September, marking a year-to-year decline of 29 percent.)

The report, released Sunday, also stated that 4 percent of 1,577 online adults surveyed in September and October reported that they had used an online classified site the day before participating in the survey. Overall, 22 percent of respondents said they had used a classified site at least once.

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