Web Traffic Concentration Is Flat, Not Collapsing, Says New Data

Is the Web Really Consolidating Around Big Tech?

Search Engine Journal reports on SparkToro's analysis of Similarweb data, which finds total visits to the world's top million websites in Q3 2026 sitting about 12 percent below their early 2022 peak. Rand Fishkin's original theory was that Big Tech properties were absorbing a growing slice of web traffic. The data points the other way: the share going to sites outside the top 100 stayed roughly steady, so the overall pie shrank rather than being captured by a few giants.

For brand builders, the useful part is the caveat set. Visits per internet user fell far more sharply, but that figure depends on user estimates that were revised mid-period, and the panel only covers browsers, not apps. The data is also global, with no regional breakdown yet. Marketers and strategists who plan around traffic should read the full piece to see how these numbers were built before using them as a benchmark.