27 Latest Website Statistics For 2024: Data-Backed Facts & Trends

Website Statistics Facts and Trends

Are you looking for the latest website statistics? We’ve got you covered.

Your website is the digital face of your brand. It’s your best salesperson, your most fervent brand ambassador, and your most important marketing statistic – so naturally, it needs to be good.

But if you want to get the most out of your website, it’s important to know what customers today want and to stay up to date with the latest web design trends.

With that in mind, we’ve put together this list of the most important website statistics, facts, and trends for this year. Use the data-backed stats below to improve your own website or build better websites for your clients.

Editor’s top picks – website statistics

These are our most interesting statistics about websites:

  • There are approximately 2 billion websites on the internet. (Source: Hosting Tribunal)
  • First impressions of a website are 94% design-related. (Source: WebFX)
  • Over 50% of all website traffic comes from mobile devices. (Source: Statista)

General website statistics

Let’s start with some general website statistics that highlight the importance and popularity of websites in today’s world.

1. There are approximately 2 billion websites on the internet

The internet is ever-expanding, and there are currently around 2 billion different websites in total.

01 Two billion websites on the internet

Source: Hosting Tribunal

2. Of that 2 billion, only around 400 million are active

Only a fifth of all of the websites on the internet are actually active. The other ⅘ are inactive meaning they haven’t been updated or new posts have not been updated for a long time.

02 400 million websites are active

Source: Hosting Tribunal

3. More than 20 million sites are e-commerce websites

E-commerce is one of the most popular website types, and according to Kommando Tech, there are currently over 20 million e-commerce stores in total.

Source: Kommando Tech

4. On average internet users in the US visit over 130 web pages per day

Websites are a staple part of the average person’s day. In the US, the average internet user browses over 100 different web pages on a daily basis.

Source: Kickstand

5. It only takes 50 milliseconds for users to form an opinion of your website

Websites are a key point of contact for businesses, and consumers are well versed in what to expect from a company’s websites. In less than a second, visitors form an opinion about your websites, which is why it’s so important to develop a website that makes a great first impression.

Source: Taylor and Francis online

Web design statistics

6. 48% of people said that web design was the number 1 way they determine the credibility of a business

The importance of good web design cannot be undervalued. With almost half of consumers stating that web design is the number one way they determine the credibility of a business, it’s more important than ever to make sure that your web design is on point.

Source: Virtual Window

7. First impressions of a website are 94% design-related

Websites are a way for customers to get a feel for your business and what it’s all about, and all they really have to go off is how well your website is designed. Every visitor to your site is a potential new lead, so it’s important to make a great first impression.

07 First impressions are design related

Source: WebFX

8. 38% of users will stop using a website if they find the layout unattractive

Web design and layout are important to users. With over a third of users claiming they would stop using a website as a result of poor layout, it’s important to ensure that your layout is well designed and intuitive.

Source: Webfx

9. 83% of consumers expect websites to load in less than 3 seconds…

Load speeds are a hot topic in 2020. Although a few seconds doesn’t seem like a lot, to seasoned web users, they can feel like a lifetime. The majority of consumers expect a webpage to load in less than 3 seconds, and Google has recently updated its algorithm to prioritize load speeds.

09 Consumers expect sites to loads in less than 3 seconds

Source: Webfx

10. … but the average mobile landing page takes 7 seconds to load

Despite consumers wanting their pages to load in less than three seconds, the average load speed for a page is more than double this. Not only is this bad for user experience but it can also have a big impact on SEO.

As of August 2021, the algorithm will take into account load speeds when determining which pages will rank. This is great news for consumers that prefer speedy loading, but bad news for website owners if your site has slow load speeds.

10 Average mobile page 7 seconds

Source: Think With Google

11. Website users look at the top left corner of your website first

This is the ‘primary optical area’ and it’s where the user’s eyes are first drawn. Designers can use this knowledge about how your customers’ gaze moves across their page to influence their landing page layouts. For example, you might want to move your value proposition or whatever elements you want your customers to see first to the top left corner of the page

Source: CXL

12. Website viewers spend 80% of their time looking at the left half of your pages

According to Nielsen Norman, users spend the majority of their time on a page looking at the left. For this reason, a conventional layout with top or left-hand navigation bars and priority content in the center is likely to improve user experience and profitability.

12 Website viewers look left

Source: Nielsen Norman Group

13. 70% of small businesses don’t have a CTA on their website homepage

CTA’s also known as ‘calls to action’ are a key component of good web design. They encourage users to take action which drives conversions, lead generation, and sales. However, despite it being a well-known fact that CTA’s are a necessary element for any web homepage, 70% of businesses don’t feature one.

Source: Business2Community

14. Users spend 5.94 seconds looking at the main website image, on average

Images are also extremely important when it comes to design. With the average user spending around 6 seconds looking at the main website images, it’s extremely important that this image is professional and relevant.

Images do a great job of grabbing the user’s attention, so there’s no point wasting this impact by filling your page with an irrelevant stock image instead of something that could help you create a great first impression.

Source: CXL

15. 83% of customers consider a seamless website experience on all devices to be very important

Although many web designers get hung up on designing sites for desktop viewing, internet users utilize a diverse range of devices from laptops and desktops to tablets and smartphones. If you really want your website to wow your customers, it’s important to ensure that they have a seamless experience, whichever device they choose to use.

15 Seamless website experience

Source: Visual.ly

16. Over 50% of all website traffic comes from mobile devices

According to a statistic published by Statista, mobile devices made up for 54.8% of all web traffic in the first quarter of 2021. Since 2017, more than 50% of all web traffic has come from mobile devices.

Source: Statista

17. Website visits from mobiles made up for 61% of all visits to US websites in 2020

In the US, mobile browsing is even more popular, with over 60% of all website visits coming from mobile devices like smartphones. These figures show just how important it is to optimize your site for mobile.

17 Majority of visits are from mobile users

Source: Perficient

Website usability statistics

Designing a great website isn’t all about aesthetics, it’s also important to make sure your site is functional and easy to navigate. Here are some statistics that shed some light on the importance of website usability.

18. 86% of people want to see product and service information on a website homepage

According to a study conducted by Komarketing, site visitors are keen to see exactly what a business has to offer as soon as they reach the homepage. Over ¾ of people reported that they wanted to be able to easily find product and service information on a website homepage.

Source: Komarketing

19. And 64% of people want access to contact information to be readily available

Easily accessible contact information is also a priority for website visitors according to the Komarketing study. Over half of respondents said it was important for contact information to be easy to find and readily available.

Source: Komarketing

20. 37% of users say that poor navigation and design cause them to leave websites

Usability and ease of navigation is a key issue for site visitors. According to a Komarketing survey, over 30% of respondents are irritated by poor navigation and design on websites. In fact, they find it so disorienting, that it actually causes them to leave the page without finding the information that they need.

Although sites should be well designed and visually appealing, the key to a good user experience is function and usability.

20 Poor navigation and design

Source:  Komarketing

21. 46% of users reported ‘lack of message’ as the main reason they leave websites

Another surprising find from the Komarketing study is that ‘lack of message’ is one of the main reasons people leave websites. This means that they can’t easily tell what a business does or what services they provide.

A great website should be clear and concise to help users find the information they need as quickly as possible. This will help improve the user experience and build credibility and trust.

Source:  Komarketing

22. 89% of consumers switched to a competitor’s websites as a result of bad user experience

Usability and attractive design are key for businesses in a competitive market. As this statistic shows, a bad user experience on your website could mean customers will switch to a competitor site instead which is why it’s so important to perfect your user experience get your website looking great, and working perfectly for your customers.

22 Bad user experience

Source: WebFX

Website and web design trends

Below are some facts and statistics about recent trends in website design.

23. 90% of web designers agree that web design trends are changing faster than ever before

According to web designers, it’s now harder than ever to stay up to date with emerging trends. 90% of designers believe the industry is evolving faster than ever before and forces such as the pandemic and changes in consumer habits mean that design trends are having to evolve quickly to meet the needs of businesses and consumers.

23 Web design trends are changing faster

Source: Adobe

24. Parallax scrolling is one of the biggest recent web design trends

Parallax scrolling effects have been popular for a couple of years now, and it continues to be a popular trend in 2021.

If you didn’t already know, parallax scrolling is a technique in web design in which the background is designed to move more slowly than the foreground as the user scrolls. This creates the illusion of depth and makes the page seem more three-dimensional.

Source: Webflow

25. 80% of consumers are more likely to buy from brands that offer personalized website experiences

Website content personalization is another top trend in 2021. As this statistic shows, the vast majority of customers like the idea of websites becoming more personalized to their specific needs.

And the good news is, personalizing your content is easier than ever. There are tons of product recommendation plugins and personalization tools that allow you to make product and content suggestions to different customers based on their browsing history and user data.

Source: Epsilon Marketing

26. Use of website chatbots has increased by 92% since 2019

One clear trend we’ve seen in web design over the last 2 years is the increasingly widespread use of chatbots. Chatbots are an effective customer communication channel that enables you to offer on-demand customer support 24 hours a day.

Automated, AI-powered chatbots can field leads, respond to common customer queries for you, and pass only the more complicated queries onto your reps, freeing up your team’s time and saving you money.

Source: Drift

27. Augmented reality website experiences are trending upwards

Augmented reality (AR) involves offering immersive, interactive experiences of real-world environments, enhanced and augmented by technology. There are a ton of ways AR can be used by eCommerce websites and online retailers to provide a better customer experience and increase conversions.

For example, customers can use AR to ‘try on’ outfits or preview products in a real-world environment from the comfort of their own homes.

Source: Webflow

Wrapping it up

That’s it for our roundup of the latest website statistics.

Hungry for more stats? Try one of these articles: