With the turn of the year and taxtime at top of mind, the category of tax sites led as the top online properties in the month of January, reports comScore Media Metrix in an analysis of US online consumer activity.

Job search, government and travel sites also enjoyed strong up-traffic.

Specifically, the tax category saw a 176% gain to 24.7 million visits, making it the top-gaining category for January.

EVP-comScore Media Metrix interpreted the results — seasonal gains in tax, career and travel — as "reflecting the typical American's tendency to plan for the New Year." He also noted that Facebook broke into the Top 10 Properties ranking for the first time in January.

Job search sites saw a 42% increase to 26.7 million users, and career resources rose 26% to 48.9 million. The former category was led by CareerBuilder.com, which itself served 12.2 million visitors, up 34% from December.

Monster came in second with 9.5 million visitors, a 42% gain; and Yahoo's HotJobs rose 38% to 7.7 million visitors.