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Yahoo Sites edged Google Sites out among US web properties with 137 million visitors vs. 136 million, as traffic to tax, greetings/Valentine's Day, politics, and news sites increased, according to a monthly analysis by comScore's Media Metrix service, MarketingCharts writes.

Among the February data released by comScore:

Top 50 Properties (Unique Visitors)

Among the highlights:

• Microsoft Sites, with more than 118 million visitors, was third behind Yahoo Sites and Google Sites.
• Wikipedia Sites and Ask Network each moved up one position in the top 10, to spots seven and nine, respectively.
• Glam Media jumped 10 spots to reach position 18 with more than 29 million visitors during the month.
• Tax season propelled IRS.gov into the Top 50 ranking, to No. 45.

Top 50 Ad Focus Ranking (Advertising Reach)

Some highlights:

• Platform A, the ad network combining Advertising.com, Tacoda, AOL, and Quigo, led the Ad Focus ranking in February, reaching 90 percent of the more than 185 million Americans online during the month.
• Ad networks DRIVEpm and Traffic Marketplace each gained two positions, capturing positions 11 and 14, respectively.
• Collective Media jumped four spots to position 19.
• IB Local Network entered the ranking this month at position 39, reaching 26 percent of Americans online.

High-Growth Sites and Categories

Tax Category Again Fastest-Gaining

• For the second month in a row, the tax category was the fastest-gaining, with a 34 percent increase from January levels, to more than 31 million visitors, as Americans continued preparing their taxes in advance of April 15.
• The category was led by IRS.gov with nearly 18 million visitors (up 43 percent from Jan.), followed by TaxACT with 9.6 million visitors (up 66 percent) and H&R Block with 6.7 million visitors (up 26 percent).

Primaries Drive Traffic to Presidential Candidates' Sites

• With much-hyped Super Tuesday (February 5) and other primaries across the country occurring in February, visits to the politics site category increased for the second consecutive month, increasing 9 percent from Jan. to 15 million visitors.
• BarackObama.com led the category with 3.2 million visitors, up 46 percent from January, followed by HillaryClinton.com with 1.5 million visitors (up 31 percent).
• Republican-party nominee John McCain's site visits increased 49 percent, to 888,000 visitors.

Economy, Primaries Spur News Sites

Visitor numbers to news categories, both business/finance and general news, increased in February as economic worries and presidential primaries dominated the national agenda:

• Business/finance news sites gained 6 percent from Jan. to reach nearly 62 million visitors, with Yahoo Finance, AOL Money & Finance, and MSN Money leading the category.
• The general news category gained 2 percent to nearly 107 million visitors led by Yahoo News, CNN, and MSNBC.

Valentine's Day Stimulates Greeting Site Visits

• The Valentine's Day holiday caused the flowers/gifts/greetings and e-card site categories to grow 17 percent and 14 percent, respectively.
• The flowers/gifts/greetings category registered substantial gains by flower sites, with ProFlowers.com (up 244 percent to 3.8 million visitors), FTD.com (up 273 percent to 3.8 million visitors), and 1-800-flowers.com (up 125 percent to 2.7 million visitors) showing strong growth.
• The e-cards category was led by AmericanGreetings Property with nearly 20 million visitors, followed by Evite.com with 5.8 million visitors and Hallmark.com with 5.1 million visitors.