TikTok Somehow Ended 2021 With More Internet Traffic Than Google

Cloudflare, a content delivery network (CDN), has published a report showing that TikTok overtook Google in late 2021 to become the domain with the most recorded web activity. The CDN monitors traffic across the web using its Cloudflare Radar tool. The service, which launched in fall last year, analyzes reams of data as it passes through Cloudflare’s global network of servers.

The CDN examines the information it handles, providing Cloudflare Radar users with an overview of trends, emerging security threats, and even online bot activity. The tool can also gauge traffic volume for popular domains, and regional insights for seemingly countless websites. And as Cloudflare notes, it’s able to keep tabs on activity for some of the biggest domains on the planet.

According to Cloudflare, TikTok.com (which is also the underlying domain for the hugely popular TikTok mobile app) saw more traffic in the closing months of 2021 than Google.com, placing it number one globally. As Cloudflare notes, the Google.com domain also covers activity for multiple Google properties, including Maps, Translate, News, and Photos. By contrast, TikTok’s traffic relates to only that platform, which is built around an endless flow of brief clips. It’s also of note that, with TikTok.com finishing first in the rankings and Google second, Facebook has landed in third place. By comparison, for the same period in 2020, Google came in first and Facebook second. TikTok was seventh back then.

Cloudflare Radar Might Not Tell The Whole Story

As Cloudflare states, its rankings are based on the data it sees. With this in mind, it’s worth remembering that CDN is a third-party property, and that, as big as its reach is, it likely only sees a portion of the data that pings around the web. This means that the company likely (though it’s not fully clear) has to do some guesswork when it comes to establishing the ratings of each domain. Such processes are normal, of course. Researchers often apply logic when trying to gain insight into incomplete datasets, but that does still mean it’s healthy to pass a skeptical eye when viewing the results. Indeed, even companies such as Netflix have to adjust their own rankings from time to time because of the quality of the data they are parsing.

Still, TikTok might truly be more popular than Google, at least in terms of the rate of traffic. Again, TikTok is a platform for sharing and viewing short videos. Not only that, TikTok’s algorithm is designed to keep users as engaged as possible, serving them one entertaining-yet-throwaway moment after another. Each served clip and user response measured would show itself as a data packet sent through the pipes, many of which Cloudflare is monitoring. The same is true for Google, as each search counts as traffic to Google.com. However, unlike TikTok, Google Search is built to give users the best link as quickly as possible. So if Google is doing its job, users probably don’t stick around for long after a search, which is obviously different from how TikTok operates. So, yes, it’s reasonable TikTok.com is getting tons of traffic, but it’s almost certainly coming from a relatively smaller user base than the mighty Google.

Source: Cloudflare

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