Genes Reunited, has ranked first in the Lifestyle-Family category based on the market share of UK visits it has received throughout 2006.
The Hitwise UK Online Performance Awards celebrates the most successful UK websites in 50 key selected industries. As Hitwise reports on the anonymous online usage and search behaviour of more than 8.43 million UK Internet users - the largest online sample of its kind - this unique awards programme recognises excellence in online performance through public popularity.
Genes Reunited is the UK's largest genealogy and ancestry website, with over 6 million members worldwide. It connects members with their extended family through the sharing of information, enabling users to graphically build their own family tree, explore their family history and potentially connect with living relatives.
Martine Parnell, head of Genes Reunited said, "Genes Reunited has succeeded in making family history easy, fun and accessible to everyone on the internet. Our 6.8 million members use our online family tree software to contribute to our genealogy community - working together to uncover their roots."
Hitwise UK said, "The online success of Genes Reunited is a fantastic achievement. As Hitwise measures over 800,000 websites, being one of the most popular websites visited by UK Internet users demonstrates the strength of Genes Reunited's online marketing success."
Launched in May 2003, Genes Reunited is a sister site of internet phenomenon Friends Reunited. It has become the UK's largest family tree, genealogy and ancestry site, with over 6.5 million members worldwide and over 500 million names listed. Internet technology has created millions of 'cyber detectives' who are harnessing the web's incredible resources and unlocking the secrets in their family tree. It is free to join and search, with a fee of £9.95 for six months to make contact with other members.
Hitwise is the leading online competitive intelligence service. Only Hitwise provides its 1,200 global clients with daily insights on how their customers interact with a broad range of competitive websites, and how their competitors use different tactics to attract online customers.
Since 1997, Hitwise has pioneered a unique, network-based approach to Internet measurement. Through relationships with ISPs around the world, Hitwise's patented methodology anonymously captures the online usage, search, and conversion behaviour of 25 million Internet users. This unprecedented volume of Internet usage data is seamlessly integrated into our easy to use, web-based service, designed to help marketers better plan, implement, and report on a range of online marketing programs.
Hitwise is a privately held company headquartered in New York City and operates in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, and Singapore. More information about Hitwise is available at www.hitwise.com
For up to date analysis of online trends and statistics, please visit the Hitwise Intelligence Analyst Weblogs at weblogs.hitwise.com and the Hitwise Data Centre at www.hitwise.com/datacenter
For more information contact Victoria Reed on: 01883 717468 or email press@friendsreunited.co.uk