Google has the world's most visited website.

According to US-based internet traffic monitor comScore Network, Google's combined network of sites - which includes the video-sharing site YouTube.com - had 528 million unique visitors in March, a rise of 5 per cent over the previous month.

This marks the first time since comScore began tracking the rankings 16 months ago that Google has taken the top spot.

Earlier this week, Google knocked their major rivals off (including Microsoft) as the world's top-ranked brand - no mean feat for a company that barely spends a cent on advertising.

Google move up to the top spot from seventh position last year. Microsoft was pushed into third position.