GOV.UK reaches 1 billion visits

On its second birthday, the award-winning government website GOV.UK has reached a major milestone of 1 billion site visits.

Launched 2 years ago, GOV.UK brings together government services and information online. As the first ever single domain for government, it replaced DirectGov, Business Link and over 250 separate department and agency websites.

GOV.UK makes it easier for everyone to find information about government services and policies in one place and in a clear, consistent and transparent format.

On the second anniversary of its launch, the website has reached the impressive milestone of 1 billion visits. GOV.UK ranks alongside websites such as BT, BBC Weather and Sky News for its number of weekly visits.

The top three most visited pages are find a job, renew your vehicle tax, and calculate your state pension. Other interesting statistics announced today include:

• 90% of visits have come from within the UK
• 36% of visits come via a portable device (24% mobile and 12% tablet) and this increases to around 50% on weekends
• the highest proportion of those visits from a mobile device is to calculate your childcare maintenance
• the top 5 internal search terms to date are (in order): Jobs, trade tariff, universal jobmatch, job search, and passport
• so far, the top 3 transactions completed on the site are:
  • tax disc renewals (67,000 a day)
  • SORN (statutory off road notification) (8,000 a day)
  • practical driving test bookings (4,000 a day)

Minister for the Cabinet Office Francis Maude said:

'As part of our long-term economic plan, this government is building digital-by-default services that are designed around the needs of users.
I’m delighted we have now reached a billion visits – not only is GOV.UK simpler, clearer and faster for users, it’s also saving taxpayers £60 million a year.'

Mike Bracken, Executive Director of the Government Digital Service (GDS) said:

'The GOV.UK team has worked hard, and it’s great to see their efforts rewarded like this. There’s still a lot to do, but one thing is clear: our agile, iterative, user-centric approach works. GOV.UK has won awards and praise from all over the world, but none of it would have happened without users.

'After 2 years, we’re still learning from them, and still iterating and improving the site in response to feedback. Long may that continue.'

Last year the website beat strong competition to win the Design of the Year Award. It’s been built and tested in public and uses open-source technology, which means that government won’t have to pay expensive software licensing costs.

GOV.UK is a key element in the digital by default agenda to make online public services more effective and efficient, potentially saving £1.7 billion every year for taxpayers.