Google has been named website of the year by researcher Nielsen/NetRatings, which said that the UK internet market is reaching maturity.

The website earned the accolade for its month-on-month growth.

"Google's audience share jumped from 18 per cent to 28 per cent during 2002. Its toolbar, news and shopping sites won the admiration of analysts," said Nielsen/NetRatings.

The ratings are based on the researcher's internet audience measurements and its analysts' opinions.

European internet analyst Tom Ewing said: "2002 was an exciting year for the internet in the UK. We started to see a number of well-known sites reaching break-even or profitability this year, as the market reached maturity."

But by far the most visited site in the UK is msn.com with 704 million visitors over the year, followed by passport.com with 449 million hits. Third in the table is yahoo.com with 413 million visitors.

UK specific sites are next on the list with msn.co.uk boasting 379 million hits and yahoo.co.uk with 354 million.

Google.com attracted 341 million visitors, and the bbc.co.uk site registered 318 million closely followed by btopenworld.com with 317 million.

Ninth and tenth in the table are aol.com with 284 million, and freeserve.com with 276 million.