It's official: Google rules the world.

According to the San Francisco Cronicle, the Mountain View search engine has outstripped Microsoft on two fronts, becoming both the most visited Web site and the most valuable global brand.

"These are really significant events," said Geoffrey Bowker, executive director of the Center for Science, Technology and Society at Santa Clara University. "At the moment, everything that Google is touching turns to gold."

For the first time, Google has edged ahead of Microsoft as the world's most visited Internet property. Online measurement firm comScore Networks found that Google had just over a million more unique users in March than its arch-rival.

Google had 528 million unique visitors in March, up 5 percent from the previous month, according to comScore. Microsoft had 527 million visitors during the same month, up 3.7 percent.

Google is popular in the United States and even more of a powerhouse in many European countries.

To put the cherry on the cake, Google was named the most powerful brand in 2007 in an annual survey released Monday by Millward Brown, a British market research company. The company's brand was valued at $66.4 billion, ahead of GE, Microsoft and Coca-Cola.

written by Florin C.