CYBERSPACE — The great website destination wars are by no means over, but the position of the major players has shifted slightly. Although Microsoft remains the most frequently visited website on the internet, the second most popular site has changed.According to ComScore Networks, in November search engine Google knocked previous second-place holder Yahoo out of position and is narrowing the distance between it and the international computer technology corporation.

Rising 9.1-percent from the year before, Google saw a total of 475.7 million visits during November. Yahoo, on the other hand, only saw an increase of 475.3 million, a 5.2-percent increase over the previous year. ComScore Networks reports that this is the first time that the Mountain View, CA-based Google has surged ahead of its Sunnyvale, CA-located search engine rival, something the research firm says may be a result of Google’s increasing international appeal.

Although Microsoft racked in 501.7 million visitors in November, up 3.3-percent from November of 2005, ComScore Networks says that Yahoo remains the single most frequently visited site within the United States.

Other movers include a nearly fivefold increase in visits to Fox Interactive Media sites, with 130.4 million in November, something likely associated with the News Corporation purchase of MySpace.com. Likewise, Google’s newest $1.65 billion toy, YouTube.com, saw its popularity jump by nearly 25-fold, to 107.9 million visits during November.