Chrome UX Report - Data Source

Website	https://developer.chrome.com/docs/crux
Category	Domain Rankings

The Chrome User Experience Report (CrUX) is Google's public dataset of real-world user experience metrics collected from Chrome browser users who have opted in to syncing their browsing history. Beyond performance metrics like Core Web Vitals, CrUX provides bucketed domain popularity ranks that reflect actual browser usage across millions of Chrome users worldwide. We use the CrUX popularity ranks as one of several domain popularity signals on domain and DNS lookup pages across robtex.com and dns.ninja.

Source:Chrome UX Report

What is Chrome UX Report?

CrUX is part of Google's Web Vitals initiative, originally designed to give web developers insight into how real users experience their sites. The dataset is collected from a large, opt-in sample of Chrome users across desktop, mobile, and tablet devices. Google aggregates this data and publishes it monthly via BigQuery, the CrUX API, and the PageSpeed Insights tool.

For domain popularity purposes, CrUX provides a bucketed rank system rather than an exact numeric rank. Domains are placed into popularity buckets (top 1K, top 5K, top 10K, top 50K, top 100K, top 500K, top 1M) based on the volume of page navigations observed from Chrome users. This bucketed approach protects user privacy while still conveying useful information about a domain's relative popularity.

Key characteristics of the CrUX popularity data:

Browser-based measurement - Captures actual page navigations in Chrome, reflecting real human browsing behavior rather than automated queries or crawler activity
Opt-in sample - Data comes from users who have enabled usage statistics in Chrome, creating a large but self-selected sample
Global coverage - Chrome is the most widely used browser globally, providing broad geographic and demographic representation
Desktop and mobile - Includes browsing activity across device types, capturing the full spectrum of how people access websites
Web-only - Only measures HTTP/HTTPS navigations in the browser, so API-only services, email infrastructure, and non-web domains are not represented

Because the data comes from real browser navigation events, CrUX popularity ranks strongly correlate with actual human website usage. A high CrUX rank means real people are regularly visiting the domain in their browser.

How We Use This Data

On robtex.com and dns.ninja, we display the CrUX popularity bucket as one of five domain popularity signals on domain and DNS lookup pages. When you look up a domain, you can see which CrUX bucket it falls into alongside its exact rank from Majestic Million, Tranco, Cisco Umbrella, and Cloudflare Radar.

The browser-navigation perspective from CrUX fills a specific gap in the other ranking sources. Majestic measures which domains are linked to. Umbrella and Cloudflare measure which domains are queried in DNS. CrUX measures which domains people actually visit in their browser. A domain with a strong CrUX rank is one that real users type into their address bar, click through to from search results, or have bookmarked.

This is particularly useful for distinguishing between domains that are popular because of infrastructure usage (high DNS query volume but low human interaction) and domains that are popular because people actively visit them. A domain ranking highly in CrUX but not in Umbrella likely serves a consumer audience that uses non-Cisco DNS resolvers. A domain ranking highly in Umbrella but absent from CrUX likely serves automated or infrastructure functions.

FAQ

Why does CrUX use popularity buckets instead of exact ranks?

Google uses bucketed ranks to protect user privacy. Exact ranks could potentially be used to infer browsing patterns of small user populations. The bucket system (top 1K, 5K, 10K, etc.) conveys meaningful relative popularity while preventing fine-grained user tracking. For most practical purposes, knowing a domain is in the top 10K versus the top 500K provides sufficient differentiation.

Does CrUX data only cover Google Chrome users?

Yes. CrUX data is collected exclusively from Chrome browser users who have opted in to usage statistics reporting. Since Chrome holds roughly 65% of the global browser market, the sample is large and broadly representative, but domains popular primarily with Firefox, Safari, or niche browser users may be underrepresented. There is no equivalent public dataset from other browser vendors.

How does the CrUX popularity signal complement the other ranking sources?

Each source measures a different aspect of domain importance. Majestic measures editorial endorsement (backlinks). Umbrella and Cloudflare measure DNS query demand. CrUX measures direct human browsing activity. A domain that ranks consistently across all sources is genuinely prominent on the internet. Discrepancies between sources are informative: a domain high in DNS rankings but absent from CrUX likely serves automated infrastructure rather than human visitors.