Helped by features such as Gmail, Mountain View, California- based Google passed Yahoo and Microsoft in March to become the owner of the world’s most-visited group of Web sites for the first time, according to researcher ComScore Inc.

Google’s sites had 528 million visitors worldwide in March, a 13 percent gain from the same month a year ago. Yahoo rose 1 percent to 476.3 million, while Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft added 4 percent to 527 million.

Yahoo’s new e-mail program also lets customers send instant messages to users of Yahoo! Messenger and Microsoft’s Windows Live Messenger, and Yahoo said it made its e-mail service faster and added new search functions.

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