09
2008
Google Maps Making Inroads Against Leader, Mapquest
I took a look at traffic to Maps websites after hearing repeatedly over the holidays that people didn’t need directions as they would use Mapquest, Google Maps or GPS. With the rise of GPS, I wondered if traffic to Maps websites was on the decline and also wondered whether Google Maps was making much headway. US visits to Maps websites is up 10% year on year and MapQuest is still the leader, receiving more than half of all US visits to Maps websites last week. However, Google Maps is gaining fast.
A year ago, MapQuest had more than five times (429%) more US visits than Google Maps. Last week, that gap was down to 126%. Google Maps is the #2 Maps website and attracted 22% of visits to Maps websites. Yahoo! Maps and MSN’s Local Live stand 3rd and 4th.
Traffic to MapQuest has remained flat year on year and is down 20% in the past 6 months. Google Maps traffic is up 135% year on year and is up 7% in the past 6 months. The growth for Google Maps is from traffic from the Google search engine. The following chart shows the share of Google’s own traffic that it sends to each of the top four Maps websites.
Google sends more of its own traffic to Google Maps than to Mapquest, a change that occurred last March. This can’t really be attributed to an increase in consumers looking for Google Maps. We can measure this through Internet searches. Searches for “google maps” have increased but the term “mapquest” receives nearly 10x the search volume.
The change is that Google is sending more traffic to Google Maps for high volume generic terms and for variations on the MapQuest brand name. Google sent more traffic to Google Maps for searches for “maps” this year compared with the same week last year. The same is true for “driving directions”, “map” and “directions” as well as variations on the MapQuest brand name including “mapquest driving directions” and “map quest”.
I am sure many will jump to the conclusion that Google is favoring it’s own property. I can’t say whether that’s true but I can say that Google Maps is receiving more of its traffic from paid for search listings than MapQuest. In the past four weeks. Google Maps received 19% of its search traffic from paid listings compared with 10% for MapQuest.
SearchCap: The Day In Search, January 9, 2008
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web….
Wow, I seriously didn’t think anyone still used mapquest. What a bubble I live in.
Maquest needs to die a fiery death.
Everything about them sucks.
Google Maps Gaining On Market Leader Mapquest
Mapquest arguably “owns” the mapping brand online. It has been the dominant mapping site for years by a wide margin. But that dominance may now be slipping under pressure from Google. Hitwise reports that “traffic to Mapquest has remained flat year on …
Google Maps Gaining On Market Leader Mapquest
Mapquest arguably “owns” the mapping brand online. It has been the dominant mapping site for years by a wide margin. But that dominance may now be slipping under pressure from Google. Hitwise reports that “traffic to Mapquest has remained flat year on …
Google Maps Gaining On Market Leader Mapquest
Mapquest arguably “owns” the mapping brand online. It has been the dominant mapping site for years by a wide margin. But that dominance may now be slipping under pressure from Google. Hitwise reports that “traffic to Mapquest has remained flat year on …
Google Maps Gaining On Market Leader Mapquest
Mapquest arguably “owns” the mapping brand online. It has been the dominant mapping site for years by a wide margin. But that dominance may now be slipping under pressure from Google. Hitwise reports that “traffic to Mapquest has remained flat year on …
Google Maps Gaining On Market Leader Mapquest
Mapquest arguably “owns” the mapping brand online. It has been the dominant mapping site for years by a wide margin. But that dominance may now be slipping under pressure from Google. Hitwise reports that “traffic to Mapquest has remained flat year on …
Google Maps Gaining On Market Leader Mapquest
Mapquest arguably “owns” the mapping brand online. It has been the dominant mapping site for years by a wide margin. But that dominance may now be slipping under pressure from Google. Hitwise reports that “traffic to Mapquest has remained flat year on …
Google Maps gagne des parts de marché
Voici les conclusions de cette petite étude réalisée par Hitwise :
le trafic US des sites cartographiques a progressé de 10% en 1 an (pour ma part ce chiffre m’étonne, je pensais que ça progressait beaucoup plus vite)
MapQuest est encore…
It would be interesting to see who is using MapQuest? Or more appropriately what are they using it for? Is it just for a map or drive directions – or what is the split? From a cartographic perspective they have great rendering and a good product. I guess they have been a market leader for a while and if their users are happy with what they are doing then I guess they keep coming back.
Nice post – Eric
My observations show that Mapquest is more likely to be searched for by older more conservative people, who do not have much of internet knowledge. They heard somewhere they can get maps or driving directions at Mapquest, and they go there. Google, to the contrary, appeal to younger people who feel more comfortable exploring various possibilities on the internet.
Just my two cents
From my own personal experience (as well as a few blogs I’ve read that have tested this), Mapquest actually provides quicker routes and is more accurate with travel times.
I think the less control Google has over the internet, the better. Not that Google isn’t a great company, but it’s never good when one company has too much power in one area. Not only that, but their control over the search engine market already gives them a huge advantage over other websites in other areas.
If the increased traffic is coming from generic terms such as maps, driving directions, etc. that is one important fact.
If the increase is from organic searches for local businesses wherein a map shows in organic results and visitors are going downstream that is a different but also important fact suggesting that the information and options within maps for local businesses are becoming more important.
These are interesting charts. Thanks for them.
Look at that spike in March of 2007: suddenly Google temporarily stole what looks like almost 5% share away from Mapquest. I looked to see what Google might have launched around then, but I’m not finding it. Do you know what it was?
Does Hitwise make this data commercially available?
Thanks!
Evan
Where are these figures now? Does Mapquest still rule?
Google gives business’s the ability to up do mass uploads where MQ wants you to do a single entry one at a time and tells you check back in 3 months!
Good job on the upgrade, but they will never be Google.
I’ve used mapquest, yahoo maps, and google maps, and I’m starting to like google maps better than mapquest (I never use yahoo maps)
But, sometimes google maps doesn’t have the address I’m looking for, and mapquest seems like it always has it, so go figure..