About Hitwise
Hitwise is the leader in online competitive intelligence. Contact Hitwise to maximize your online marketing programs.
Hitwise Intelligence - Heather Hopkins - North America
Analyst Weblog
« YouTube Site Search - Lil Wayne Tops | Valentines Day Challenges and Hope From Procrastinators »
Google Maps Edges Closer To MapQuest
February 11, 2009
A few weeks ago I thought I was onto something very hot. I was getting ready to announce that Google Maps had caught up to MapQuest in share of US Internet visits. I decided to wait a week to be sure things held. Since then, MapQuest has regained its lead and is widening the gap on Google Maps.
The following chart provides an update from my October post on this same subject. Notice that in late December, it looked like Google Maps was ready to overtake MapQuest. Last week, MapQuest had regained an 11% lead over Google Maps, up from 1.6% in the week to 3rd January 2009.
In October, MapQuest rolled out some new features. At the time, it looked as though MapQuest had already lost the momentum to hold the #1 spot but now that those features have been available for a few months, perhaps they are helping MapQuest regain a foothold.
The ascent of Google Maps is a result of the shortcut in the search results on Google. 61% of visits to Google Maps came directly from Google last week. Yahoo! Search was the site's #2 referrer of traffic and accounted for only 1.07% of US visits. Google Maps received visits from 72,074 unique search terms in the past four weeks, compared to 11,466 for MapQuest.
MapQuest receives most of its search traffic from searches for its brand name - in other words from people actively searching for MapQuest. In the past four weeks 8 of the top 10 search terms sending visits to MapQuest were queries for the brand name, such as "mapquest", "map quest" and "mapquest driving directions". These 8 terms accounted for 62% of visits from search to the MapQuest website. Contrast that to Google Maps for which only 2 of the top 10 terms were branded and these only accounted for 4.2% of the site's search traffic.
As long as Google dominates search, MapQuest will face a tough battle for visits. However, if the past few weeks are any harbinger, there may be life in the old dog yet!
Posted by Heather Hopkins at 09:31 AM
| 
(14)
| 
(1)
In Categories Maps
TrackBack
TrackBack URL:
http://weblogs.hitwise.com/movabletype/mt-tb.cgi/1114.
Links to weblogs that reference this entry:
- Google, AOL's MapQuest In A Tight Race For Traffic, Ad Dollars (Paid Content)
Google Maps has overtaken AOL's MapQuest in terms of unique visitors— with 42.2 million monthly uniques [Read More]
Comments
Once I learned that Mapquest came out of the Boston area I was not surprised. Ask anyone whose ever had to ask for directions in Boston and you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.
Posted by BooBoo | February 12, 2009 10:53 AM
"Contrast that to Google Maps for which only 2 of the top 10 terms were branded and these only accounted for 4.2% of the site's search traffic.
"
You fail to mention that when a user navigates to google.com there's a button labelled MAPS right there.
Going to a search engine to get to mapquest is an understandable (but archaic) behavior. But going to a search engine such as google, that links you right to its own map service, does away with the need for an actual search.
Posted by chussa | February 12, 2009 01:10 PM
I like G's maps the best, but they're too slow for me to tolerate. I use Y's maps now. Much faster. Mapquest still feels too cartoony to me.
Posted by Anonymous | February 15, 2009 03:19 AM
I drive charter busses and have to look up new destinations every day. Tired of Mapquest's inaccuracies, I switched to Google and found them to be only slightly better. Then my dispatcher put me on to Yahoo Maps which are more accurate, faster, and easier to work with. However,they are a bit sticky when clicking and dragging to change routes, which I usually have to do because busses often cannot go on their recomended routes.
Posted by Don Wetmore | February 16, 2009 06:08 PM
Hi
Is it possible to get information about unique visitors for the map web sites for Us usage in 2008?
Posted by gil | February 17, 2009 05:18 AM
Hi gil, We report our data in share of US Internet visits, rather than uniques.
Thanks, Heather
Posted by Heather Hopkins | February 17, 2009 06:28 AM
Try Rand McNally. A long distance trucker told
me this is the one he uses. I have used it many times since.
Posted by Ken | February 17, 2009 09:01 PM
Hi
Is it possible to get information about unique visitors for the map web sites for Us usage in 2008?
thecybersaints.com
Posted by thecybersaints.com | February 19, 2009 03:25 PM
though mapquest really sucks, it's not as if google can do NO wrong. they have set me on the wrong course quite a few times. I've found Yahoo maps to be the most consistently correct.
Posted by TheCybersaints.com | February 28, 2009 05:12 AM
I used Google Maps until it took them four months to figure out that the 35W bridge in Minneapolis had been rebuilt. I figured if they're that slow to fix things, then there's no telling what other roads are wrong. Mapquest, on the other hand, got the 35W bridge exactly right within days of its reopening.
Posted by Anonymous | March 2, 2009 08:22 PM
though mapquest really sucks, it's not as if google can do NO wrong. they have set me on the wrong course quite a few times. I've found Yahoo maps to be the most consistently correct.
Posted by shaun | February 11, 2009 12:11 PM