Google Maps Nearly Catches MapQuest: Hitwise Report

Feb 11, 2009 at 2:29pm ET by Matt McGee

Google Maps and MapQuest are neck-and-neck in the fight to be the most popular US mapping site. A new report issued today from Hitwise shows the continuing ascent of Google Maps and the simultaneous decline of MapQuest traffic during 2008, with MapQuest pulling away again in the last few weeks:

hitwise chart

In November, we wrote how MapQuest was coming “out of hibernation” with a concerted effort to hold on to its leads among mapping sites. As Heather Hopkins suggests in the Hitwise post, those new features may be responsible for MapQuest’s recent upswing in traffic.

But it may be difficult to continue holding off Google Maps, which many say has the best feature set among the major mapping sites.

Matt McGee is the Search Engine Land Assignment Editor, and offers search marketing consulting and training to businesses of all sizes. He blogs at Small Business Search Marketing and HyperlocalBlogger.com.

See more articles by Matt McGee >

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ONE COMMENT ON Google Maps Nearly Catches MapQuest: Hitwise Report

Josh Curcio, February 11th, 2009 at 4:10 pm ET:

I am not surprised at all. I personally prefer Google Maps 100 times over MapQuest for several reasons. Most importantly the local business aspect and the features provided for Google Maps. I sometimes have more fun playing with Google Maps than I do actually taking a trip…a little sad I know.

Thanks for the info!

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