Last week I reported on a Hitwise report that Traffic to Google Maps increased by 26% from Jan. to Feb. due to an increase from upstream Google traffic and I surmised that it was likely due to the OneBox change.
Today, LeeAnn Prescott from Hitwise confirmed that the traffic increase was likely due to the change and that the week lag in data that I had noted was an artifact of the data collection and Google rollout procedures. LeeAnn noted: If the Local One Box change happened in the middle of the week, there may be a lag. It also may have been rolled out in different markets separately.
I had noted previously that the Local OneBox change had provided between 10 and 12 new entry points into Maps from the prime territory above the fold on the main search results.
To give a sense of how large this increase is one needs to realize that just this increase is roughly equal to all of Microsoft’s Local traffic and greater than the combined traffic from Insiderpages, Judy’s Book, Ask & Yelp.
Given Google’s dominant share in search, even small changes on their main search results page creates incredible traffic for any of their secondary products. It demonstrates clearly how difficult it will be to unseat the leader in the local battle on-line. 
Wow,
Thanks for the follow up. That is a huge deal!
Mike
Comment by Mike, The Internet Guy (4 comments) — March 6, 2007 @ 2:15 pm
SearchCap: The Day In Search, March 6, 2007
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web:…
Trackback by Search Engine Land: News About Search Engines & Search Marketing — March 6, 2007 @ 5:56 pm
[...] Hitwise confirms: Dramatic rise in Google Maps traffic due to Onebox update, Mike Blumenthal [...]
Pingback by Los Angeles Web Hosting - The top ten web hosting plans. Top ten dedicated server plans. » SearchCap: The Day In Search, March 6, 2007 — March 6, 2007 @ 6:33 pm
It is certainly a dramatic change. From my observations from a number of businesses it is having a dramatic effect.
The graphs may be understated…contingent on how Hitwise is able to capture the data. A visitor may click on one of several links off of the initial map showing from an organic search. The link may be a google maps link or a direct link to the website. How is that being measured?
From a variety of businesses we see a change as a result of G maps with businesses having either dramaticly better visibility or worse from strictly organic search and/or a search query that didn’t have a g maps insert before the expansion.
All of which speaks to the dominance of Google in the search world.
Thanks for updating and reiterating the information, Mike.
Comment by Earlpearl (384 comments) — March 6, 2007 @ 9:03 pm
Yes, good points. I also wonder about the ajax/java stuff going on inside of Maps…how do they account for pages views as a reader moves from one more info box to another..
Mike
Comment by Mike Blumenthal (737 comments) — March 6, 2007 @ 9:09 pm
[...] •Google sends more of its own traffic to Google Maps than to Mapquest, a changethat occurred last March. [...]
Pingback by Understanding Google Maps & Yahoo Local Search » Google Maps gaining market share vs. MapQuest | Developing Knowledge about Local Search — January 9, 2008 @ 11:24 pm
[...] in the past has confirmed that there is a lag in their data is due to the nature of of their data collection and Google’s rollout schedule [...]
Pingback by Understanding Google Maps & Yahoo Local Search » Hitwise Data: Mapquest Giveth & Google Maps Taketh | Developing Knowledge about Local Search — January 11, 2008 @ 3:26 pm
[...] was just about one year ago that Google last upgraded the Local OneBox. At the time it led to a significant increase in Maps usage. It seems that an upgrade to the OneBox is or soon will be upon us. It was available [...]
Pingback by Understanding Google Maps & Yahoo Local Search » Google Maps Local OneBox reporting across the web | Developing Knowledge about Local Search — January 22, 2008 @ 2:22 pm
I’ll bet the recent change from 3 to 10 local results in the top of the serps EXPLODES this stat… Might be interesting to see a followup buy you…
Comment by Scott (5 comments) — February 4, 2008 @ 11:59 pm
Hi Scott
I would think so too. I asked Hitwise to keep an eye out for an increase but as of today they had not seen anything significant.
Mike B
Comment by Mike Blumenthal (737 comments) — February 5, 2008 @ 5:26 am