• Small Business SEM, Monday, February 4, 2008 11 AM

According to Hitwise data, one out of every 45 visits to a Google property is a Google Maps hit. In contrast, just over a year ago, Google Maps only accounted for 1 out of every 100 visits. Matt McGee charts the growth of Google Maps with this post, using stats from Hitwise and noting that the upward trend started with the inclusion of the Onebox map results.

Though it may seem like a given, Google only started automatically returning map results whenever a user initiated a local search in January 2007. Traffic to Google Maps jumped by 26% the following month. Then in May, the giant rolled out Universal search, which increased the likelihood of a Google Map result appearing for various kinds of queries, not just local searches.

McGee notes that Google's latest move to include up to 10 map-based results during local searches will likely drive the percentage of Google Maps clicks even higher, as the giant has explicitly stated that the new display is designed to promote usage.

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