Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) took its first step into the mortgage business when it launched a comparison ads program in 2009 and initial results suggest it was a success for advertisers.
An independent study from Leads360 showed consumers using Google’s comparison ads converted better than any other lead provider. As a result of its success, the search giant is expanding into other areas like credit cards, checking and savings accounts, and certificates of deposit.
As part of the expansion, the company released Google Advisor, a user-friendly interface for comparison offers that includes mortgages.
“Google Advisor is a consumer destination site that helps to guide users through various financial decisions by making it even easier to find and compare relevant offers from qualified financial institutions,” said the company on its blog announcing the launch. “Google Advisor contains offers that come from our Comparison Ads advertisers as well as other sources across the web. By aggregating the most relevant offers and making it easy for users to filter and compare them side-by-side, Google Advisor aims to make financial research faster and easier.”
WIth the launch of Google Advisor, the company is going up against giants like Bankrate.com and other established lead providers who target consumers interested in a range of financial products. From a user interface perspective, Google Advisor is clearly the winner when compared to other sites in the market.
While the service doesn’t yet provide comparison offers for reverse mortgages, it wouldn’t be difficult to add in the future. At the moment, Google said it’s limiting the number of lenders participating in the Advisor program.
“Over time, we hope to increase the availability of Comparison Ads to additional advertisers,” said the company.