Is Google a threat to comparison and vertical search providers?
Thursday, 27 August 2009
Techcrunch recently published an article claiming Google intends to enter the Mortgage comparison marketplace. So is Google a threat to comparison and vertical search providers or an opportunity for the best of them?
If it is true that Google is planning a mortgages product it would be an evolution of something that started with the Google Merchant service which ran briefly in 2008 and allowed
consumers to compare loan offers, a move into mortgages as well would send stronger signals than ever that Google clearly has its gaze on the top teir
of vertical search providers, and comparison and vertical search may soon become a winner takes all business.
As has been seen with BING a closer integration of verticalised/comparison
search into their overall search experience has proved popular with users, so I
don't think it's strange that Google might be looking at this.
That means any or all of the following sectors which have a high proportion of verticalised/comparison services might be potential targets for assimilation:
That means any or all of the following sectors which have a high proportion of verticalised/comparison services might be potential targets for assimilation:
- flights comparison (cheapflights, kayak, farecast - BING)
- real estate (rightmove, propertyfinder, nestoria)
- reviews (reviewcentre.com, CIAO!, BizzareVoice, Reevoo)
- financial services and insurance (Confused.com, Money Super Market, Compare The MeerKat)
According to Techcrunch Google was going to
'whitelabel' another providers mortgage qoute system, that seems a little unusual to me in as
far as Google is concerned, as I'd thought they'd build something from the ground up themselves. However theoretically the fact that they might consider partnering for mortgages (if the Techcrunch story is true) does mean that there are
possibilities in the UK that Google could look to partner with services such as http://www.reviewcentre.com who provide user reviews (BING
currently uses CIAO!) or http://www.confused.com a financial services comparison
provider, or even someone like http://www.Cheapflights.com or http://www.Kayak.com for flights comparison (BING currently uses Farecast).
This is probably true, I think google will take over the world at some point. I don't really see what the fuss is all about as if Joe Blogs turned up with a similar website no one would notice, untill it became popular but then it would of been around a while so no one would say anything about it.
Posted by: Michael Thomas | Tuesday, 08 September 2009 at 09:30 AM
It’s pretty sure, in the near future, Google will try to fit results from its verticals in a more deep way than the current Onebox placements.
Posted by: CoolestGeek | Wednesday, 09 September 2009 at 05:07 AM
What I know google is very big S.E. today and will grow and grow... in the future.
If it's a threat... than it would be totally considered as 'cause and result'
Posted by: Rangka baja ringan | Tuesday, 22 February 2011 at 01:50 AM
Interesting. But I am not complacent with Google providing offers such as these. I still believe their power lies on search engine, ads and that's it.
Posted by: loan modification attorney | Monday, 16 January 2012 at 02:11 AM