Google just staked its first claim in financial services, opening Google Finance <finance.google.com> today. It comes as no surprise that the search giant would look to grab a share of the considerable traffic to consumer finance sites (see chart below).

Naturally, the Google effort is well designed and fast. The site uses interactive, Flash-based price charts, news feeds from Google news, and company and officer information from a number of sources. The site allows users to set up a personalized portfolio, and it links to blog postings and even to postings from Google's moderated forums (click on inset below for a closeup).

The only surprise is the lack of advertising. Not only are there no banners or postage-stamp ads, but also no buried "sponsored links" to be found. We don't expect it to stay advertising free, but for now, it's a good place to refer customers to check stock quotes, track target companies, or set up an online portfolio.

Consumer finance traffic
Unique visitors in Feb. 2006
  Yahoo Finance>>>12 million
  MSN Money>>>11 million
  CNNMoney>>>8.5 million
  AOL Money & Finance>>>8.3 million
  WSJ/MarketWatch>>>8.3 million
  Forbes>>>6.7 million
  Reuters>>>6.6 million
  Entrepreneur>>>5.5 million
  ConsumerInfo.com>>>4.0 million
  BankRate.com>>>3.5 million

Source: Nielsen/NetRatings, 3/06

-JB