Dive Brief:
- Google Compare Products, a lead generation product formely known as Google Advisor, began shutting down February 23 in the U.S. and will do the same on March 23 in the UK, the only two markets where the product is offered, according to Search Engine Land.
- Search Engine Land acquired an email Google sent to its Compare partners from the Google Compare Team outlining its plan to ramp down the service. The email was confirmed by Google as being authentic.
- Google Compare Products was a service that allowed consumers to get quotes from financial service providers for products including car and travel insurance, credit cards, and mortgages.
Dive Insight:
The product formerly known as Google Advisor is winding down. Intended to help consumers compare financial service offerings, the product helped partners generate leads for their businesses.
Google tried building the Compare offering after the Advisor program ended, but the product faced some challenges. A Google spokesperson told Search Engine Land that although search level was high, Compare didn’t get the traction it hoped for and generated limited revenue. The product also faced scrutiny in UK from the Financial Conduct Authority in 2014 for unfair placement of its own financial products in search results.
“Despite people turning to Google for financial services information, the Google Compare service itself hasn’t driven the success we hoped for," read an email from the Google Compare team to partners. "We greatly appreciate your partnership and understand that this decision will be disappointing to some. But after a lot of careful consideration, we’ve decided that focusing more intently on AdWords and future innovations will enable us to provide fresh, comprehensive answers to Google users, and to provide our financial services partners with the best return on investment.”