Google has just debuted a new form of advertising called AdWords Comparison Ads — a special kind of ad that will prompt users to view a list of sponsored products in a structured format. To get started, Google is running the ads for queries related to the mortgage market, though it has plans to eventually expand beyond that. The ads are in a limited rollout for now, with only some users in some states seeing them.
Here’s how Google describes the new ad type:
AdWords uses a host of targeting and relevancy signals to determine the best ads for each query. However, sometimes a user’s query doesn’t provide enough information for us to confidently predict what they want. Take, for example, users who search for “mortgage.” Do they want a new home loan or a refinance? Do they want a fixed rate or an adjustable rate loan? Comparison Ads improves the ad experience on Google.com by letting users specify exactly what they are looking for and helping them quickly compare relevant offers side by side.
Users searching for “mortgage” on Google.com may see a promotion from Comparison Ads prompting them to select the type of loan they are looking for and to compare various rates.
If they click the promotion, users are taken to a page with more detailed sponsored results. They can choose directly from the offers listed on that page, or they can further refine their search by providing additional information like income and home value…
Once users find an offer that matches their specific needs, they can either call you directly or request a quote. If a user requests a quote, Google automatically anonymizes the user’s phone number and sends you a unique code that you can use to contact the user. You only pay if a user calls the phone number on your offer or fills out a form to request a quote.
As Leadcritic points out, Google’s entry into this space is obviously going to be bad news to lead gen services like LendingTree, and they aren’t the only newcomers looking to get in on the action — we hear that Billshrink will soon be expanding its price-saving tools to include mortgage comparison shopping.
And, as noted before, Google will be expanding this ad type beyond mortgages. This may well be its answer to Bing’s decision engine model, which presents a number of structured options for the services and products you’re looking for that aren’t based exclusively on search rank.
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Mark my words: ServiceMagic is the next one to wind up in the mighty G’s cross hairs.
If I’m right, will TC do the right thing and take back RedBeacon’s Tech50 prize and give it to a real Tech company?
About 5 trillion of loyal your readers are still scratching thier heads about that lame pick.
How does this affect other mortgage players like Zillow, Bankrate and Nextag?
Wow, this is bad news for a lot of affiliates. ServiceMagic is definitely on G’s cross hairs, great synergy with Googles local listings/maps services.
Google could do this to every industry. Life insurance, new car quotes… no one will be able to escape Google’s giant grasp.
At some point google may induce a colloaboration of players against it. Even the mighty Rome succame to the barabrians once the organized. And where are the regulators? At what point can google be allowed to keep destroying industries? Google should be broken up and the adwords portion run as a separate company under an AT&T like consent decree.
The next industry will probably be insurance… that fits right into google’s vince update with more emphasis on brands than affiliates…..
Destroy industries? What next, do we have to bring back the bakers guild and defend it against the hostess company?
Glad google did this, but I’m not too optimistic. The systems that google is challenging were full of false quotes and bait-and-switch tactics. Amazing that this occurs in a commodity market place where transaction costs are the differentiating factors.
How will google avoid the problems the other systems allow?
Icancheetburger,
That is an interesting idea, but unlikely. What is not unlikely however is the collaboration of players that will form against Google.
Google is smart enough to ease into their new role as a lead generation company so not to cause too much of a disruption. Regardless of this fact however is that Google has a clear competitive advantage by allowing themselves to take top position in the SERPs and having a unique ad format that no other company can implement.
So, Google can send people to a landing page full of ads, but affiliates can’t. What happens when Google is the number one affiliate channel to all industries, and the only way to compete is to run huge adwords campaigns? Wow.
The Google arrogance does not recognize that when you start showing specific products there is much more legwork than what you do when you just show ads. Every single detail of the product will need to be accurate. Good luck relying on the advertisers for that task…
Also Jason — Have you ever user bill shrink for any financial products? If you have, you would know that there are NOTHING special.
Great format. Will surely benefit a number of different verticals.
From a consumer experience standpoint, the mortgage adwords product just truly underwhelms me. Mortgages are a considered purchase, the adwords experience stacks up mortgage rates without any thoughtful personalized information. They’ll have same issue in insurance and other considered purchase categories where consumers just need more information, tools and customer service. Meanwhile, Google shopping for low consideration purchases has been around for years and that hasn’t seen any success – so why would consumers want to use this?