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Google Finance, a business information Web site, has so far captured just 0.53 percent of the Internet audience for this kind of information, according to a new report from Hitwise, which follows Internet traffic trends.
While a miniscule amount when compared to its competitors, the feature’s initial showing is a strong one given how Google Inc., the Mountain View, Calif.-based search engine, has barely marketed the new feature that debuted about 10 days ago.
“While the Google Finance market share is still relatively small, the Google searchers are interacting with this new financial portal offering,” said Bill Tancer, General Manager, Global Research for Hitwise.
Nonetheless, Google badly trails Yahoo Inc., of Santa Clara, Calif., which dominates this lucrative market for Web-based financial information. One in three Web wanderers seeking financial information usually winds up at Yahoo Finance, Hitwise reports. MSN Money, from Microsoft Corp., ranks second with about 11 percent of the traffic.
Other metrics Hitwise published March 30 suggest that a lot of Google Finance’s audience is young, which may bode well for the feature.
Typically, people using a financial Web site are older than the average Internet user, Hitwise noted. While nearly a third of all Google Finance users fell into the older category, about a quarter were between the ages of 25 and 34. That’s almost twice the younger audience that Yahoo gets.
In another positive for Google, Google Finance visitors also earn more money, on average, than those visiting Yahoo Finance, Hitwise found. Also, there’s been a steady increase in the amount of time people use Google Finance, another key metric.
Sites catering to business news are among the most lucrative for Web concerns that earn revenues placing ads alongside the stock information and other results.
Google is a relative newcomer to this business arena, having introduced its finance feature on March 21. In some cases, Google’s competitors have had financial sites in place for years already.