US internet giant Google recently surprised its competitors with the beta launch of Google Finance, a website that compiles stock information and financial news.
But just how will this new effort impact online financial information?
According to web monitoring firm Hitwise, Google Finance ranked at number 28 in the Business Information category for the week ending March 25, its first week online.
Yahoo! Finance dominates the Business Information category, with 31.9 per cent market share of category visits for that week.
While Google Finance's share was only a fraction of that at 0.53 per cent, Google has done little to promote the site in its first week online.
The average visit length for the Business Information category was 8 minutes 29 seconds for the week ending March 25, and while Google Finance’s average visit length was below this at 6 minutes 2 seconds, its session time lengthened during its second week online.
On March 28, visitors stayed for an average of 8 minutes 23 seconds, indicating that they may be becoming more acquainted with the site and its content offerings.
Bill Tancer, Hitwise: "The rapid ramp in average session time for Google Finance indicates that Google searchers are interacting with this new financial portal offering."
While Google Finance is attracting traffic, financial information seekers are still using familiar sites, according to Hitwise Clickstream data.
For the week ending March 25, 26 per cent of visitors to Google Finance left the site for another Business Information site, including Yahoo! Finance, which accounted for 5.1 per cent of downstream visits.
An additional nine per cent of Google Finance's downstream visits went to Google News, indicating that Google Finance users may already be users of Google News.
"While the Google Finance market share is still relatively small compared against Yahoo! Finance and MSN Money Central, the rapid ramp in average session time for Google Finance indicates that Google searchers are interacting with this new financial portal offering," said Hitwise general manager Bill Tancer.
"Average session time when viewed alongside increased market share is a great measure of early adoption for content sites."
According to Hitwise, for the week ending March 25, 32 per cent of visitors to Google Finance were aged over 55 and 24 per cent per cent were aged between 25 and 34.
In comparison, 16 per cent of visitors to Yahoo! Finance were aged between 18 and 24.
Google Finance visitors were also more likely to have incomes over $150,000, with 19 per cent in this income bracket, compared to 10 per cent of visitors to Yahoo! Finance in the same period.
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