Google Launches Comparison Ads as Part of AdWords

Google has today announced the launch of Google Comparison Ads. IT offers a multitude of options on getting various mortgage rates from different lenders based on your location, credit scores, prices etc. At the moment, the site presently offers only mortgage products.

Going forward, I can see a lot of applications of comparison ads, For example if you were searching for particular model of HDTV and wanted to know about prices across retailers, this would be a good starting point. Same goes for insurance quotes, no lengthy forms to fill out. Google Comparison Ads use IP detection to detect your location. For me, it accurately pinpointed that I am located in Guilford County, NC. According to Search Engine Land, the site uses the Cost per lead metric to charge for the ads. The users enter their information and Google issues a bridge number so that the advertiser never sees the real phone number of the user being contacted by the mortgage lender. Here’s a screenshot of Google AdWords Comparison Ads:

Click Image For Enlarged View

For retailers, it will be a double-edged sword; you can be the most price competitive and get good conversions if price is the prime motivatin factor for the buyer. On the other hand, if you are feature rich but not price competitive, you may see a drop. Of course, as I see it, Google must be refining the product for different areas in their labs and incorporate key features while product shopping. For comparison shopping sites, it might turn out to be an 800 lb gorilla to deal with. This will be new avenue for marketers and advertisers to venture into. Interesting to see how it unfolds and how much success advertisers manage to wring out of it.