Using Google Credit Card Advisor
Google Credit Cards
So, that heading is a LITTLE misleading. Technically Google does have a few credit card related offering. They offer:
- A credit card for Google Adwords users, which can ONLY be used to finance ad campaigns.
- A credit card processing method, called Google Checkout (more on this later), and
- A pay-by-swiping-phone product called Google Wallet, that has partnered with Citibank and a variety of retailers (more on this later too).
Most of these offerings don’t apply to normal Google users, though Checkout should be useful for anyone who has an online store and Wallet should be coming soon to more Androids near you. Google Wallet is being touted as the payment method of the future – but security concerns and the need for retailers to install new equipment has slowed the roll-out.
But that all doesn’t apply to me, I’m a normal Google user and…
I’m looking for a credit card – how can Google help?
Great question! Google does a great job of finding things and Credit Cards are no exception. Google’s personal work policy encourages employees to develop ideas and projects that could be useful for users or valuable for the company. Often these projects make their way into Google Labs and, often, they become a standard Google offering.
A while back, an employee decided to help Google users find financial products more easily – and Google Advisor was born.
Google Advisor is a search tool that allows you to do more than type “Credit Card Offers” or “Credit Card Options” into Google and click “I’m feeling lucky”. Just type advisor.google.com to see the magic.
Filter Credit Card Results
Google Advisor’s Credit Card section has a list of credit cards it has found and is has received from banks and finance companies. Google’s actual index likely has many more credit cards in it, but to be included in Google’s Credit Card Advisor, a card needs to provide certain key pieces of information for the Advisor’s database. That way, users can filter based on:
- Card Types
- Balance Transfer
- Purchase APR
- Rewards
- Reward Type
- Cash Back
- Air Miles
- Points
- Card Purpose
- Personal
- Student
- Fee Types
- No Annual Fees
- No Annual Fee for the First Year
- Charge Cards
- Network
- American Express
- Discover
- Visa
- Mastercard
- Personal Details
- Credit History
Sorting Credit Card Results
After filtering your results to find only the types of cards you want, you can sort the credit cards by:
- Provider (Citi, Chase, etc)
- Card Name (Diamond Platinum World Plus, etc)
- Intro Purchase APR
- Ongoing Purchase APR
- Annual Fee
- Reward Type
Depending on the type of cards you are looking at, you can sort by additional options.
Compare your Credit Card Results
After you’ve used the filters and sorting to round down your options, you can compare them side by side. Just check the boxes next to the credit cards you like and click “compare checked”. You’ll be taken to a page that puts the card details side by side and includes MUCH more information than the actual search results page. From these details pages, you can click through directly to the credit-granting institution or apply right from the page.
From this point on, your interactions will be directly with the banks you’ve chosen.
Is Google Impartial?
Google specifically indicates that they are not compensated in any way for this information. You should be aware, that the list they offer for comparison is FAR from a complete list of credit cards available. Most often it includes a handful of national financial institutions and a few smaller, regional banks. At very least, it is a great starting point – at best it can help you find what you are looking for. Most other credit card search websites get a cut directly from the bank if a visitor signs up – Google has removed that incentive for bias and is just providing results directly from the institutions.
What about other financial choices?
What about CDs, Savings Accounts and Checking Accounts; Can Google help with these choices too?
Or course. Check back for our upcoming entries covering the other aspects of Google Advisor.
Google Advisor – Your New Financial Best Friend
How do you use Google Advisor?
Chances are you’ve never heard of Google Advisor. But since now you do, it is definitely worth checking out.
We’ll be doing in-depth reviews in the coming days, but Google Advisor is a search-and-filter tool that allows users to find the right Credit Cards, CDs, Savings Accounts and Checking Acocunts. Compare and contrast benefits, discover if you are eligible and apply online.
Here’s a screenshot, but keep an eye out for upcoming posts:
Shopping with Google: Formerly Known as Froogle
While there is still a place for brick and mortar in modern retail, one could make a strong argument that widespread use of tools like Google Product Search could greatly shift the balance towards online shopping. If you shop online, which most studies indicate, you probably do its quite likely you find your product one of three ways:
1: Searching Google for your Product
Basic Google searches for the product you are trying to buy will often yield the results you seek – but not super-efficiently.
or
2: Going to a store’s website
Checking out a known brand’s store will allow you to take the brick and mortar experience online, usually at a lower price – due to decreased taxes and decreased overhead.
or
3: Using an online mega-store
Amazon.com, for example, has tens of thousands of products that are rated by users, sold and shipped from both Amazon’s own warehouse and third party stores. Inventory is quite large, but doesn’t stock everything.
But Google has all of these options beat, with their Google Product Search solution.
You can access Google Product search three different ways.
1: Directly via url: shopping.google.com
2: By clicking on embedded product search results in a normal search
3: By using the side menu option to access all shopping results.
What can Google Product Search do?
Google product search is a massive database populated both by Google’s spiders and by data submitted by retailers. This database is sort-able and searchable by price and search term relevance and viewed as a list or thumbnails. Often it can be further filtered by brand, size, popularity or other details unique to the particular product.
The end result is a fairly thorough list of online options for your product purchase. Prices are listed by pre- and post- tax and shipping totals.
Ditch Internet Explorer, Get Chromed Out
This may seem obvious to many of you, but product compatibility usually means that both products are more likely to work more efficiently when used together. This has wide implications in the technology world, particularly with software. Integrating Customer Relationship Systems (CRM) with Content Management Systems (CMS) usually provides a better user experience. Cross platform integration is also important – iTunes works slightly better on Macs and using iTunes on your iPhone or iPod pretty much requires that you use it on your laptop or desktop as well.
But what does that have to do with Google?
Simple. Did you know that Google has a web browser? I assume that many of you don’t know this, because, in 2011 Statcounter announced that Microsoft’s Internet Explorer still had a 40+% market share of the browser market. Another 25% use Mozilla’s Firefox. Google’s browser, Chrome, has captured 25% of market share, despite being on the market a fraction as long as either of the other predominant browsers. You can download Chrome here.
Why Switch?
Compatibility
As previously mentioned, comparability is key. If you want to get the most out of Google products, Google Chrome is the way to go. All Google online products work quite well with Chrome, and some even integrate.
Cloud Browser
In fact, if you have a Google account (same login as for Gmail), then you can automatically sync bookmarks, saved passwords and preferences across installations of Chrome. This even applies to any search history that you are having Google track. This can be very convenient.
Integrated Search
Google thinks of searches and urls as very similar. This means, in the url bar, you can either type a url or a search term. A url will take you directly to that url. A search term will automatically search Google (or any other preferred search engine) for your term.
Search Other Sites
Chrome remembers which sites you search on often. That means, if your favorite site has a local search function, you can perform the search directly from the Google Chrome address bar. To do this, search on your site a few times. Then start to type in your sites address and hit tab. For example, I’ve performed searches at DonorPerfect’s Website.
Now, if I want to search there from chrome all I have to do is type “www.donor”
Hit [tab]
and then enter your search terms
Instant search of a website, from the Chrome toolbar.
And a lot more!
There are a lot of other cool features built into Chrome. We’ll go over those in upcoming posts.
What features do you find indispensable.