Google Finance gets a fresh coat of paint

Posted by Albert Choi, Consumer Experience Specialist and Karolina Netolicka, Product Manager

Over the last few months, you might have noticed that Google products have been getting a new look. And starting today, Google Finance is joining the party! This means that over the next few days, you’ll begin to see a new look in Finance that brings you a more consistent and seamless experience with the other Google products you use.

New Google Finance Company page

Our philosophy for the new look and feel has been to bring the most important information to the forefront so you get to the content you want faster. Here’s a short list of the current changes that we’ve made:

• The stock quote is now more prominent
• More results is now a large clickable button on the right side of the page
• The Add to portfolio link has turned into an easy-to-find button next to the company name
• +1 button to easily share and recommend companies and stocks you’re interested in

While the most recent changes focus on the visual design, keep your eyes peeled for improvements to the navigation and functionality of Google Finance in the near future. If you’d like to share your thoughts on the changes, feel free to voice your opinions on our feedback form. We’re always striving to improve your online experience, and your suggestions are really helpful in moving our product forward.

Cheers,
The Google Finance Team

Old Google Finance Markets page

New Google Finance Markets page

Continue

Happy Birthday Google Finance!

Posted by Karolina Netolicka, Product Manager and Laura Hughes, Consumer Operations

Google Finance celebrates its fifth birthday today. We thought this would be a great opportunity to look back on the last five years and highlight some of the most exciting features we have launched.

Google Finance launched on March 21, 2006 with pricing data from the New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, Amex and Euronext. Our most innovative feature at the time was the now-familiar interactive chart that seamlessly scrolled, zoomed, and showed a timeline of news coverage for each company. Later that year we added the ability to track your investments in a portfolio.

New Features

In 2007 we added some major new ways to access Google Finance. We launched our first mobile application and iGoogle gadget. In addition, we added the GoogleFinance functions which allow you to easily incorporate financial information into your Google Spreadsheets.

In 2008 the big addition was the Stock Screener. In 2009 we added Google Domestic Trends, which uses search data to track the state of the US economy. Finally, last year we added options data and the ability to chart the performance of your portfolio.

Apart from these big launches, we’ve also made countless smaller improvements. Both charts and quotes now automatically update while you’re viewing the page. You can display technical indicators on the chart, view after-hours trading data, and expand the chart across the whole page. You can see information on related companies for all US public companies. And your portfolio now adjusts your holdings for splits and dividends.

Data Coverage

Over the years we have expanded our data coverage to 24 exchanges in 15 countries. More importantly, though, Google Finance has pushed for consumer access to free real-time quotes. In 2008 we were the site to launch real-time quotes for NYSE and NASDAQ
to non-logged-in users. Since then, we have upgraded all of our data in China and India to real-time.

Today, Google Finance continues to deliver timely financial data to users all over the world. Our users rely on us for our stability - Google Finance was one of the few services to stay up during the flash crash on May 6, 2010. As much as you rely on us, we also rely on you. Last year we launched a Product Ideas page, receiving over 5,000 feature ideas. This type of user engagement is what has allowed us to offer you the product we present today. Thank you all for a great five years, and here’s to many more ahead!

Then (2006):

Now (2011):

Continue

Getting Defined

In July we asked you, our readers, what new features you wanted to see on Google Finance. We received and enthusiastic response with over 3,700 ideas and 38,000 votes. One of the top 10 requests with over 700 votes was a Dictionary function for key financial terms and ratios.

We’re happy to announce that we have launched this feature for the financial terms at the top of the company page. To see the definitions, go to a company page on Google Finance and hover your mouse over the financial ratios beside the stock price. You will see a pop-up tooltip for terms such as 52 week, Shares, Vol/ Avg and Div/yield.

To see other launches that have come from your feedback visit our Product Ideas blog post . If you’re curious to see all ideas that were submitted, take a look through Google Finance Product Ideas.

Continue