Google revamps struggling Finance site

Google Inc. has enhanced Google Finance, which was launched in March but hasn't become very popular in the financial information Web sites category.

The company has made a number of changes, hoping to make Google Finance more competitive.

Google improved the site's charts, which now can display up to 40 years of historical data for U.S. stocks, up from 5 years previously, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.

The company also added a "top mover" module to the site's home page that spotlights companies with the biggest changes in stock price, market capitalization and trading volume, as well as those that have been searched for the most in Google's search engine, she said. Google also increased the ways to customize and organize portfolios, and made it possible to import portfolios from other Web sites, she said.

It remains to be seen how much these latest improvements will help boost the site's popularity. For the week ending Dec. 9, Google Finance ranked 31st in Hitwise Pty. Ltd.'s Stocks and Shares category of business and finance sites with a measly 0.48 percent of visitors. Yahoo Inc.'s Yahoo Finance ranked first with almost 24 percent of all visits, while Microsoft Corp.'s MSN Money nabbed a distant second place with 8.4 percent. Google Finance came in 23rd place in Hitwise's Business Information category with 0.70 percent of all visits. Yahoo ranked first with almost 35 percent of visits, while MSN Money was second with 12.4 percent.