Trusting Google to deliver best search results can hurt your wallet, study finds

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Google's search engine is a common place for users to start their hunt for everything from the best sunscreens to the top finance and budgeting tools that will stretch their dollars the furthest. 

But Google's search hub doesn't always deliver the most accurate or useful results for financial products, according to a new study from personal finance website WalletHub. Far from showing searchers top-notch results, the search engine often yields responses that can cost people $202 on average, and up to more than $1,000 when looking for certain types of credit cards, the study found.

WalletHub evaluated Google's results for commonly queried credit card and banking terms, and conducted a survey in which it asked consumers about how useful, accurate and aligned with their searches the results they received were. 

"Consumers are putting a lot of trust in Google and its top results," WalletHub CEO Odysseas Papadimitriou told CBS MoneyWatch. "So what we asked was, 'Is Google really doing its job and serving the best results?'" 

WalletHub analysts evaluated results for credit card and banking-related terms including "best airline credit card," "best no interest credit cards," "best jumbo money market rates," "best CD rates," and more commonly searched terms. 

Costly search results

WalletHub analyzed search results to determine their cost to consumers. For example, when searching for the "best credit cards for bad credit," the first nonsponsored hit directs users to Mastercard's website, where they are exclusively shown Mastercard products. This alone does consumers a disservice, according to Papadimitriou, because it eliminates card alternatives from competitors like Visa and Discover. 

The first search result Google yields directs users to Mastercard's website.  Google/Screenshot

"The result that ranks first for 'credit cards for bad credit' is from one of the biggest financial brands in the world," Papadimitriou said. "When you go to that page, it doesn't include cards from competitors that might be superior to Mastercard's own offerings."

"People expect Google to put the best result first, that Google is doing the work for you and putting the best information forward. But what we found is happening is Google blindly follows the biggest brand, and is shortchanging consumers," he said.

He added that the cards Mastercard lists on its site aren't even necessarily the best. 

"They just give you some credit cards for bad credit. They don't even pretend to be serving what you ask for," Papadimitriou said.  

Among the most costly credit card search terms, "best credit cards to build credit," ranked highest, costing consumers who selected one of the top products appearing in Google search results $1,095, according to WalletHub. Choosing one of the top results for the banking search term "best jumbo money market rates," could cost consumers, $1,347, the most of any search term in the study.

Google said its results satisfy users, and that it is constantly upgrading its search engine. 

"Our research shows that search satisfies the overwhelming majority of user needs for people around the world, and we launch thousands of improvements every year to make Search even better for people," Google said in a statement to CBS MoneyWatch. "Our systems aim to connect people with content that is helpful and original, from a diverse range of sites across the web." 

Shortchanging consumers

Take another term, like "best savings account" — based on how much interest it yields. In this case, Google's search results could cost consumers if, for example, Google's top hit offers 4.5% but the best account on the market offers more.

"So they trust Google and proceed and sign up for the 4.5% account, when they could have gotten 5.5% That's how they are being shortchanged," Papadimitiou said. 

Big brand bias 

Seventy-five percent of consumers surveyed said they believe Google favors big brands in search results. Other drawbacks to Google search results, according to WalletHub, included:

• Only 41% of results met searchers' intent
• 34% of results only showed advertisers
• 58% of results weren't transparent
• 63% of survey respondents said they believed Google search results were superior last year

"I think that the takeaway here is people should not trust Google blindly; it has a lot of biases," Papadimitriou said.