For example, I plotted Continental Airlines stock price on Google’s domestic trends index for airline travel:

Google thinks there may be some useful insight into search volume for economic forecasting. For more information, see the Google Finance Blog and Techmeme.

As reported at the Search Engine Roundtable, Sam from Oh Nuts noticed Google testing what appears to look a lot like the Google Wonder Wheel in the video search results. As you can see from the picture below, you will notice additional search filters on the left hand side. I personally cannot replicate that left hand side in any browser on any operating system:

Google is also testing replacing the comments icon with a text link that reads “Review This Site.” Note, the comment feature came when Google launched SearchWiki in November. I am able to see this using Firefox, but not on Safari. Here is a picture of the “Review This Site” link, followed by the old icon interface:

Finally, as reported at TechCrunch, Google Finance is testing a new side bar. I am not able to replicate it, but when you go to Google Finance, some of you may see a side bar that has the options for Markets, News, Portfolio and Stock Screener. In addition, the recent quotes you looked up would be displayed on the left hand column. TechCrunch has before and after screen captures.

In my Ad Age column last month, I joked about Google taking a “drill, baby, drill” approach in rolling out more ads everywhere on its properties. Now the latest ad reservoir to be tapped: Google Finance, as announced today on the Google Blog. You’ll find a new box as shown above sporting ads on the Google Finance home page, as well as ads that are running along the sides of internal pages:

Google also notes that Google News will be getting ads:

In the very near future, we will start testing text ads on a small number of news refinements within Google Search — so if, for example, you type “iPod” into Google.com and then click on the news link on the upper left-hand side, you might see text ads alongside those results.

Actually, the testing on Google News is live now. I talked to Nick Fox, business product management director at Google, who clarified that, if you go directly to Google News, no ads will appear. But if you do a web search, see a news item, and click to Google News, then ads will be shown. Here’s a screenshot Google sent of how they appear to those in the test:

The ads appear similar to regular Google search, along the right side of the page. The idea is that because an actual search was conducted, the searcher is more likely to be receptive to targeted ads than if s/he was browsing. However, searches on Google News itself will not generate ads at the moment. That may change after further testing.

You can expect even more ads types to be coming, Google also said:

We’ve been testing different advertising formats for years (some have been more successful than others), and over the next few months, you’ll see us continuing to experiment with new ads in new places.

The reason for all this is clear. Google’s revenues aren’t growing as fast as in the past. No ifs, ands or buts — as its stock price is down, and people are fearing a Google ads shortfall, Google is looking to earn more, in my view. It’s as I wrote in my column:

It’s an invasion of ads on Google. They’re showing up in places where the search engine has never had them before, with formats we’ve never seen. What’s going on? The economic times are getting tougher, so Google’s doing its own form of “Drill, baby, drill” and tapping into reservoirs it has left untouched until now …. Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s anything goes at Google. I think the company still will show care in where and how it allows ads. But these new areas will mean new opportunities for advertisers.

Indeed, below are articles we’ve run recently about new ways Google has been allowing ads into its properties in the past few weeks:

• YouTube Formally Introduces ‘Sponsored Videos’

• Google AdWords: Now With Images

• Google Puts New AdSense Ads Under Maps

• Google Now Allowing Ads For Beer

• Google AdWords Allowing Gambling Ads In UK

But officially from Google, why this sudden rollout of new monetization? I asked Fox about it, and he said:

We’ve always said we’ll monetize these properties when it made sense to from a user and advertiser perspective. In terms of the timing now, we’re looking at what decisions we’ve thought about and moving ahead with the nobrainer ones. There’s no time like the present to make them.

No time, as in the tougher economic climate? Although Fox said he’s not able to comment on Google’s current financial performance, he did say:

I think I come back to Sergey’s point [Google cofounder Sergey Brin, in a recent financial call] about “scarcity creates clarity.” That if a company faces a tougher economic climate, that company would be more rigorous moving ahead with the nobrainer decisions out there.

For more, see related articles on Techmeme.

Hat tip to Googlified.

• Events section now lists earnings calls, analyst meetings and other scheduled events relating to a company
• Add those events to your Google Calendar right from that page
• View and download historical prices (example for AAPL)
• You can download the latest portfolio performance and transaction details from your portfolio
• Links to the news RSS feeds for each stock ticker
• Google News now links to Google Finance if the company is listed

Here is an example of Google Calendar integration with Google Finance for Apple’s stock.

Here is an example of Google News integration with Google Finance for a search on APPL news.

Clicking on the plus sign, opens a Google Finance preview.

This is similar to Google Maps plus sign in the Google search results.

Hat tip to Google Operating Systems also.

Today, according to the Official Google Blog, the NYSE issued a proposal to the SEC which if approved, keep fees at a level that would allow Google to display real-time, last-sale prices across all Google properties.

From the blog post:

We’ve worked with the SEC, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and our D.C. trade association, NetCoalition, to find a way to bring stock data to Google users in a way that benefits users and is practical for all parties. We have encouraged the SEC to ensure that this data can be made available to our users at fair and reasonable rates, and applaud their recent efforts to review this issue.

• Market Summary
• Sector summary
• Top movers
• Category pages
• Enhanced portfolios
• 40 years of historical stock data (launched a week or so ago)
• And more…

Postscript: The Google Blog just posted an announcement on Google Finance, with a link to a YouTube video.