Google takes on the meerkats and opera singers The new service works directly from Google's main UK search page and currently covers credit cards, current accounts and savings accounts. Many major providers have already signed up, including most of Britain's biggest banks and building societies. If the user enters a search term relating to one of these products, the first result that Google returns will be a box showing a choice of offers. So if you enter "credit cards," the box will show the best-buy cards in a number of categories, such as balance transfer offers and cards for those with a poor credit history. Clicking on one of these best buys will bring up a table of competing offers, ordered in the way that Google thinks the user is most likely to want. So if "balance transfers" is selected, the deal with the longest balance transfer period will be listed first. Google said even companies that had not signed up to the service would be included in the listings if users clicked on the appropriate link. It stressed that it aimed for maximum transparency about its commercial relationships with the card providers featured. The service takes Google head to head with heavily advertised websites such as moneysupermarket.com, comparethemarket.com - famous for its meerkats - and gocompare.com, promoted on television by opera singers. In February the search engine said it had suspended an earlier version of the service, which it launched following its takeover of BeatThatQuote.com last year. John Paleomylites, product management director at Google, said: "Today we are introducing a new look comparison unit with enhanced transparency using BeatThatQuote.com expertise and Google technology. The enhanced service is now easier to use for consumers and will provide higher quality traffic for advertisers. We will introduce this improved design layout for searches around credit cards, current and savings accounts in the UK.