Where Did All the Lead Generators Go?

June 3, 2008 By 5 Comments

You may be wondering if I got the question wrong. It seems that over the last year the prevailing question has been about mortgage lenders, not lead providers. However, a recent search for refinance mortgage brought up some interesting results:

Google Refinance Mortgage

100% mortgage lenders and 0% mortgage lead providers. This might tend to indicate that the price of mortgage leads no longer supports the $18-$25 PPC?

ppc mortgage refinance

However, the other interesting note is that in the organic results it is 100% lead providers and 0% mortgage lenders. So, maybe lead providers are getting their clicks for free.

I think the stark segmentation is the interesting discussion thread. Does the pay per market create a  bifurcated search landscape?

Just to round out the discussion starter–I did similar searches in other heavy pay per lead verticals (auto, debt, education, and insurance) and did not get the same dramatic segmentation between lenders and lead generators.

Filed Under: Lead Generation Tagged With: , , ,
  • http://www.leadcritic.com LeadCritic

    I think they are still there, but simply working PPC more efficiently, ie long tail keywords, rather then the more expensive generic terms.

    At $20 a click you are looking at a $100+ lead that you are selling at $25 on average 3 times, if your lucky and that is only if the leads is a prime filter. What if the lead generated is subprime or purchase, you may not be able to sell that $100 lead at all. ouch

  • http://www.kaleidico.com Bill Rice

    You would know :) Thanks for the comment LeadCritic.

    I think that is smart. Especially as you take control of the organic searches. I guess I was most surprised by the contrast created by this market–lead providers gaining organic search placement and lenders paying in for PPC.

    This is a very unique market!

  • http://CT.com JB

    Just to clarify – the highest bidder in your search above is a lead gen company!

  • http://www.kaleidico.com Bill Rice

    Just to highlight ridiculous comments–>@JB you can’t comment on a post’s search link a week later and expect the results to be the same.

    Also, I took the liberty of removing your LowerMyBills affiliate link out of your comment!

  • http://www.leegientke.com Lee

    I have to laugh at someone putting an affiliate link to LMB here… Come on people…