Somehow, this feels right – a correction was due. Mediapost reports on the monthly Fathom release.
MORTGAGE-RELATED SEARCH TERMS DROPPED IN price by 30 percent, leading an overall decrease in average keyword prices of 15 percent from April to May, to an average of $1.66 from $1.95, according to the Fathom Online Keyword Price Index, released today.
Could that be a sector-specific change tied to home loan interest rates or a seasonal home buying effect? Have overall mortgage marketing budgets dropped in parallel?
KPI does not equal CPI, be forewarned.
John:
I think, to some degree, we’re seeing a sizable decrease in demand for mortgage related terms. There have been a lot of deals going on (i.e. http://www.revenews.com/jeffmolander/archives/000660.html) lately that involve large players with a good number of existing eyeballs (another example: Shopping.com) getting into the game, further weakening demand for search-based paid ads. Finally, let’s not forget that the many affiliate ads have been trimmed back (Google’s AdWords policy change of mid-January).