Paid Search ad spending on the personal loan keyword group increased 101% from 2014 to 2016, despite the number of advertisers decreasing by nearly half during that time period.
That’s the finding of an analysis of the category just released by AdGooroo, a leading provider of search marketing intelligence.
Spending on the personal loan keyword group more than doubled from $14.3 million in 2014 to $28.7 million in 2016. At the same time, the number of advertisers sponsoring the keyword group decreased by 44% during this period, dropping from a total of 2,789 in 2014 to 1,551 in 2016.
The study looked at the Google desktop text ad activity of 106 personal loan-related keywords from 2014-2016, in which the money lending industry saw major changes in the post-Great Recession years with the rise of online lending sites.
To access current leadership in paid search advertising for personal loans, the study also measured the US Google desktop text ad activity of the category from January 1st through February 15th.
In their analysis, AdGooroo found that:
• The number of competitors on the personal loan category decreased by 28% from 2014-2015, suggesting that the relatively young online loan industry may be narrowing as less successful players drop out.
• The number of consumer clicks on the keyword group as a whole jumped by 42% from 1.9 million in 2014 to 2.6 million in 2016.
• The average cost per click increased 31% from $12.73 in 2014 to $16.69 in 2016.
• SoFi (Social Finance Inc.) generated 17.7% of all clicks on the personal loan keyword group from January 1- February 15.
• Lending Tree and Top10PersonalLoans.com followed closely behind, at 14.8% and 13% click share respectively.
• Representing the traditional financial sector, Discover.com (11.7% click share) and ConsumerAdvocates.com(9.2%) rounded out the top five in click share.
• In addition to SoFi, three other lending sites figured in the ranking. Marcus.com, which launched in October 2016, gained a 4.75% click share while Upstart.com and Lending Club experience a 3.1% and 2.9% click share respectively.