Anyone who is marketing financial services online should be concerned with a new Google test. Google is now displaying a very large mortgage calculator that appears directly under the top AdWords ads that appear on the page. This calculator, in such a prominent position, will result in many websites that offer calculators to lose clickthroughs to their own calculators.
This change, if it becomes widespread, will result in those who are advertising with pay per click to spend more to ensure they appear above the calculator, but it also means that those sites that are appearing organically at the top of the search results might have to advertise in order to make up for the lost revenue from lower clickthroughs.
Dr. Pete Meyers from Moz was the first to spot the change, any shared the screenshot on his Google voice account this weekend. Here is part of the screenshot, or you can view the entire screenshot on Google+. It is extremely prominent on the search results page, even with AdWords ads appearing above it.
Google hitting the mortgage industry is pretty significant. When Meyers shared the screenshot, he commented “If you’re in home finance, better take note. They’re going to be stepping more and more aggressively into niche industries – we’ve seen it in credits cards, hotel, travel, insurance, and others.”
It remains to be seen whether this calculator will go out to all Google searchers, or if it will remain a limited test for the foreseeable future. So far, it seems that only Meyers has been able to see the calculator at this time.
Jennifer Slegg
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