Fathom: Mortgage Keywords Spike 20 Percent In April

Propelled by an increase in price for finance-related search terms, keyword prices from March to April rose 11 percent to an average of $1.95, according to the most recent Fathom Online Keyword Price Index, released today.

The surge marks the second consecutive month of gains in keyword prices; average cost per click across a variety of industries rose from $1.60 to $1.75 from February to March. But the increases were not uniform--as only a few categories rose in price, while the rest fell or remained static.

Terms related to mortgages gained the most, with the average price per click increasing by 20 percent in April to $6.49 from $5.39 in March. Prices of mortgage terms have more than doubled since September, when they cost $3.17.

Financial terms related to investing also spiked to $2.03 in April, from $1.86 in March and $1.76 in September. Keyword costs in the telecom/broadband category rose to $2.09 from $1.85 month-over-month, while terms related to wireless rose to $1.01 in April, from 95 cents in March. Wireless-related terms remain cheaper than last fall, when they hovered around $1.09.

At the same time, keywords in the automotive category, travel, retail, and consumer services either fell or remained at their March rates. Car-related terms dropped to $1.40 in April from $1.42 in March and $1.54 in September, and travel terms dropped in April to 92 cents from 93 cents the month before.

Search terms connected to retail goods rose month-to-month to 52 cents from 51 cents, while those related to consumer services rose to $1.13 from $1.08.

Fathom Online Keyword Price Index

09/04

10/04

11/04

12/04

01/05

02/05

03/05

04/05

Automotive

1.54

1.39

1.35

1.41

1.34

1.28

1.42

1.40

Retail

.32

.48

.60

.58

.52

.46

.51

.52

Consumer Services

.54

.96

1.27

1.36

1.29

1.04

1.08

1.13

Travel/Hospitality

.64

.85

.90

.97

.88

.81

.93

.92

Finance/Investing

1.76

1.60

1.70

1.76

1.73

1.65

1.86

2.03

Finance/Mortgage

3.17

4.31

4.74

4.79

4.93

5.10

5.39

6.49

Telecommunications/Broadband

1.89

1.78

1.59

1.63

1.67

1.72

1.85

2.09

Telecommunications/Wireless

1.09

1.06

1.09

1.09

.79

.77

.95

1.01

Overall Average

1.37

1.55

1.66

1.70

1.64

1.60

1.75

1.95

Source: Fathom Online. Indices are based on a weighted average of bid prices of the top five ranked positions across U.S. Tier I, II, and III Search vendors of keywords within a search engine marketing campaign. The industry keyword list is composed from the 500 most queried keywords within an industry. The keyword list does not include brand keywords. The index's goal is to represent a typical search engine marketing industry campaign and track the cost per click over time without being subjected to abnormal search activity due to random events regarding well-known industry brands.

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