Mortgage-Related Trends on Google

Rob McLister, CMT, CanadianMortgageTrends.com

Almost one-third of Canadians do all of their mortgage research online, according to CMHC. That indicates how important Google has become to consumers, lenders and mortgage brokers.

To get a better sense of mortgage trends on the world's biggest search engine, we spoke recently with David Resnick. Resnick is Head of Industry - Financial Services at Google and he offered up some intriguing insights into Google’s mortgage-related searches.

It turns out that mortgages are a red hot topic on Google. “Mortgages are the fastest growing (search) sector in financial services by far,” says Resnick. “The number of Canadian queries related to mortgage products and services is up 60% year-to-date.”

We asked Resnick for his thoughts on a range of topics, including:

Are High-Ranking Brokers Better?

• Does a high ranking in Google mean a broker is reputable and well qualified? Resnick says, “Those who have got to the top of Google probably take their line of business quite seriously. But that’s not to say they’re the best mortgage broker out there.”
• He added: “They’re probably very dedicated to online marketing. I wouldn’t necessarily place more weight on them as a consumer.”

Frequently Searched Terms

• These are mortgage terms that were heavily-searched in 2012:
  • “Mortgage calculator” (This one overtook the search term “Lady Gaga” earlier this year.)
  • “Mortgage rates”
  • “First-time home buyer”
  • “New mortgage rules” (one of the fastest growing terms this year)
• The term “BMO 2.99%” saw a major volume spike in January 2012. That coincided with BMO’s headline-making 2.99% mortgage special. Its heavy search volume persisted until March/April, when the promo ended.