No manufacturers or bank-owned providers in top 10 web
searches, reports Richard Brown.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Car finance brokers and car supermarkets are taking the lion’s
share of online searches for motor finance, says marketing analysis
firm Pinehearst Digital in a report published this month.
The report, UK Top 30 Online
Motor Finance Companies, found nearly half of all clicks on
754 key search terms, across all search engines, lead to comparison
websites or car finance brokers (a category making up nearly a
third of all clicks) in the report’s top 30 sites.
The top 10 sites on the list
account for half of all links returned in searches using car
finance-related terms. There is not a single manufacturer among
them and only one bank-owned provider represented.
While this may not reflect the
market share of the finance providers involved, the results are an
indicator of where people are researching their car finance.
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By GlobalDataPinehearst commercial director
Charlie Oakham says: “It’s the total penetration or visibility to
people looking for information.”
At a time when consumers have more
sources of advice available to them than ever before.
Over a quarter of consumer clicks
were found to be on ‘organic’ links (those not paid for to ensure
prominence) to brokers and comparison websites.
While Car Loan 4 U accounts for
15.44% of total traffic, a greater proportion of that is through
paid links than moneysupermarket.com in second place. Some 7.65% of
all people searching for car finance go to the latter without
hitting a link that cost money to be put in an eye-catching
position.
The car marques that do feature in
the top 30 sites receive only 2.69% of clicks from searches for car
finance, and only 1.21% from links that aren’t paid for.
High street lenders also fare
badly. Pay-per-click traffic accounts for 57.48% of the leads to
their websites, compared to 5.24% for introducer sites, and no high
street bank breaks into the top 15.
Manufacturers pay a similar
proportion, 55.1%, for links that drive traffic to their websites,
yet receive the least traffic of any group within the top 30
sites.
What then could the banks and
manufacturers be doing differently online?
“If you are to look at Car Loan 4
U, its brand is spread across a wide range,” says Oakham. “It is
engaging in social media, picking up search trends. Manufacturers
and lenders are paying for the privilege of people clicking on
their links.
“Maybe brokers understand that
aspect of the market better.”
Many companies that dominate the
survey have come into existence as internet-based models – many of
the top 10 operate under internet domain names – unlike banks or
car-makers which have had to adapt.
Nevertheless, there is room for
point of sale finance houses and personal loan providers to
overtake the current google-toppers.
“If you look at Tesco, Sainsbury’s,
Ford, Black Horse, all teetering on the top 10, these are threats
to Car Loan 4 U and moneysupermarket.com,” warns Oakham.
“They could refocus their links and
their strategy and start ranking more competitively.
“Lloyds TSB still has traffic to
its site but has specialised with Black Horse, which has ranked
higher. Many banks are still putting car finance in with other
personal loans and they’ve missed a trick.”
Websites that have committed
themselves and are represented in the top 10 use several different
operating models.
Carcraft appears reliant on links
that it pays for, with 74.28% coming through them. ACF Car Finance
is not too far behind but has a much lower ratio of 36.37% in paid
to non-paid clicks.
Three brokers in the top 10,
creditplus.co.uk, CarFinance.co.uk and carfinance247.co.uk each
have a similar level of search engine penetration but a much higher
rate of organic clicks and pay little for their traffic.
Such discrepancy between ratios can
be dependent on the strategy of a website.
“People aren’t just typing ‘car
finance’ into a search engine. Successful companies are shoring up
their search presence, creating links and writing relevant
content,” says Oakham.
How a company makes its literature
search-relevant to Google, Yahoo or Bing may still be up to an
individual marketing strategist, but what is not in doubt for
Oakham is the relevance of doing so.
“Point of sale is in a nosedive but the search engine market is
through the roof,” he says.
