As of last week AOL is now in the mortgage lead generation business. They will be selling all their leads through the Root Exchange for approximately $42-$45. This is an interesting move by the search giant. Now, instead of just selling ad space to publishers, which sell the data collected to Banks and Brokers for a premium, AOL will now raise their profit margin buy generating the lead themselves and then selling the lead on the open marketplace.

As many of you may know a typical mortgage refiance related keyword may cost between $1 to $9 and possibly even a bit higher. With this move AOL is saying screw the $5 CPC, I also want to convert that click into a $180 profit. Makes perfect sence to me, but what does it mean for my website placements and all other websites competing for that same keyword? AOL has the inside scoop and unfair advantage in my opinion. Of course this isn’t going to effect the actual placement but it may effect the conversions.  

First off, the mortgage industry is big enough for everyone, so at this point I don’tthink AOL is going to effect the volume of visits to my site, but what if Yahoo jumps on the band wagon, then Google? Now these two SE have more devoted followers and could effect the volume of visits, in my opinion. What about all the CPC based lead generation companies? They have got to be a little concerned right? Well, I spoke with a couple large lead providers and they were definitely surprised. This move totally caught them off guard. Now it looks like AOL is testing their new tool  only in certain markets. You can search California Mortgage and the tool pops up on the top right hand column. You can see it here. I of course will by these leads because I think the quality should be excellent. I will know exactly where the lead came from. I guess I feel like I can trust AOL a little more than Joe Mortgage Lead Generator. I wonder if the consumer will have the same feeling? I think they will.