Can Google search trends show you how to communicate with home buyers?

Home buying season is just around the corner, so we thought it would be fun to take a look at the words people use when they’re looking to finance a new house.

We found out there is a huge difference in the way different people end up searching for the same thing, and that these differences vary from state to state. Why is this important? Because your credit union could be leaving a lot of money on the table by not using the right words.

Let’s take a look.

HOME EQUITY LINE OF CREDIT vs. HELOC

For example, you have some equity in your home and you’re looking for some credit. Do you search for a “Home Equity Line of Credit” or for a “HELOC” online?

It depends.

In general, more people are searching for the keyword “Home Equity Line of Credit” but if you’re a credit union in Colorado, you may want to consider leading with the term “HELOC” on your web pages and outbound communications because that term is relatively popular in the Centennial State.

How about if you need money to buy a house? Are you looking for a “Home Loan” or a “Home Mortgage” online? The keyword “Home Loan” gets about double the number of searches of the keyword “Home Mortgage. However, midwestern states seem to prefer the keyword “Home Mortgage” while northwestern states prefer the keyword “Home Loan.”

Taking a closer look at the keywords related to “Home Loan” and “Home Mortgage,” respectively, also brings up an interesting point. Keywords related to “Home Loan” have the term “equity” in them, e.g. “Equity Loan” and “Home Equity.” Whereas the keyword, “Home Mortgage” has related keywords with the term “rates” in them, e.g. “Mortgage Rates” and “Home Mortgage Rates.”

This means that even though the keyword “Home Loan” may have more search traffic related to it, you might want to go with a keyword like “Home Mortgage” because you know exactly what the people using that term are looking for online.

This research is powerful because getting into the minds of your members and prospective members is the first step toward marketing to them successfully.

MORTGAGE CALCULATOR vs. LOAN CALCULATOR

Let’s say that you want to figure out what your payments will be based on different loan balances. Are you looking for a “Mortgage Calculator” or a “Loan Calculator” online? A couple million people are searching for a “Mortgage Calculator” every month, while less than half a million people search for a “loan calculator” monthly.

Which one do you want on your website and marketing materials?

The related keywords tell a story here, as well. A “Loan Calculator” seems to be highly associated with auto loans. Related keywords include terms like “Auto Calculator” and “Auto Loan Calculator.” Whereas a “Mortgage Calculator” gets quadruple the search volume and is highly associated with a mortgage loan.

BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER

If you’re like us and you think that figuring out what people are searching for will help you show up when they’re looking AND help you sell to them in your marketing collateral, then we’ve got something great for you. We’re putting all of our research on home buying searches together on one page, to serve as a living resource for financial institution marketers.

Click on the image above and let us know what you think in the comments below.