Why bridging brokers are underspending on Google Search
The opening note: a market scan of paid search activity across the UK bridging lender landscape.
The first piece we ever published, as a market scan to anchor what Capital Edge was about. The thesis: UK bridging brokers were collectively under-spending on Google Search relative to the genuine commercial intent available, because the channel felt 'old' and Meta was getting all of the attention. Two years later most of this still reads as right.
The intent that was being left on the table
Searches like 'bridging loan auction completion', 'short term property finance UK', and 'development bridging finance' had real, measurable, commercial-intent volume - thousands of searches a month with conversion rates that put them comfortably above what social was producing for the same brokers.
And most bridging brokers were spending 70-80% of their paid budget on Meta, where the audience was at best lukewarm. The ratio was inverted from what the channel data justified.
Why brokers got it wrong
Two reasons, mostly. First, Google Ads required ongoing keyword-level discipline that felt more like work than Meta's broader targeting. Brokers under-resourced it because the marginal hour was painful.
Second, social media was new and trendy through 2021-22 and bridging brokers were told - correctly, at the time - that they were missing the channel. The over-correction was to over-invest in social and under-invest in the boring older channel that was still printing.
What the right split would have looked like
For most bridging brokers in late 2023, a 60% Google / 40% Meta split would have produced more booked calls than the inverse they were running. The Google leads were warmer, converted better, and cost less per drawn-down deal even when the cost-per-click looked higher.
We made this argument loudly to a lot of brokers in late 2023. The ones who rebalanced their spend through Q1 2024 had a measurably better year than the ones who didn't.
This was the opening note for Capital Edge as a firm, and it set the template for how we wrote: argue from numbers, name the trade-offs, take a position. The bridging brokers underspending on Google Search in November 2023 were doing it because the channel felt unfashionable. Fashion is not a media strategy. Two years later that lesson has, if anything, only got more important.
Capital Edge publishes one note a month on UK bridging finance, paid acquisition, and AI-led outbound. Written for brokers, by the team running the playbook.