Dashboard 4 — Paid Search Investment Trends
Home Loan Spoke · Fellocraft Research · Apr 2026
Home Loan Spoke · Fellocraft Research · April 2026
Paid Search: ICICI Surges as Organic Collapses
As Google core updates erased organic visibility for India's major banks, paid search investment patterns diverged sharply. ICICI Bank tripled its paid investment while SBI spent zero. Axis Bank and HDFC Ltd exited paid search entirely. Paisabazaar and Bajaj Finserv anchored the category throughout.
ICICI Bank paid avg: 37,841/mo. SBI paid: zero.
ICICI Bank is the only major bank dramatically increasing paid investment — recent average 37,841 visits/month vs a category average of ~8,000. SBI, which holds 27.3% home loan market share, runs zero paid search. Axis Bank spent heavily through 2024 (avg 30,667/mo) then abruptly exited — zero paid from November 2025 onward. HDFC Ltd exited paid search in August 2024 and never returned.
ICICI Bank recent paid avg
37,841
Visits/mo · Oct 2025–Mar 2026 · growing
SBI paid search spend
Zero
27.3% market share. No paid investment.
Axis Bank paid exit
Nov 2025
Avg 30K/mo in 2024 → zero from Nov 2025
Paisabazaar 24-mo total
1.73M
Highest total paid in set · consistent throughout
Panel 1 — 24-month paid traffic trend
Monthly paid search traffic — April 2024 to April 2026
Active spenders only. SBI omitted (zero throughout). Axis Bank and HDFC Ltd shown until exit.
Paisabazaar
Bajaj Finserv
ICICI Bank
HDFC Bank
Axis Bank
LIC Housing
Source: Semrush Paid Traffic Analytics, India database, Apr 2024–Apr 2026. Figures include paid search and may include paid social. Directional estimates for competitive benchmarking.
Paid search status — all 13 brands
Brand24mo totalPeak monthStatus
Paisabazaar1,728,921Nov 2024 (118K)Active
Bajaj Finserv1,338,690Oct 2024 (102K)Active
ICICI Bank751,658Feb 2026 (54K)Growing
Axis Bank463,968Apr 2024 (42K)Exited Nov 25
HDFC Bank274,165Dec 2025 (31K)Intermittent
Tata Capital168,112Oct 2024 (13K)Active
LIC Housing136,838Jan 2026 (12K)Growing
HDFC Ltd111,167Jul 2024 (21K)Exited Aug 24
Kotak Bank81,913Nov 2025 (11K)Seasonal
PNB Housing38,055Dec 2025 (10K)Active
BankBazaar295,359Mar 2026 (22K)Active
Bank of Baroda4,072Jan 2025 (1.7K)Near zero
SBIZero
Key paid search findings
What the data reveals
ICICI Bank — the counter-narrative
As organic traffic collapsed across all banks, ICICI Bank tripled its paid investment. Recent avg 37,841/mo vs early avg 36,240/mo — steady, growing. Peak: 54,279 in Feb 2026. ICICI is the only bank using paid search to compensate for organic losses.
Axis Bank — abrupt exit
Averaged 30,667/month in paid search Apr 2024–Oct 2025. Then zero from November 2025 onward — a sudden complete withdrawal coinciding with the November 2025 organic traffic collapse. Both channels lost simultaneously.
HDFC Ltd — early exit, never returned
Spent consistently through Jul 2024 (peak 21K). Zero from August 2024 — the same month Google's August Core Update hit. Coincides with HDFC Bank merger integration. Now has near-zero digital acquisition across both paid and organic.
LIC Housing — growing paid while organic grows
The only brand growing on both channels. Paid investment doubled from early period (avg 2,056/mo) to recent period (avg 7,983/mo). Small scale but directionally the most consistent digital investment in the set.