Google 'getting into the payday loan business' is likely just Google continuing to test its Comparison Ads feature: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2009/10/introdu

Google 'getting into the payday loan business' is likely just Google continuing to test its Comparison Ads feature: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2009/10/introducing-adwords-comparison-ads.html http://adwords.blogspot.com/2009/10/introducing-adwords-comp... Not surprising that they're there - the industry throws off a boatload of money, but only a portion currently goes to Google, since there's an established lead gen industry acting as intermediaries between Google and the actual payday loan providers. Same situation as with mortgage leads - and in fact Google's used the same 'bringing transparency to a shady and inefficient industry' rhetoric when they've talked about mortgage lead generation. Like with mortgage leads, this initiative is probably doomed, since the big advertisers in the space have absolutely no desire to efficiently compete for consumers via directly-comparable financial terms. When an industry's confusing and opaque, it's usually for a reason.