Lending Tree: LLM Referrals Are Very “High-Intent Consumers”

During Lending Tree’s Q4 earnings call, CEO Scott Peyree echoed the same conclusion on LLMs that was uttered by rival NerdWallet, that LLM referrals convert better than normal search referrals.

“There are a number of fronts we are working on there,” said Peyree. “There is obviously the SEO front where you are getting referenced by the LLMs, driving consumers to our site. We continue to focus on that and it continues to grow. It is very high-intent consumers, as I have mentioned on previous calls. I would say, materially, it is still a pretty small percentage of our overall consumer base, but it is continuing to grow.”

Lending Tree hinted that there was an opportunity to capture more LLM traffic through paid LLM advertising going forward but that they couldn’t say to what extent yet for 2026.

“Some of the LLMs, ChatGPT being an example, are looking to start testing some advertising, which we are excited about participating in,” Peyree said.