Whether you are new to the educational sector or an established institution, digital marketing is a tool you cannot afford to ignore. One such powerful tool is Google Search Ads. When tailored for schools, this form of advertising can significantly enhance your school’s online visibility, driving more prospective families to your website.
If you’re just starting out with Google Ads, search ads are relatively simple and are a highly effective tool in increasing your school’s enrolment. There are, however, a number of pitfalls you should avoid when setting up your campaigns in order to maximise the potential of Google Search Ads.
Why Google Search Ads for Schools?
Google Search Ads are a potent tool in reaching out to prospective families. These ads appear when users search for relevant keywords on Google, putting your school right in front of potential families at the moment they are actively looking for educational opportunities.
Relevance to User Search Intent
Google Search Ads are designed to match the user’s search intent. This means that your ad appears to users who are actively seeking educational opportunities that your school offers. This targeted approach increases the likelihood of attracting interested and relevant users.
Target Specific Geographic Regions
Google Search Ads allow you to target specific geographic regions. Whether you are a local school seeking local students or an international school seeking students from specific countries, Google Search Ads can cater to your needs.
Cost-Effective Advertising
Google Search Ads operate on a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) model. You only pay when a user clicks on your ad, meaning you are paying for actual visits to your website and not just views of the ad.
Measurable Results
Google Search Ads provide measurable results. You can easily track the number of clicks, impressions, and conversions your ad generates, allowing you to measure the effectiveness of your campaign and make necessary adjustments.
Setting Up Your School’s Search Campaign
Setting up a Google Search Ads campaign for your school involves several steps. It starts with understanding the different types of Google Ads, selecting relevant keywords, writing the ads, ensuring your landing page content matches your ad details, and testing your ads.
Understanding Google Ad Types
There are two main types of Google Ads: Display Ads and Search Network Ads. Display Ads are primarily visual and don’t require much writing, while Search Network Ads are the text ads that appear at the top of Google search results. This guide focuses on Search Network Ads.
Structuring Your Account and Campaigns Correctly
The first thing you should do is set up your account correctly. Switching to expert mode will allow you greater control over the settings during campaign set up and allow you to avoid over spending on click by customising your settings.
If you’re planning on targeting different countries or languages it is helpful to organise your account with multiple campaigns.
At this time it is also a good idea to define what your school considers a conversion action so that Google’s AI can optimise your account for these conversion actions. Common macro and micro conversions for schools often include:
- Contact form submissions
- Phone calls
- Emails
- School Fees PDF Downloads
- Prospectus PDF Downloads
- Newsletter Signups
Avoid Common Pitfalls
When navigating the ad setup steps there are several options that seem innocent but can burn through your budget is set up incorrectly:
- Turn off Google Search Partners
- Disable the display network extension
Selecting Relevant Keywords
The success of your Google Search Ads campaign largely depends on your keyword selection. Use keyword research tools to generate a list of relevant keywords that prospective students are likely to use when searching for educational opportunities that your school offers.
A single campaign can contain several ad groups. Keywords are selected at the Ad group level and should be organised around small groups of keywords that represent a single theme. Organising your ad groups around a single theme allows you to craft more relevant copy and align the messaging on the landing page to the searcher’s original intent. A single campaign for a school may be broken down into the following single theme ad groups, or STAGS each containing 5-10 relevant keywords:
- Top international schools in [City]
- British Schools in [City]
- Primary/Elementary Schools in [City]
- IB Curriculum Schools in [City]
Schools should use a variety of exact and phrase keywords, but avoid broad match keywords, as they can drain your budget on irrelevant searches.
Writing Your Ads
Your ads should be compelling, concise, and relevant to the keywords you are targeting. They should include a headline that grabs attention and a description that provides further details.
For search ads, Google allows up to four 90 character descriptions and up to fifteen 60 character headlines. Over time Google will show these in different combinations and determine the best performing copy over time.
Enhance Your School’s Ads with Images and Assets
Make your school’s ads stand out in the search results by adding images and other assets such as callouts and sitelinks to key pages. Google doesn’t always include these in the ad but, when shown, they can significantly improve ad performance.
Monitor Audiences
In the audience section of your ads account you can select all different types of in-market(users actively considering a product or service), interest based, and demographic audiences. It is a good idea to observe these audiences to see if any relevant audiences convert at a higher rate, or a lower cost.
Ensuring Landing Page Content Matches Your Ad Details
The landing page to which your ad directs users should be consistent with the details in your ad. This consistency not only improves the user experience but also enhances your ad’s credibility and effectiveness.
Your landing page should also make it easy for a potential family to contact your admissions team. A common mistake many schools make is to direct clicks to their website homepage. This means the potential family has to take more steps in order to contact you.
Testing Your Ads
After setting up your Google Search Ads campaign, it is crucial to test your ads. This involves monitoring the performance of your ads over a period of time and making necessary adjustments based on the results.
Quickly split-test an ad by duplicating an existing ad using Google’s copy and paste feature, then change any ad details you wish and run the ads alongside each other to determine the best performing ad. Common variables that schools may want to test are:
- Headlines
- Descriptions
- Images
- Landing Page Copy
- Ad Extensions
It is important not to change too many variables at once, or you may not be able to tell why one ad is performing better than another.
Final Thoughts
Google Search Ads for schools offer a cost-effective, targeted, and measurable way to reach out to prospective students. By understanding how to set up and manage your school’s search campaign effectively, you can significantly enhance your school’s online visibility and attract more prospective students. However, like any other form of advertising, it requires careful planning, execution, and continuous monitoring to achieve the desired results.
Got 15 Minutes to Spare?
I hope this article provided you with some insight into what goes into a successful Google Ads campaign. If you need help managing your school’s ad campaigns, you could leverage my years of experience in running successful school ad campaigns. Drop me a message and schedule a 15 minute, no obligation chat today.