Google Ads is the world’s largest digital ad network, and with Google currently controlling 93% of the global organic search market, search ads are an important part of your school’s digital marketing mix.

In this article, I will outline some common problems with International School Google Search Ads and how to improve them.

What are Search Ads?

There are a number of different ways a business can leverage the Google Ad platform for advertising, this article focuses on Google Search Ads. Search ads are (primarily) text ads that show in the organic search results when someone searches for something on a search engine.

As a school, Google (or possibly Baidu if you’re in China) is the single most important advertising platform. In fact, over 90% private school searches in the US start with a google search, and 70% of users don’t move off Google during the decision making stage. As search ads are intent based they allow your school to deliver advertising messages to potential families when they are actively searching for a school.

Have a Good Value Proposition

In the image above, which ad would do you think has the higher CTR? – My money would be on the top ad.

Creating a search ad for your school that scores highly on Google’s ad quality score is important, and to help you, the Google Ad platform will suggest headlines in order to improve ad quality. This can lead to sterile looking ads that don’t really drive action. While it is helpful to achieve a high quality score, Search Ads headlines and descriptions should contain a mixture of your school’s unique benefits, calls-to-action, as well as including relevant keywords.

Tailor Your Messages To Specific Keywords

Because Google places ads above search results, it’s a good idea for your school to organize these search terms into related groups and create an ad for each group of search terms, or “Keywords”. When searching for a school, potential families could be at any stage of the purchase process, so it makes sense to tailor you message based on the stage they are at. For example, someone searching for international schools in Bangkok is probably much earlier in their search than someone searching for international school of Shanghai fees – Dividing your search terms into related groups allows a more targeted message for each stage of the customer journey.

If you have the budget, and want to get really granular, you could divide your message by customer journey and the customer’s location. For example, potential families searching from within your target country vs those searching from overseas. This can be particularly useful if the action you want them take is different. For instance, you wouldn’t invite a family halfway across the globe on a school tour but you might if they were already living within 15k of the school.

Create Dedicated Landing Pages

Just as you should tailor your message to suit what your potential families are searching for, you should also tailor your landing page to align with the messaging on the ad. So many school advertisements, particularly in Google, send the searcher to the school’s homepage. If the ad is for preschool, send them to a preschool landing page. If the ad is related to school fees, make sure that the searcher can download (or see) the fees on the page that they land on.

Having a relevant landing page tailored to the ad that you are serving improves user experience. Google wants the best experience for their users and will reward you with a better quality score and cheaper costs per click.

Don’t Use Broad Match Keywords

If you compare the intent of a someone searching for “Best IB Diploma School” vs “Best IB Diploma School Worksheets” they are likely very different. The former is probably someone you would like to advertise to, and the latter is likely a current IB student looking for help with their homework. In international schools marketing, broad match often shows on irrelevant search terms, resulting in wasted ad spend. Try exact match and phrase match keywords instead.

Advertise on Branded Keywords

Branded keywords are search terms that contain your school’s name. A lot of school’s don’t target their own branded search terms, after all, people are already searching for your school.

There are a number of benefits to advertising on your own branded keywords:

• You can send high-intent searchers straight to a dedicated landing page that collects their contact information.
• Bidding on your own keywords protects the space at the top of the results from competitors’ ads.
• Cheap conversions that will train Google’s AI on who is likely to convert.

There are plenty of other reasons for bidding on your own keywords, here is a great guide from DataDrivenU.

I’d Love to Hear From You

Do you need more digital leads for your school? Schedule an introductory chat by clicking the button below and filling out the form.