Industry Guide · 16 chapters · first chapter coming soon
Google Ads for Education: A Student Can Pay Tuition for Years. Spend First on Families Ready to Enroll.
A school sells something families research for months and pay for over years. The inquiry usually happens on one site, the tour on another and the application on a third, and Google can only learn from the steps it can see. These sixteen chapters build a Google Ads account in the order we build them, using real searches, websites, ads and reviews from twelve schools in one example market, Salt Lake City: private K-12 schools, colleges, trade schools and online programs. Your numbers will differ. The method works for a school anywhere in the US.
Most Inquiries Never Enroll. Build the Account Around the Ones That Do.
New account? Chapter 1 comes first. Each chapter uses the setup from the ones before it.
Measure
Count every inquiry, tour and call, then send enrolled students back to Google
Track the Inquiry Off-Site
Families Ready to Enroll
Budget From the Funnel
Build
One program per ad group and page, program searches on exact match, bids set by hand, and ads in families' own words
One Program per Page
Sort Keyword Ideas by Hand
Program Searches on Exact Match
Bid on the Inquiry
Ads in Families' Words
Launch
The Google defaults to change, and the rules for reaching teens and their parents, before the first click
Teens, Parents and Settings
Scale
Performance Max once inquiries flow, campus tour videos on YouTube, your Business Profile, and AI Max last
Performance Max Page Exclusions
Campus Tours on YouTube
Business Profile and Visits
AI Max at the End
Schools
Bonus chapters: Google Ad Grants, answering every inquiry fast, and what a school ad can promise
Bonus: Ad Grants for Schools
Bonus: Speed to Lead
Bonus: Claims a School Can Make
The Rollout, Month by Month
The order matters as much as the campaigns. Each step waits until the one before it has taught Google something.
Isolation and brand
Exact match on program, school type and "near me" searches, bids set by hand, and your school's name in a campaign of its own.
Exploration
Broad match with a target CPA once the account logs about 30 quality inquiries a month. Smaller schools take longer, and manual bids stay until then.
Performance Max
The usual pace, not the rule. It waits until about 30 quality inquiries a month hold steady, with the portal, jobs and other non-admissions pages excluded.
Demand Gen and AI Max
Campus tour video on YouTube once Search brings in inquiries and the budget can carry at least 10 times your target CPA, and AI Max last.
How to Use This Guide
Starting a new account?
Read in order. Tracking the inquiry, the tour and the enrolled student comes before the first keyword.
Chapter 01 →Recruiting high school students?
Read the settings chapter first. Google won't let any school aim ads at teens, so the plan runs through their searches and their parents.
Chapter 09 →One example market
Examples come from twelve schools around Salt Lake City, from an independent K-12 school and a community college to a CDL school and an online university, described as we found them. Your numbers will differ; the method is the same.
Chapter 05 →Google Ads for Education
Google Can Count the Inquiry. Only Admissions Can Turn It Into a Student.
We've run paid ads for 25+ years and seen just about every way a budget goes sideways. Get on the phone with someone who does this every day. Bring your questions, your numbers and your skepticism. You'll hang up knowing what we'd do, whether you hire us or not.
Or see how our Google Ads management works.