Google Search Ads have become an essential tool in higher education marketing, offering universities and colleges a powerful way to reach prospective students. When people search for specific programs or courses online, they are often further along in their decision-making process, making them more likely to take meaningful actions like requesting information, applying, or enrolling. By tapping into Google’s advanced targeting tools, higher education marketers can ensure their institutions appear at the right moment, boosting both visibility and recruitment efforts.
The pay-per-click (PPC) model ensures that you spend your marketing budget efficiently, only paying when users actively engage with your ad. This not only makes Google Search Ads a cost-effective strategy but also reinforces brand recognition through repeated visibility. However, despite its potential, many universities make critical mistakes when managing their Google Ads campaigns. Missteps in strategy, execution, or user focus can result in spending a lot for very few actual enrollments, leaving schools wondering why they’re not seeing the results they hoped for.
In this blog post, we’ll explore 13 (spooky!) common mistakes higher ed marketers make when running Google Search Ads campaigns — and more importantly, how to fix them. By understanding these pitfalls and learning how to leverage Google’s tools more effectively, your institution can avoid wasted ad spend and achieve better outcomes in reaching prospective students.
Misaligning Keywords and Programs
One of the most common mistakes higher education marketers make with Google Search Ads is failing to align their keywords with specific university programs. Instead of focusing on their institution’s unique offerings, they often rely on generic terms like “college courses” or “online degrees.” While these broad keywords might seem like they cast a wider net, they tend to attract irrelevant traffic, wasting ad spend on users who aren’t looking for what your institution offers.
For example, if your school is promoting an online MBA program tailored to working professionals, using specific keywords such as (literally) “online MBA for working professionals” or “flexible MBA program” will attract users who are more likely to engage with your ad. These individuals have clearer intent and are further along in the decision-making process, so they’re more likely to click on your ad, request information, or even apply.
By aligning your keywords with your programs, you not only increase the relevance of your ads but also improve the quality of traffic to your site. This leads to higher engagement rates and, ultimately, a better return on investment (ROI) for your marketing efforts. Tailoring keywords to match your institution’s unique offerings ensures you’re reaching the right audience — students actively searching for what your school specializes in — rather than wasting resources on vague or overly broad search terms.
Neglecting Local Targeting
When promoting campus-based programs, many universities make the mistake of overlooking localized targeting in their Google Search Ads campaigns. For on-campus degrees, it’s essential to focus on specific geographic areas where prospective students are most likely to reside. Running ads without this geo-targeting can lead to clicks from users outside of your target region — people who may have little to no interest in relocating for a degree — ultimately resulting in wasted ad spend and a diminished ROI.
It seems obvious, but if you’re promoting a graduate program based at a university in Southern California, you’ll want to target local areas like Los Angeles, San Diego, and the surrounding counties. Advertising your on-campus program to users across the country or even internationally can generate traffic from people who aren’t realistic candidates for enrollment, making your marketing efforts far less efficient.
By implementing localized targeting, you ensure that your ads are seen by potential students who are within a reasonable distance from your campus and more likely to attend. This geo-targeted approach increases the relevance of your ads, enhances engagement, and improves the chances of attracting qualified leads who can realistically enroll in your on-campus programs. In the long run, this strategy optimizes your ad budget and ensures your marketing dollars are being spent effectively.
Missing Unique Selling Points
Higher education is a competitive field; failing to highlight your institution’s unique selling propositions (USPs) in your Google Search Ads can significantly hinder your campaign’s success. With so many schools vying for prospective students’ attention, it’s crucial to communicate what sets your university apart. Whether it’s cutting-edge research opportunities, prestigious partnerships, generous scholarship programs, or a highly specialized curriculum, these USPs can make the difference between a potential student clicking on your ad or scrolling past it.
If your ad copy doesn’t showcase these differentiators, you risk blending in with other institutions offering generic appeals. For example, an ad that simply promotes “top degree programs” or “excellent faculty” won’t stand out, as nearly every university can make similar claims. Instead, emphasize specifics, such as “unique internship programs with Fortune 500 companies,” “faculty-led research facilities,” or “scholarships available for first-generation students.” This clear, specific verbiage boosts your click-through rate and attracts students who are more likely to apply, as they’ll see a direct connection between what they’re looking for and what your school offers.
Skipping Tailored Landing Pages
A significant misstep in Google Search Ads campaigns is sending all traffic to a generic homepage or a broad admissions page. While this might seem like an easy catch-all solution, it’s far from effective. Ads that promote specific programs should lead users to landing pages that reflect the exact program details advertised. Directing potential students to a page that doesn’t align with their search intent can lead to high bounce rates and low engagement (read: wasted ad dollars).
Imagine a prospective student clicking on an ad for a Master’s in Data Science. Instead of being greeted with detailed information about that specific program, they land on a generic graduate admissions page with no direct mention of Data Science. This disconnect can cause frustration and may drive them to leave your site in search of clearer information elsewhere. Instead, create well-optimized landing pages to showcase your programs’ unique properties. You can highlight your curriculum, notable faculty, and potential career opportunities — all in line with the ad’s initial promise.
Moreover, matching your landing pages to your ad copy and targeted keywords doesn’t just improve user experience — it can also boost your campaign’s performance. Google rewards relevancy, so having tailored landing pages can increase your ad’s quality score, resulting in better placement and lower cost-per-click. Just be sure that your landing pages are focused only on that program! Having multiple links out to other programs just gives your users more opportunities to leave your page. Every link on a landing page should encourage a prospective student to enter their information; it’s the best way to convert interested prospects into applicants.
Ignoring Audience Segmentation
Higher ed institutions serve a wide range of prospective students, from undergraduates and graduates to international students and working professionals. Yet many higher education marketers fail to adjust their Google Search Ads to reflect this diversity, relying on broad, generic audience segments. This one-size-fits-all approach can result in ads that don’t actually target anyone, failing to resonate with the unique needs and motivations of specific student groups.
An ad aimed at undergraduates just beginning their academic journey won’t necessarily appeal to working professionals seeking an advanced degree or international students looking for visa-friendly programs. By leveraging demographic targeting, universities can segment their audience based on shared traits — such as age, location, educational background, or career goals — making their ads more relevant and compelling for each group. For instance, you might create one campaign targeting recent high school graduates with messaging around vibrant campus life and another for mid-career professionals highlighting flexible, self-paced online degrees.
In addition to audience segmentation, using demographic exclusions is a smart way to refine your targeting even further. Strategically excluding certain demographics — like users outside of your desired age range or individuals in geographic areas unlikely to apply — ensures your ads are only shown to the most relevant audiences.
Underusing Remarketing
Prospective students rarely make a decision on their first visit to a university’s website. They often explore programs, compare options, and return several times before deciding to apply. This behavior creates a prime opportunity for remarketing — a tactic that many universities overlook.
Remarketing allows you to strategically target users who have already interacted with your site, serving them ads that align with their previous behavior. For instance, a student who visited your MBA program page once can be re-engaged with an ad reminding them of upcoming application deadlines or an invitation to an open house event. These tailored ads can help push hesitant prospects further along the admissions funnel, providing the nudge they need to take the next step.
Allocating Budget Poorly
Universities often juggle multiple Google Search Ads campaigns for different programs, each with its own priorities and goals. However, poor budget allocation — such as underfunding high-priority programs or overinvesting in underperforming ones — can dramatically impact the success of these campaigns. Not distributing your funds strategically may result in missed opportunities to attract qualified students or wasted spend on ads that don’t yield meaningful results.
To avoid this, it’s essential to implement full-funnel attribution when managing budgets. This means analyzing not just how many clicks or conversions a campaign generates, but how those conversions translate into actual enrolled students. Some campaigns may drive leads, but if they don’t result in enrollments, they may not be the best use of resources. By tracking performance throughout the entire admissions funnel, universities can gain better insights into which campaigns deserve more budget and which need to be scaled back or re-optimized.
Regular analysis and reallocation of ad spend based on real-time campaign performance are key to maximizing efficiency. Rather than sticking to a rigid budget from the start, continuously adjust your spending based on results to ensure that high-performing campaigns are properly funded and that underperforming ones are improved or deprioritized.
Overfocusing on Enrollment
In the rush to drive applications, many universities make the mistake of focusing solely on enrollment numbers, neglecting the importance of building long-term relationships with prospective students. While generating applications is important, the decision-making process for students is often lengthy and involves multiple touchpoints. Ads that are strictly focused on pushing immediate enrollment can overlook valuable opportunities to nurture potential students over time. You wouldn’t buy a house after viewing a single listing online (or maybe you would, but we really wouldn’t recommend it).
Instead of focusing exclusively on driving applications, incorporate long-term engagement strategies into your Google Search Ads campaigns. Promoting campus tours, webinars, informational sessions, and open houses are excellent ways to keep prospects engaged while they weigh their options. These touchpoints provide ongoing value to potential students, helping them build a deeper connection with your institution before they make a final decision.
Failing to Use Google Ads Features
Google Ads offers a robust suite of tools to help higher education marketers create more engaging and effective campaigns, but many institutions fail to utilize them fully. With Responsive Search Ads (RSAs) now the primary ad format for Google Search, it’s crucial to take advantage of the variety of assets (formerly called extensions) available to enhance your ads. These assets include sitelinks, callouts, structured snippets, image extensions, business logos, and more — all designed to make your ads more visible and appealing to prospective students.
For instance, sitelink assets can direct users to specific pages like financial aid information, application requirements, or details about individual programs, thereby streamlining their path to conversion. Callout assets, on the other hand, allow you to emphasize unique benefits of your institution, such as flexible scheduling or accelerated degree options. By incorporating image assets, you can add a visual element to your ads, increasing engagement and making them stand out even more in search results.
Ignoring these assets can significantly limit the effectiveness of your campaigns. Without them, your ad remains basic text, missing out on opportunities to deliver more value and capture user attention. In contrast, ads enhanced with these features not only provide additional information but also increase your ad’s size and prominence in search results.
Moreover, leveraging these assets boosts your ad’s click-through rate (CTR) and quality score, which improves performance in Google’s auction system. Higher-quality ads are more likely to appear in favorable positions, reaching the right audience at the right time. This makes a direct impact on your campaign’s ROI, helping you attract more relevant traffic and convert interest into action — whether that’s an application, an inquiry, or an enrollment.
Misreading Metrics
In every sector we work with, it’s clear that accurately interpreting data and metrics is crucial for optimizing Google Search Ads campaigns. However, we find that many higher ed institutions fall into the trap of viewing metrics like CTR and conversion rate in isolation, without considering the unique context of the higher ed landscape.
For instance, a low conversion rate on a program page might not necessarily indicate that the ad driving traffic is ineffective. Instead, it could point to a lack of compelling or relevant content on the landing page itself. Prospective students seek detailed information about programs, faculty, and career outcomes before making a decision. If they arrive at a page that doesn’t meet those expectations, they’re likely to leave without taking action — reflecting a content issue rather than a flaw in the advertising strategy.
To avoid these pitfalls, it’s essential to regularly review and contextualize your metrics. This means analyzing what the data shows as well as why it may be occurring, leading to more informed decisions about content, targeting, and budget allocation.
Ignoring Academic Cycles
Higher education marketing has a unique cycle of enrollment, which means that timing is everything — yet many universities fail to align their Google Search Ads campaigns with the academic calendar and admissions cycle. This oversight can have significant consequences, leading to missed opportunities and wasted budgets. What gives?
Though it may seem obvious, ramping up advertising efforts in the weeks leading up to application deadlines is crucial. During this time, prospective students are actively seeking information and are more likely to engage with relevant ads. Conversely, if campaigns remain in full-swing during off-peak periods — when interest in admissions may naturally decline — resources are being squandered on audiences who are less inclined to act.
To maximize effectiveness, regularly assess your advertising strategy in relation to the academic calendar. This includes strategically increasing ad spend and targeting efforts before critical dates, such as application deadlines or open house events, while also scaling back during quieter periods. This proactive approach ensures that your marketing budget is utilized efficiently and that potential students are consistently engaged with timely and relevant messaging.
Skipping Competitor Analysis
Staying competitive in higher education advertising requires more than just setting your bids and walking away. While regularly reviewing your bid strategy is important, many universities mistakenly focus too much on tweaking bids rather than making broader, more impactful adjustments to their campaigns.
Most higher education marketers rely on automated bid strategies, allowing Google’s algorithms to adjust bids in real-time to maintain competitiveness. This automation can handle the day-to-day fluctuations in bidding, making manual adjustments less critical in the short term. However, universities often overlook more immediate ways to stay competitive, such as reallocating budgets across campaigns, testing new program offerings in ads, or prioritizing high-performing keywords.
Competitor analysis plays a crucial role here as well. By regularly monitoring what other universities are doing — whether they’re promoting similar programs, using new keywords, or experimenting with ad formats — you can make informed decisions about where to direct your budget or what messaging to emphasize.
The key is finding a balance. While bid strategy optimization is more of a long-term play, the real gains often come from testing, learning, and pivoting based on market conditions and competitor behavior.
Overlooking the Full Student Funnel
A frequent misstep in higher education advertising is focusing too heavily on the top of the funnel — building awareness — without considering the entire student journey. While generating awareness is critical, universities must also ensure their Google Ads strategy supports prospective students at every stage of the decision-making process, from initial interest to application and enrollment.
For example, early-stage ads might promote general information about the university and its programs, but as prospective students move down the funnel, their needs evolve. Mid-funnel ads could highlight key differentiators, such as campus tours, webinars, or faculty expertise, to help students gather more detailed information and weigh their options. At the bottom of the funnel, ads should focus on driving action — encouraging applications, sign-ups for open houses, or reminders of approaching deadlines.
Overlooking this full-funnel approach leads to gaps in communication and missed opportunities to nurture leads through the entire process. By aligning ad content and targeting with each stage of the journey, universities can maintain continuous engagement with students, keeping them on track to ultimately apply and enroll.
What’s Next?
In the highly competitive higher education market, a well-planned and -executed Google Search Ads strategy is crucial for attracting, engaging, and nurturing prospective applicants. Avoiding common pitfalls — like neglecting to align keywords with programs, failing to highlight USPs, and overlooking the importance of remarketing — can significantly boost your ad performance. While Google encourages marketers to rely on AI tools, these automated solutions often lack the focus and strategy needed to truly maximize your results. Remember, Google’s goal is to optimize for their bottom line, not yours.
By refining your approach with the steps outlined in this post, you can take control of your campaigns and ensure you’re getting the most from your advertising budget. But you don’t have to do it alone.
At Vital, we specialize in higher education digital marketing and work with multiple universities and colleges. Our team uses real-world data and insights to develop and execute targeted campaigns that drive results.
Contact us today to discuss how we can help you optimize your Google Search Ads strategy and reach more prospective students. Together, we’ll ensure your marketing efforts are as competitive and effective as possible.
