7 Reasons Why Your University Should Invest in Google Ads

Not all universities advertise their courses on Google. But those that do, attract many more students. Increasing the volume of applications from domestic students, or those from countries with which there are protocols guaranteeing the payment of tuition fees at the same level as domestic ones, can be an interesting way of ensuring that places are filled. But more than that, it is increasingly necessary for universities to guarantee an increase in the volume of international applicants, with a view to diversifying the student profile and increasing their own income, which is often the lifeblood that allows them to invest more in working conditions and research.

1. The volume of enrolments in master’s degrees is an important source of funding for universities

A while ago, the head of a university’s International Relations Office asked me: how can we attract more international students? The master’s degrees, he told me, were not filling all their vacancies with students from internal undergraduate programs or with candidates from European partner universities. And the unfilled places meant tens of thousands of euros in unrealized profits.

My proposal was simple (and effective, as we found out): advertise the programs in question on the Google search engine, which is used by most people in their daily lives. Including young people looking for information on programs that might interest them. By appearing at the top of the results, this university’s programs would, and do, attract many more applicants. And are we going to compete with Oxford and Harvard’s advertisements? No. This university’s ads were, and are, associated with the searches and target audiences that interest it, blocking visibility to people searching for courses of the same type in certain universities and countries.

But this is just the tip of the iceberg. It’s not just about setting up ads and putting them on air, but optimizing the campaigns on a day-to-day basis to ensure the best possible return on the university’s investment. Never exceeding, of course, the budget set by the client.

2. Most international students use Google to search for master’s programs

International students are obviously not going to be interested in programs they don’t know about. And it’s natural that, when they decide to change universities or even countries, they only know a tiny fraction of the programs that might interest them. This lack of knowledge means that most of these students turn to the Google search engine to analyze their options. According to a survey by the Keystone Education Group on the factors that weighed on the decision process of international students, Google emerged at its top as the factor that mattered to the most students. More than conversations with friends, parents, former teachers or university staff. More than social networks. 58% of international students in the 2022/23 academic year searched at least once on Google before making their decision.

3. The overwhelming majority of top universities use Google Ads to increase applications

See, for example, Times Higher Education’s World University Ranking 2024. More than 90% of the dozens of universities at the very top of the rankings not only disseminate Google Ads, but also have a record of many hundreds, in some cases even thousands, of ads published. This can be found in the Google Ads Transparency Center. Take a look at the universities of Oxford, Stanford and Harvard, and at the MIT, in the United States; or that of Toronto, in Canada; or ETH Zurich and École Polytechnique de Lausanne in Switzerland; or KU Leuven and the University of Delft in the Netherlands; or the Karolinska Institute, in Sweden; or the universities of Melbourne, Hong Kong and Singapure (this one has made 4000 ads!), in Asia and Oceania; the Spanish universities of Pompeu Fabra and Autonoma de Barcelona. And by the way, in Portugal, some examples of universities with a lot of Google Ads in their curriculum are Nova de Lisboa, Coimbra, Católica, and Porto Business School at the University of Porto.

4. There is still little competition in online advertising in higher education systems like Portugal’s

Most Portuguese universities and polytechnics concentrate their efforts on attracting students from its former African colonies and Brazil (mainly for degree mobility) and from partner universities (more for credit mobility, aka the Erasmus program). The budget of higher education institutions in Portugal, especially public ones, depends heavily on transfers from central government and leaves little room for investments other than those already planned, such as paying salaries and financing current projects.

For this reason, many universities and polytechnics are still unaware of the immense potential of Google Ads for attracting some of the many people who already use Google to find out more about education in Portugal. According to Google Keyword Planner, every month there are around 7,000 searches from outside Portugal for “universities portugal”, another 7,000 for “portuguese university”, another 3,000 for “study in portugal”, another 1,600 for “portugal university list”, another 1,300 for “best universities portugal”, another 1,300 for “portugal universities for international students”, another 1,200 for “portugal top universities”, and so on. That’s just to mention generic searches, since there are thousands more monthly searches for “masters degree portugal” and similar terms, as well as thousands more for MBA, “business schools”, “engineering”, etc.

Tuition fees, the competitive cost of living and the climate attract the attention of many potential international applicants. And a few universities are capturing the bulk of this demand. With little competition, advertisements are particularly cheap.

5. Google Ads allow you to invest as much as you want, and for as long as you want.

The right time to invest is whenever a university or polytechnic has open applications. As the volume of inquiries from international students doesn’t vary much from month to month, all times of the year can be important to capture their attention and applications. As for the investment, it’s up to each institution: €500 is enough for a small experiment that will allow you to draw firm conclusions.

6. Google Ads guarantee a very substantial increase in the volume of applications for programs

Every €500 invested in Google Ads, and specifically in ads on Google’s search engine, should result in 1500 to 3000 clicks on the ads, and consequently visits to a course’s website or page. These 1500 to 3000 clicks will surely result in many dozens, perhaps even hundreds, of contacts from potential candidates. And probably dozens of applications.

7. It’s easy to know the return on investment made from the ads, as well as the target audiences that are most likely to apply

By investing in Google Ads, the university or polytechnic will know exactly how many clicks and how many conversions into a contact or application happened for every x € invested. And you can find out this information by program, by location of origin, by age group, gender, etc. In (almost) real time. And through regular reports.