While this is a standalone piece, I have written pretty extensively on what fuels Google's decisions when it comes to search ads. If you want to dive deeper and read the full series in order, you can start with Part One: Demystifying the Algorithm, Part Two: From Keywords to Search Terms, Part Three: Widening the Net With Phrase Match, and Part Four: The Long and Short (Tails) of Broad Match.
TLDR: Google's semantic matching doesn't check your course catalog before it decides a search is "close enough". The fix isn't just negative keywords; it's on your landing page, too.
I just finished running a school's historical paid search data through my search term classification tool. The top five search terms accounted for almost 13% of their total spend during that time frame.
Those five terms were:
- criminal justice program en español
- cna classes online
- 4 week cna classes online
- mechanical school
- get my ged online for free
Problem #1: None of These Are Programs the School Offers
This is the thing with semantic matching — Google's algorithms are left to go forth and make mathematical decisions about the words presented to them. It decides that a criminal justice program in Spanish is pretty much the same thing as one in English; that CNA classes are a lot like nursing; that a search for a vocational school is equivalent to one for engineering; and if you're advertising for Education, you probably offer a GED program... online... for free.
Problem #2: These Search Terms Aren't Just Spending — They're Performing
| Search Term | Impr. | Clicks | CTR | Conv. | CVR | CPA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| criminal justice program en español | 6,995 | 2,336 | 33.4% | 159 | 6.8% | $20.75 |
| cna classes online | 3,990 | 1,127 | 28.2% | 123 | 10.9% | $14.10 |
| 4 week cna classes online | 3,153 | 1,110 | 35.2% | 100 | 9.0% | $15.59 |
| mechanical school | 4,612 | 1,205 | 26.1% | 49 | 4.1% | $28.59 |
| get my ged online for free | 1,004 | 449 | 44.7% | 79 | 17.6% | $16.85 |
This is some pretty solid evidence in favor of the idea that if your ad is showing up in that coveted top sponsored spot, the average consumer is going to assume it's relevant to what they searched for.
That click? It's data that Google adds to its mathematical equation about the types of keywords that work for you. It's now that much more likely that your ad will appear again (and again) when people put in that term. And if a click is a sign to Google that it's on the right track, a conversion is pretty much a super sign with a bright spotlight behind it. Now you're even more likely to be the ad shown for those searches.
At this point you might be saying "ok, but this is what negative keywords are for." Which, yes. But if negative keywords were being implemented effectively, this story would be the exception. It's not. While every school I run classification for may not have five problematic searches topping their spend list, there are always irrelevant-to-them terms stealing spend and messing with performance.
Back to the Landing Page
This is higher ed, which means odds are good that what's being tracked as a conversion is one of two things: an RFI form fill or an application. And if you're converting on search terms related to programs your school does not offer, that's a strong signal that there was nothing on your landing page that would have dissuaded that behavior.
That's great for your metrics. It's part of the reason why your keywords are performing so well and your campaign has such a low CPA. Your last report probably celebrated how everything is above industry benchmarks.
But you don't have the program that person needs. What's the end game? The prospect takes criminal justice in English instead? Does nursing instead of a CNA? Applies to do a bachelor's degree when they've yet to complete a GED?
These aren't quality leads. At best, this process has wasted the prospect's time, wasted a portion of your budget, and skewed Google's algorithm toward prioritizing more of these searches. At worst, you can also tack on the time and effort someone spends on outreach to this person, or on processing their application.
Your landing page matters at least as much as your ad does. Yes, it needs to promote your program(s) and encourage a prospect to continue to engage with you and take next steps. But it also needs to make it clear what your program isn't.
Performance metrics are the most surface-level look into what's actually happening in your campaigns. Keywords barely strip off the next layer. If you want to understand what's really happening with your search ads, the answers are in your search terms.
That's the layer my classification tool is built to get to. Curious what's in yours? Send me your report and let's find out.