Welcome to part two of a three-part series on digital advertising trends. It’s a new year, and that means a lot of new data is available in the marketplace. Converge recently released our survey of Inbound Marketing Trends during a presentation at Omni Update and at our Lunch and Learn event in Denver. This past month, several other industry surveys have also been released, including a report on digital advertising benchmarks from Keypath Education. This blog series will provide our thoughts on the trends highlighted in this study and conclude with industry benchmarks we have observed for 2015.

Not surprisingly, Keypath’s study identified that click-through rate (CTR) on ads is highly dependent on average position on the search engine results page (SERP). In higher ed, there is a tremendous benefit in terms of CTR to earning the first spot on the SERP – more than what you might have guessed. According to the study, having your ad shown in the first position generates twice the CTR as in the second position.

In our own SEM efforts, we have found CTR for average positions 1-1.50 to be around 50 percent higher than average positions 1.51-2.00. So the first spot on the SERP can create tremendous visibility for your institution, but it can, of course, come at a higher price. In addition to the quality and relevance of your ad copy and landing page, position also depends on your institution’s willingness to pay. Keep this in mind when working towards that first position.

Another fascinating finding from this study is the drastic difference in CTR between branded and non-branded keywords. It’s common understanding in the world of SEM that branded keywords generally see higher CTR, but this study suggests that branded terms may see up to six times the CTR in higher education.

We have seen a similar trend for branded keywords in our own SEM efforts. For example, Loyola University Chicago’s mini-MBA program sees about four to five times the CTR for branded keywords over non-branded keywords. UCLA Anderson’s Executive MBA program sees an ever-larger contrast – about six percent CTR for branded and one percent CTR for non-branded keywords.

The Takeaway

Is there an opportunity to move into that first position by increasing your budget or improving ad quality? Act on it and watch your click-through-rate soar. Also, if you are not bidding on your institution’s own branded keywords, be sure to add those into the mix. This is especially important if your institution has strong brand recognition, and you can bet that competing programs will be bidding on your branded keywords. Follow these simple trends in click-through-rate, and see your program’s visibility on the SERP improve – along with leads and students in the classroom.

Are you interested in learning more about trends in digital advertising and how they can benefit your inquiry, application and matriculated student pool? Join us for our upcoming webinar, “Digital Advertising: Ask Us Anything” on March 31st at 2 p.m. ET.