After detailing the problems faced within University Clearing 2021 recruitment, it seems only right to dive into the solutions. As Gavin Williamson lifted the cap on the amount of students Universities could intake, last August. Higher Education Institutes engaged in a free-for-all larger than ever before. This summer the battle lines are drawn for round two.
The Covid-19 pandemic caused unprecedented exam results confusion confusion, and created an exam year like no other. With contested grade allocations and uncertainty around in-person teaching. Search became more important than ever for students seeking trusted information for life-changing decisions. As the cost-per-click on A-level results day soars. And Universities blow their marketing budgets on being higher than each other in the pecking order on a Google search. There are conveniently some efficient, cost effective tools that will make a Clearing recruitment budget stretch further.
The Solution
Clearing Monitor, our breakthrough innovation, is a strategic information tool which merges spend and demand trends on critical keywords with campaign performance data. It automatically reallocates Google ad spend at multiple layers for maximum efficiency and performance throughout the activity surges of Clearing Day.
Implemented by City, University of London (City), a global institution committed to academic excellence with a focus on business and the professions. Using Clearing to fill gaps in vital course applications and develop revenues to support its wide-ranging curriculum. Clearing Monitor made every penny of City’s Google paid search investment count.
Smart bidding is native to the Google Ads platform and uses algorithms that decide ad auction bid spends based on historical data that struggles to account for anomalous activity surges. Search activity on Clearing Day moves too fast for the algorithm to keep up. The significant increase in competition within a small group of keywords lead to a surge in the price of Cost-Per-Click inventory.
To feature at the top of the search results page, Cost-Per -Click on key terms can reach hundreds of pounds during peaks of activity and runaway competition. Avoiding the auction price inflation arms race isn’t an option. The powerful Search monopolies own the core battleground and set the rules of engagement.
So we set out to ensure our Google ad investment worked as hard as possible to squeeze every drop of value.
We elevated our perspective to beat the Google pricing algorithm and avoid runaway price inflation. Clearing Monitor increases the flow of information and optimise multiple parallel ad campaigns to reduce costs and boost ROI. Building an intelligence tool that would feed us Search data throughout Clearing. Then on Clearing Day itself. Use live data streams and analysis to make both reactive and proactive optimisations and divert our keyword investments to where they would have the biggest impact.
As a permanent strategic adjustment. Clearing Monitor is now a successful, tested, value-adding application which changes industry best practice on Search marketing for Clearing.
To avoid the Clearing 2021 crush, talk to us and let Clearing Monitor manage the queue.
