Scaling student acquisition with an integrated SEO and paid search strategy

Understanding the challenge

This national online university faced intense competition in the digital landscape for adult learners. With dozens of institutions vying for the same audience, the university struggled to maintain enrollment growth and saw its cost-per-acquisition steadily rising due to saturated paid search channels and fierce SEO competition.

Our approach

We developed a holistic demand generation strategy that integrated organic and paid channels to create a sustainable enrollment pipeline. By focusing on long-tail keywords and audience segmentation, we were able to attract and convert high-intent prospective students more efficiently.

Key elements of our solution included:

• A comprehensive SEO content strategy targeting specific degree programs and career outcomes.

• Granular paid search campaigns segmented by audience demographics and program interest.

• A/B testing of landing pages and ad copy to optimize conversion rates.

• Implementation of a multi-touch attribution model to understand the full student journey.

Technical innovation

Our strategy utilized programmatic SEO to create thousands of highly specific landing pages for niche degree concentrations and career paths. We also leveraged machine learning to analyze student data and predict which marketing messages would resonate most with different audience segments, allowing for hyper-personalized ad campaigns.

Outcome

The integrated demand generation strategy resulted in a 40% increase in new student enrollment within one year. The university also achieved a 25% reduction in its cost-per-acquisition, improved its organic search rankings for hundreds of competitive keywords, and established a scalable model for future growth.