Check out our recap of the biggest trends in digital marketing for higher education institutions. This presentation answers these questions and more: What does Hummingbird mean for my school’s website? How can I recover all of the data now marked “not provided” in Google Analytics? Is paid search worthwhile for colleges and universities? How do I best serve all of our potential students who primarily use mobile?

1. State of the EDUnion
Presented by:
Jon Pogact |@Jpogact
Amanda Jerele|@amjerele
A Division of Fathom® SEO, LLC.

2. A SNAPSHOT OF OUR AGENCY
LOCATIONS
CLEVELAND, OH [HQ]
COLUMBUS, OH DETROIT, MI SAN DIEGO, CA CHICAGO, IL
145
OUR PEOPLE
DIGITAL MARKETING EXPERTS
+
OUR APPROACH
ACQUIRE
CONVERT
AWARENESS
DIFFERENTIATE
ENGAGE
RESEARCH
CONSIDER
COMMIT
FULL VISITOR TO REVENUE DIGITAL FUNNEL MANAGEMENT
NURTURE
CHANNEL EXPERTISE AWARDS
Northeast Ohio Top 100
Fastest-Growing Company
2010 - 2013
Included on List of
Fastest Growing Companies
2010 - 2013
Named Among Top 25 Search
Engine Marketing Firms
Five Years in a Row
CERTIFICATIONS

3. Queries grew by 8% in Q4 2013 in the
Colleges, Universities & Post-Secondary
Education Category
• Source: Google internal search data, based on pre-categorised queries for the Colleges, Universities & Post-Secondary
Education. Note: In-quarter metrics for Query Volume and Ad Depth are only available.

4. Source: Google internal search data, based on pre-categorised queries for the Colleges, Universities & Post-Secondary
Education. Note: In-quarter metrics for Query Volume and Ad Depth are only available.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Months
2010 2011 2012 2013
Queries (Q4 2013 Y/Y: 8.40%)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Months
2010 2011 2012 2013
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Months
2010 2011 2012 2013
$0.00
$2.00
$4.00
$6.00
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12Months
2010 2011 2012 2013
Impressions (Q4 2013 Y/Y: 21.09%)
Clicks (Q4 2013 Y/Y: 9.08%) Actual CPC (Q4 2013 Y/Y: 10.51%,
Avg:$3.61)
Colleges and Universities
Category

5. Hummingbird
• Algorithm change
• Changes the way results show in the
search engine
What is
Hummingbird?
• Analyzes meaning behind searches
• Interprets searches as
“conversations”
How does
Hummingbird
work?
#EDUnion2014
1

6. “Colleges in Ohio” #EDUnion2014
1

7. “Colleges near me” #EDUnion2014
1

8. Hummingbird #EDUnion2014
1

9. Hummingbird #EDUnion2014
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Program
Curriculum
Guides
Career Paths
Infographic of the
application
process
“How to pay for
college” guide
Virtual tour video Testimonial videos
Blog series
“Which degree is
for me?” Quiz
Images of student
work from your
B.A. in Art and
Design program

10. Enhanced Campaigns
Key Takeaway: Optimizing PPC
campaigns for mobile is a must!
#EDUnion2014
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11. Branded Search
Keep Competitors from showing
up above your organic listings
Take up more real
estate in the search
results
Help your overall account quality
score with high scoring branded
terms
#EDUnion20143

12. Non-Branded Search #EDUnion20144
RESEARCH MODE
Key Takeaway: Bid on non-branded terms to capture
students in the “research” mode

13. Email Marketing Updates
Gmail’s Tabbed Inbox
Automatic Loading of Images
Sponsored Promotions
#EDUnion2014
5

14. Tabbed Inbox
• Able to deactivate tabs
• Able to pull messages over
• Mobile email consumers will not see tabs
• Engagement rates have not diminished.
#EDUnion20145

15. Gmail Images #EDUnion20145
IMAGE-HEAVY EMAILS
____________________________
Previously, image-heavy emails were
thought to be poor practice, in part due
to slow load times and users not always
loading images. With this change, those
concerns no longer apply to Gmail. And
with most mobile clients automatically
loading images, image-heavy emails
may become the norm
AUTOMATIC LOADING
____________________________
Schools noticing a jump in Gmail open
rates since this change is no surprise.
Now that images are automatically being
loaded every time, Gmail is counting
every single ‘open’, whereas before,
people who read the content but did not
load the images were not counted as an
‘open’ unless they clicked.

16. Sponsored Promotions #EDUnion20145
51%
of all emails are
opened in a
mobile device
Show ads in Gmail’s
promotion tabs and
along the right hand
side.

17. Mobile Growth6 #EDUnion2014
In Q4 2013, year over year…
desktop queries declined by -0%
while Mobile queries grew by 58%
and Tablet searches grew by 50%
*Google
52.5%
Mobile Traffic

18. 6 Mobile Growth #EDUnion2014
Key Takeaway: Optimize and Target Mobile!
A survey across Fathom EDU Clients..

19. 7 Bing Ads #EDUnion2014
Google Sites led the U.S. explicit core search market in March with 67.5
percent market share, followed by Microsoft Sites with 18.6 percent (up
0.2 percentage points) and Yahoo Sites with 10.1 percent.
http://www.comscore.com/Insights/Press_Releases/2014/4/comScore_Releases_March_2014_U.S._Search_Engine_Rankings

20. 25% of all paid inquiries in EDU
60% lower CPC vs. Google AdWords
Lower Competition!
7 #EDUnion2014Bing Ads

21. 8 Local Optimization #EDUnion2014
Location Matters.
Geo terms +5% yoy

22. 8 Local Optimization #EDUnion2014

23. 8 Local Optimization #EDUnion2014
Include city, region and state keywords in your
over optimization plan – metas and content
Use structured content through Schema local
markup – www.schema.org
Claim your locations on Google+, places,
Yahoo! Local and Bing Maps
Optimize Social Media Profiles – be consistent
and accurate with campus information

24. 9 Facebook Advertising #EDUnion2014
Facebook Organic Reach will be at 2% of total likes by 2015

25. 9 Facebook Advertising #EDUnion2014
Key Takeaway
Facebook has
the largest
market share
of teenagers –
Great for
Undergrad
advertising

26. 9 Facebook Advertising #EDUnion2014
Facebook offers
hyper targeting!

27. 10 Recommended Tools #EDUnion2014
Free Analytics Training from Google
https://analyticsacademy.withgoogle.com/explorer

28. 10 Recommended Tools #EDUnion2014

29. Recommended Tools10 #EDUnion2014
Other Helpful Tools

30. Questions?
Feel free to reach out to Jon and Amanda
jpogact@fathomdelivers.com
ajerele@fathomdelivers.com