Real results. No school names.
We don't name the schools we work with. Their competitors read websites too. Here's what we changed in real accounts, and what the numbers did next.
Weekly cost per lead, technical certification school
Real account data, October 2026. Down 18.6% after blocking 153 searches that had spent about $840 with zero leads.
153 searches that spent about $840 and never produced a lead.
A technical certification school was already hitting its cost-per-lead goal. In a routine review on October 12, we still found 153 search terms that had spent about $840 without a single lead.
What we changed
Blocked all 153 searches as negative keywords
Added 21 keywords the school actually wanted to show for
Turned off AI Max, which was matching the wrong searches
Blocked 182 more unrelated searches a week later, on October 19
Technical certification school
The numbers
230
leads, September 2026
$26.35
cost per lead, September 2026 (goal: $30)
−18.6%
weekly cost per lead after the October cleanup
Excellent
Google Ads ad strength
More from our accounts
Different schools, different problems. The same daily habits.
HVAC & appliance repair school, Upper Midwest
We merged three campaigns into one, with an ad group for each program and its own landing page. Calls and form fills are both tracked as conversions, targeting is statewide, and tuition ads make no “free” claims.
273
leads, September 2026
$17.70
cost per lead (goal: $20)
WIOA HVAC program, Southern California
We launched WIOA and HVAC Technician ad groups for LA County with a new landing page, added 17 WIOA keywords, and reopened job-training searches that a broad “jobs” negative had been blocking.
91
leads, September 2026
$15.65
cost per lead (goal: $20)
Trade school, Texas
On October 19 we launched five ad groups (Electrician, HVAC, Plumbing, a regional trade school group and WIOA), each with its own landing page, and updated program lengths in the ads.
136
leads, September 2026
$20.79
cost per lead, September 2026
Allied health school, Texas
We turned off AI Max and blocked about 171 unrelated searches, while keeping Spanish-language CNA and phlebotomy searches running for the students the school serves.
$38.58
cost per lead, September 2026
$40
the school's cost-per-lead goal
Selected accounts, September 2026
School type, leads and cost per lead, straight from the accounts.
Selected accounts, not every account. Leads and spend from Google Ads and our lead tracking. Results vary by program, market and budget.
What's behind the numbers
Daily search-term reviews
Every account is checked daily. Across our accounts we blocked more than 1,200 unrelated searches between October 1 and 20, 2026.
One ad group, one page
Each program gets its own ad group and landing page, so the page says what the student searched for.
Honest ads
No “free” claims and no promises about jobs or pay. Ad copy only says what the school has approved.
Want numbers like these for your school?
Book a strategy call. We'll look at your current accounts and show you where the wasted spend is.