Education marketing
Google Ads for
education.
Plan budgets around the dates students act on. In NSW and the ACT, ATARs come out on 16 December 2026, with preference deadlines soon after. Google turns off ad personalisation for users it knows are under 18, so reach school leavers through search terms and their parents. For lead generation, Google suggests optimising to qualified leads, not raw form fills.
Written by Dan Picken, a marketer who checks the sources. Last checked 2 November 2026.The dates
that matter.
ATAR release dates for 2026: NSW and ACT 16 December, Victoria 10 December, Queensland 18 December, and WA on 20 December (TISC dates via Curtin). Change-of-preference windows follow within days, and searches for courses, entry scores and 'what can I do with my ATAR' typically rise around each one.
ATAR week planner
Plan December
around the dates.
Pick your state. You'll get the key dates for the 2026 round and what to do around each. Checked 2 November 2026: confirm with the admissions centre before you lock budgets.
Google turns off ad personalisation for users it knows are under 18, so target by search terms and parents, not by teen audiences.
Key dates
Raise search budgets from results day to the first preference deadline, on course and 'what ATAR do I need' searches. Keep a smaller budget running into January for later rounds and mid-year options.
Google's rules
for education.
Google has no separate ad policy for education, but it bans ads for services that enable academic dishonesty, like essay or thesis generators, and fake documents like diplomas. More important for targeting: Google turns off ad personalisation for users it knows are under 18, so audience targeting of Year 11 and 12 students mostly isn't available.
Search works anyway, because the intent is in the words. Parents are reachable through normal audiences and are often the ones paying.
Check the campaign type before you plan around parents, though. Google's parental status targeting (parent, not a parent, unknown) works in Demand Gen, Display and Video campaigns, not in Search. In Search, you reach the parent through what they type: 'Year 7 enrolment 2027', 'best high schools Central Coast'. Household income targeting is available in Australia too, but narrowing by income can hide a scholarship or bursary from the very families it was set up for.
Leads that
enrol.
For lead generation, Google's own advice is to optimise to a qualified or converted lead goal, use value-based bidding once there are 15 or more conversions in 30 days, add qualifying questions and reCAPTCHA, and exclude your brand from Performance Max.
Send back which enquiries became applications and enrolments, so the bidding learns which searches bring students, not just form fills.
Searches worth
paying for.
Send each one to the matching course or pathway page, not the home page. Exclude searches for jobs at the institution, free courses you don't offer, and essay help. The course page check shows what each landing page needs.
- Course and place: 'nursing degree Sydney', 'Cert III childcare Central Coast'.
- Entry and outcome questions: 'what ATAR for physio', 'how to become an electrician'.
- Alternative pathways after results: 'didn't get my ATAR', 'diploma pathway to uni'.
- Parents researching schools: 'best primary schools near me', 'school open day [suburb]'.
What I see most often
What I see
most often.
- 1
Flat budgets all summer
The same daily budget in the week ATARs come out as in a quiet week in November.
- 2
Every enquiry counted the same
Brochure downloads and applications treated as equal conversions.
- 3
Ads to the home page
Course searches landing on a general page instead of the course.
- 4
No brand exclusions
Performance Max taking credit for people who searched the institution's name.
The honest bit. Ads can't change entry requirements or fees. If a course isn't filling because of what it offers, the fix is in the course, not the budget.
Questions
people ask.
When are ATARs released in 2026?
NSW and ACT on 16 December, Victoria on 10 December, Queensland on 18 December. Check your state's admissions centre.
Can you target Year 12 students with Google Ads?
Not with personalised audiences: Google turns off personalisation for users it knows are under 18. Search terms and parent audiences still work.
Is Performance Max good for education lead generation?
It can be, if it's optimised to qualified leads with brand exclusions and good tracking.
What ads are banned for education?
Google bans ads for services that enable academic dishonesty, and fake documents like diplomas.
Related
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going.
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