Why Can’t I See My Ads on Google?

Pulling Back the Veil on Higher Ed Digital Marketing to Understand What’s Really Happening Behind the Scenes

“I searched for our new degree program on Google and didn’t see anything. Why isn’t it showing up?”

It’s a question we hear often, and it’s a good one. Along the same lines, we also hear things like:

“I know we’re paying for ads for this program; how come I don’t see them?” and “When I search the keywords we’re bidding on, our ad doesn’t show up. How come?” 

For the higher ed stakeholders who aren’t deeply involved in the inner workings of digital marketing, it can be concerning to launch a new degree program and not immediately see it show up in search results. But rest assured, this doesn’t mean marketing isn’t working. In fact, it may be performing exactly as it should.

In this post, we’ll walk through why that happens, what’s really going on behind the scenes, and how to tell whether your institution’s marketing strategy is on track, even if your program isn’t yet visible to you in your search results.

What’s the Difference? Paid vs. Organic Search

When you Google something, the results you see fall into two broad categories:

• Paid Search (aka Google Ads): These are sponsored listings that show up at the top of the search results page. They’re marked with a small “Ad” or “Sponsored” tag. Typically, the top three to four listings on a search engine results page (SERP) are ads.

• Organic Search: These are unpaid listings that Google ranks based on how relevant, trustworthy, and useful the page appears to be in relation to the search query. These listings look very similar to the paid ad listings, but you’ll notice there is no “ad” or “sponsored” indicator on organic search results. When people talk about SEO (search engine optimization), these are the results they are trying to optimize for.

Understanding the difference is key, especially because not seeing your university’s program doesn't necessarily mean it’s not being promoted. It just may be happening in a way that’s optimized for results rather than for visibility to everyone.

Why Your Program Might Not Show Up (Yet) in Google Search Results

There are two main reasons why your college’s program page may not appear when you search for it:

1. The Page is Too New (for Organic Search)

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a long game. It takes time for Google to “learn” about your degree program, assess the page’s quality, and begin ranking it for relevant keywords. If your program page just recently launched, it simply hasn’t had time to build enough credibility in Google’s eyes.

Here’s what helps improve search engine position over time:

• Keyword relevance and user-friendly structure

• Inbound links from other trusted websites

• User behavior signals like time on page and click-through rate

• Fresh, helpful content that answers searcher questions

2. The Page is Being Promoted via Paid Ads You Might Not See

If you're running Google Ads, you're paying to appear in front of people Google determines will most likely take action. This means not necessarily everyone will see your page. Many ad campaigns are optimized for conversions (form fills, applications), meaning Google’s algorithm shows ads only to users it deems most likely to engage.

Google makes this determination based on a range of signals, including your search history, location, time of day, device type, demographic data, and even how you’ve interacted with similar ads in the past. So if you don’t see your institution’s program when you search, it doesn’t mean the ad isn’t live. It just means Google has determined you’re not ideally suited for this campaign’s target audience at this particular moment in time.

What Digital Marketing That’s Working Looks Like (Behind the Scenes)

Ranking on the first page of Google search is nice, but results are the goal. A well-optimized campaign isn’t necessarily focused on showing up for every search; it’s focused on delivering measurable results.

Take, for example, a new degree completion program we recently launched with a university partner:

• In its first 6 weeks, it generated 57 inquiries

• Ads were displayed 72,000+ times

• Those ads drove over 1,200 clicks to the program page

That’s strong early performance, and it happened without the degree program being easily visible to our clients when they conducted their own Google searches. What does this mean for your university’s marketing strategy? The campaign is working, just not always in the way you might expect from the outside. It takes time and the right audience to show up in Google search results.

How to Check if Your Digital Marketing Campaigns Are Working (Even If You Don’t See Them in Your Searches)

You can’t rely on your own Google search results to gauge performance. The real indicators of success include:

• Inquiry volume

• Application starts

• Conversion rates from paid campaigns

• Ad impressions and click-throughs

  
  

To help demystify the data, we created Pivot360, our client dashboard designed to offer clear, at-a-glance visibility into all of those key metrics. With Pivot360, stakeholders can track campaign activity, performance trends, and inquiry growth in real time; no digging or deciphering required.

Higher Ed Marketing isn’t a black box. With the right tools and strategy, it becomes a measurable, transparent part of your enrollment success.

Trust the Process (And the Data)

Not seeing your college’s program pop up in Google right away is completely normal, especially when it's new. The good news? There’s usually a lot more happening behind the scenes than you might realize.

If you're ever unsure, don’t hesitate to ask your marketing team (or us!). We're always happy to walk through the strategy, share performance updates, or help interpret what you're seeing, or not seeing, in search results.

Interested in learning how to improve your program's Search Engine Visibility?

Let’s talk strategy. Contact us here.