Be There When Parents Are Ready to Enroll: Paid Search Strategies for Tutors

Tutoring can change lives, but first you need to get your students inside the door! Whether you’re tutoring in person, in a large center, or online, students, their families, and educators need to know that your business exists.

Paid search strategies attract more clients who are specifically searching for the kinds of services you provide. By featuring your business’s website at the top of search engine results pages, new students discover your business when searching for related tutoring subjects. 

Whether you’re a private tutor or run a multi-site business, a strong online presence will help you gain new clients. We’ll explain how. 

PPC Management Services for Tutoring Businesses

Pay-per-click advertising for your tutoring business means that you allocate a certain portion of your marketing budget to promote your website’s link. When setting up the campaign, you also decide which keywords you want your online tutoring ads to display for. Your account is only charged when a lead clicks on it, hence the name “pay per click.”

This is a great way to make sure your tutoring business doesn’t get drowned out by huge online tutoring platforms when students and parents look up tutoring services online. By designing your PPC strategy around your own expertise and unique offerings, you can more effectively reach the students who need your tutoring services.

Design your PPC strategy around your services, subjects, grade levels, or tutoring philosophies. Targeting highly specific search terms will give you a better chance of being seen by searchers than using generic terms like “tutor” or “math help.” Examples include:

• Chemistry tutor
• Homeschool reading help
• SAT tutor near me 
• After-school dyslexia tutoring 
• Executive functioning coach for ADHD teens
• Guitar private lessons 

Do you see how the specificity here matches clients to precisely what you offer? 

Now, Google considers much more than just your bid amount when displaying your ads. The Google algorithm takes into account your geographic distance, the quality of the content on your website, and the overall competition for the keywords you’ve bid on. 

That’s why comprehensive PPC management can make this process so much easier for both in-person and online tutoring businesses. We work directly with you to understand your unique services and your growth goals, then we design, implement, and track a personalized PPC strategy just for you. If you’re ready to learn more, give us a call.

Google Ads — Paid Search for Tutoring Companies

Put yourself into the shoes of the parents and students who are searching for educational services. What are their primary concerns? What solutions are they searching for? 

Matching your tutoring skills to the phrases and topics that potential clients are searching for is a key element of search engine optimization, or optimizing your website to rank higher for these terms. If you need to find clients quickly or in high-competition niches, however, it’s time for a paid strategy. 

Paid advertising via Google Ads is one of the quickest ways to find students who are looking for your programs. This is an especially effective strategy for test prep tutors, who tend to experience higher demand for their services when crunch time rolls around each spring. 

By strategically investing marketing budget in Google Ads, you can advertise your tutoring services to Google’s massive network of websites and partner advertisers. 

At SEO Design Chicago, our team handles the full suite of Google Advertising, including:

• Targeted display advertising
• Video ads
• Remarketing
• GA4/Google Analytics setup and reporting

Just like with text-based ads for promoted links, Google Ads only charges your account when a qualified lead clicks on your ad. Our team can help you design compelling ads that reach exactly the people searching for your tutoring services and quickly bring new students to your business. 

Targeted Display Advertising for Private Tutors

Targeted display advertising is a form of paid ads that is especially effective for tutor advertising. Since parents and educators want their kids to thrive, a visually compelling ad that shows them doing just that is a persuasive way to get their attention. 

Display ads are a visual-first way to advertise your business. While paid search blurbs are more like a business card — with your name, a brief description, and a link — display ads are emotive and persuasive. They’re the videos and images you see when browsing blogs, YouTube, or your favorite recipe site.

Just like with paid search, there’s a lot of back-end work that goes into an effective display ad strategy. You need to make sure your ads are being displayed to the right audience, that they’re clickable, that those clicks lead to a “book now” landing page, and that all this traffic is carefully tracked and reported so you know exactly how your ads are performing.

That’s where a full-service digital design agency like SEO Design Chicago can come in handy. Our team will develop a holistic plan for you that encompasses everything from visually stunning graphic design to the final reporting and analytics. 

Bing Advertising — Bing Ads for Specialty Tutors

For specialty tutors, it’s important to reach potential clients in your specific niche, regardless of where they are browsing online. With 12 billion searches per month, Bing is a platform that sometimes gets overlooked in favor of its gigantic competitor, Google. 

Adding your business to Bing is a great way to advertise tutoring services effectively, especially if you serve a specific geographic area or niche.

Setting up and running Bing Ads is similar to Google Ads. You need to create and verify your business account, decide who you want your ads to reach, design visually compelling ads, fine-tune your copy, and make sure all those clicks are clearly tracked and measured.

If you’re interested in adding Bing Ads to your overall marketing strategy, give our Bing Ads team a call!

FAQs: How to Advertise Tutoring Services Online

As an educator, you know exactly what to do to help your students meet their learning goals. When it comes to developing a steady stream of new clients, though, that can be a challenge! 

Our team of digital marketing experts has been helping businesses of all sizes sustainably increase their client base for years. We custom-design a plan just for you, and build your entire strategy around your unique offerings as a teacher and your growth goals.

If you’re ready to establish a sustainable, measurable strategy to bring new students directly to your tutoring business, request your free consultation now. 

In the meantime, check out some of the frequently asked questions our experts receive about how to advertise your tutoring business. 

Are Google Ads effective for tutors?

Very much so! Google Ads are a great way to specifically target high-intent searches that signal parents are ready to hire a tutor for their child. 

These searches include terms like:

• “SAT tutor near me”
• “Math tutor for summer”
• “Online reading tutor for elementary” 

How much should tutors budget for paid search?

This will depend on the size of your tutoring agency, the level of competition for your specialty, and your existing budget. To see success from paid search efforts, it’s generally recommended to budget somewhere between $500 and $2,500 per month on paid search. 

What keywords work best for tutoring PPC campaigns?

PPC campaigns are all about reaching people who are ready to book. Avoid generic terms that reach a broad audience but have a high competition rate, like “tutor” or “math help.” 

Instead, focus on the specific criteria that families and educators search for when ready to hire, like:

• Subject
• Grade level
• Specific test (if a test-prep tutor)
• In-person or online
• Geographic region

For example, you might target search queries such as “middle school reading teacher in Brookdale for summer tutoring” to reach a niche audience. 

Is paid search better than social media ads for tutors?

Each serves a different purpose. Social media platforms like LinkedIn, TikTok, or Instagram are great for building brand awareness and sharing inspiration. 

Paid search is how you promote your tutoring business to prospective clients who are ready to hire a tutor in the near future. 

Since each approach addresses a slightly different target audience at different stages in the decision-making process, it’s a good idea to include both approaches. A solid content marketing strategy that prioritizes your social media channels can be a great way to grow your tutoring business long-term. 

Can paid search help tutors get more qualified leads?

Yes! A well-designed paid search strategy is a great way to get more students. 

It’s important that the paid search strategy has multiple steps that work together to reach the right students and encourage them to book a free session or sign up for online tutoring.

We recommend following these steps:

• Filter keywords for specific subjects, locations, grade levels, and outcomes.
• Write clear ad copy that tells leads exactly what your tutoring sessions offer.
• Link ads to landing pages that give leads a clear, simple way to sign up.
• Implement detailed conversion tracking that measures the fit of each lead to ensure your ads are reaching the right students.

Ready to grow your client base? Schedule a free call with SEO Design Chicago’s marketing experts to get your custom-quoted digital advertising plan!