Inspired Learning Group · Google & Meta · May–August 2026, with 1–15 September · Final report v7

Where The Leads Went

Why admissions enquiries stopped growing while spend rose by two-thirds — built from Digistorm enquiries, every Google and Meta account, campaign settings, change history, tracking and landing pages.

Source of truth Digistorm enquiries in the monthly ILG reports Accounts 30 Google · 6 Meta at full depth (3 unreadable) Also examined 430 campaign-months · 865 search terms · 677 keywords · 2,348 ad calls · 393 landing pages · 36 enquiry pages in a browser · 69 pixel records · 3,941 Google changes
How to read this. “Ad leads” are enquiries your reports credit to Google or Meta. “Enquiries” are all Digistorm enquiries for Nursery, Prep and Senior from any source. Trends exclude Clayesmore (reported from August only) and Full School enquiries (recorded inconsistently). Camps and swim school are excluded, as in your reports. Verifiedobserved in data or settings Strongclear pattern, cause not proven

From May to August spend rose 67%, ad leads rose 14% and total enquiries rose 7%. In July and August each extra ad lead cost £1,328. The money did not stop working because the market changed. It stopped working because ILG spent it competing with itself, optimising on signals that do not match Digistorm, and sending traffic to pages and campaigns that cannot convert or cannot be measured.

The six causes, in order of money:

1. Budget was pushed past saturation in one July wave — 45 Meta budget edits and 36 new Google campaigns in June–August, while each school’s catchment stayed the same size.

2. Sister schools bid against each other. Seven south-west London schools share postcodes and radii; their combined spend rose 47% and their combined enquiries fell 2%. Westbury’s losses reappeared as The Study’s and Wimbledon’s gains.

3. Each school’s tracking counts something different. Across the group Google’s admissions conversions are close to Digistorm (0.90×), but school by school they run from 0.05× (Orchard Cambridge) to 2.6× (St Francis College), because of duplicate form actions, calls counted as leads, forms on other domains and camp bookings sharing the same goals. £14,274 of Google spend ran on “Maximise conversions” with almost no signal of its own, and two Meta accounts optimise for an event their pixel has never received.

4. Google’s growth went to its weakest formats — Performance Max cost per conversion £78 → £217, £7,286 leaked to Search Partners and Display, £6,571 on tablets, £1,387 on five new competitor campaigns with zero conversions.

5. Prep, Senior and sixth-form spend barely converts — £19,300 across campaigns Digistorm also shows as weak; sixth-form and senior landing pages convert at 0–0.07%.

6. Six schools are losing enquiries from every source, which no ad setting will fix.

7. Leads are lost after the click — 283 of 2,348 ad calls went unanswered (St Felix 55%), nine high-spend nursery pages show a phone number that cannot be tapped, Prep pages send parents to a second site to find a form, and Orchard Kingston’s “Book a tour” button opens Orchard Hampton’s form.

What happened

Like-for-like, from your monthly Digistorm reports.

Spend, May → Aug+67%£61.4k → £102.3k / month
Ad leads+14%401 → 459
All enquiries+7%780 → 835
Cost per ad lead£153 → £2234-month average £188
Cost of each extra lead£1,328Jul–Aug vs May–Jun
Monthly, excl. Clayesmore
MonthSpendGoogleMetaGoogle leadsMeta leadsAd leads£ / ad leadAll enquiries
May£61,372£45,428£15,94430893401£153780
June£77,575£58,752£18,824377108485£160855
July£101,726£68,136£33,590290186476£214844
August£102,272£63,514£38,758306153459£223835
Total£342,945£235,830£107,1151,2815401,821£1883,314
By division, 4 months
DivisionSpendAd leads£/leadGoogleMetaSpend May→AugLeads May→Aug£/lead May→Aug
Nursery£247,1731,511£164£163£165£36,692 → £78,633324 → 364£113 → £216
Prep£75,205224£336£295£470£19,802 → £17,50163 → 62£314 → £282
Senior£14,11837£382£336£523£4,142 → £3,36711 → 10£377 → £337
Full School£6,44949£132£148£111£736 → £2,7703 → 23£245 → £120
Google & Meta admissions conversions vs Digistorm-credited
MonthGoogle claimsDigistormRatioMeta claimsDigistormRatio
May3643081.18×137931.47×
June3423770.91×1691081.56×
July2932901.01×2911861.56×
August2533060.83×2761531.80×

Both platforms exclude Clayesmore and camp/swim campaigns; Meta = Lead + CompleteRegistration. Corrected in v7: earlier versions counted Google camp and swim conversions (267 of July’s 560 were “Book Now” button clicks and swim forms), which made July look like 1.93×. The group-level Google count is roughly right; the problem is school-level (see finding 03).

Root causes

Evidence → why → impact → action.

01

Spend was pushed past saturation

Verified
Evidence
May–Jun £138,947 → 886 ad leads. Jul–Aug £203,998 → 935. Extra £65,051 bought 49 leads. Nursery spend £36.7k → £78.6k a month for 12% more nursery leads (£113 → £216). Meta frequency 4.5 → 6.9 while reach grew 24%. Eleven schools received £32,872 more and produced 84 fewer ad leads.
Why
Each school advertises inside 1–15 km. Doubling a budget does not double the families searching for a nursery in that radius; it repeats the ad to the same ones.
Action
Return the eleven schools to May–June budgets (−£16,436/month). Grow eight efficient schools in 20% steps. No budget change above 20% in a week, and no more than one per ad set per week.
02

Sister schools compete for the same families

Strong
Evidence
Cluster (enquiries May–Jun → Jul–Aug)Monthly spendChangeAd leadsEnquiriesChange
South-west London / Surrey
Orchard Kingston 27→44; Westbury House 60→22; The Study 34→48; Orchard Wimbledon 33→51; Orchard Hampton 32→33; Danesfield Manor 52→50; Walton Montessori 48→33
£16,908 → £24,858+47%128 → 146286 → 281-2%
Caterham / Croydon
Essendene Lodge 34→39; Warlingham Park 52→34; Collingwood 50→74
£9,385 → £14,922+59%81 → 96136 → 147+8%
Wembley
St Christopher's 41→59; St Nicholas 72→74
£6,522 → £9,120+40%84 → 82113 → 133+18%
Meta targeting overlaps: Westbury & The Study share 7 postcodes with centres 0.3 km apart; Orchard Kingston & Westbury share 6; Essendene & Warlingham share 9; Danesfield & Walton share 4; St Christopher’s & St Nicholas share 4.
Why
Each school is run as its own campaign, so each pays to reach the same parents in shared postcodes and pushes up the other’s cost. On Google, nearby nurseries all bid on generic terms such as “nursery near me”.
Action
Plan budgets per cluster, not per school. Assign each shared postcode to one school’s Meta targeting. Exclude sister-school catchments from each other’s radius. Measure success on cluster enquiries.
03

Every school counts leads differently, so bidding learns the wrong thing

Verified
Evidence
Google admissions conversions ÷ Digistorm Google leads, May–Aug: Orchard Cambridge 0.05×, Wood Wharf 0.22×, Corner House 0.39×, Orchard Hampton 0.39× … Essendene 1.73×, Walton 2.0×, Danesfield 2.24×, St Francis College 2.61× (group 0.90×). Causes found in the conversion-action report: duplicate actions (Danesfield counts three form actions, St Nicholas, Essendene, Ruskin and St Felix count a form action and a thank-you page), calls counted as leads in six accounts (St Francis College 53 call conversions; Gidea Park 38), email clicks counted at Royal Hospital (64 of its competitor campaign’s conversions), and camp/swim goals in the same accounts. 52 Meta ad sets (£57,011) optimise for CompleteRegistration, St Felix’s nursery ad set optimises for value with no values set, and Rookwood/Shebbear Senior optimise for a Lead event that never fires. £14,274 of Google Search runs on “Maximise conversions” with almost no signal (at Kew and Westbury other campaigns in the same account, mainly PMax, take the credit). No server-side events on the Yateley, Derby, Royal Hospital and Wembley pixels.
Impact
Schools that over-count look efficient and got budget (Danesfield, Essendene, Ruskin were all increased in July); schools that under-count look broken (Wood Wharf, Orchard Cambridge). Smart bidding optimises towards whatever each school happens to count.
Action
One primary Google conversion per account: a single Digistorm enquiry action. Set calls over 60 seconds, email clicks, prospectus, “Book Now” and swim forms to secondary. Give camps and swim campaigns campaign-level goals. In Meta, one Lead event per school fired from the Digistorm submission; switch St Felix nursery from value to conversions; move Rookwood and Shebbear Senior to an event the pixel receives. Then import Digistorm enquiries as offline conversions (GCLID / fbclid in hidden fields). Delete orphan pixels.
04

Google’s extra budget went to its least efficient formats

Verified
Evidence
See the Google section. PMax £17.9k → £26.2k a month, platform cost per conversion £78 → £217. Search Partners and Display from Search campaigns £7,286 for 3.5 conversions across 29 accounts. Tablets £6,571 for 6. Maximise-clicks Search £16,729 at £190 per conversion vs £116 on Maximise conversions. Five competitor campaigns launched June–August: £1,387, 0 conversions.
Action
Switch off Search Partners and Display; −100% tablets on Search; move every Search campaign to Maximise conversions; pause the new competitor campaigns; cap PMax at 30% of each account’s budget with brand exclusions.
05

Prep, Senior and sixth-form money barely converts

Verified
Evidence
Prep £336 and Senior £382 per ad lead (Nursery £164); Meta Prep £470, Senior £523. Prep Search campaigns lose 61–70% of impressions to ad rank. Landing pages: senior. CVR 0.07% (£4,184), sixthform. 0% (£1,228), prep. 0.37% vs nursery. 0.63%. Campaigns that Digistorm confirms as weak: £19,300, led by Yateley Prep/Senior (£6,712), St Francis Pewsey Prep (£3,042), St Francis College sixth form (£2,934).
Why
Several Prep landing pages are school overview pages, not enquiry pages (Warlingham, Eton End, Essendene, Sunninghill). Low ad rank means ads and pages are judged less relevant, so every click costs more.
Action
Point every Prep/Senior ad at a dedicated enquiry or Open Morning booking page. Rewrite Prep Search ads around year-group entry points. Halve the weak Prep/Senior campaigns until landing pages are replaced.
06

Six schools are losing enquiries from every source

Strong
Evidence
SchoolEnquiries May·Jun·Jul·AugAd leadsSpendChange
Westbury House23 · 37 · 15 · 713 · 22 · 8 · 2£3.0k · £4.8k · £5.4k · £3.8k-63%
Eton End75 · 80 · 41 · 4459 · 52 · 29 · 26£4.2k · £4.4k · £4.1k · £3.6k-45%
Warlingham Park27 · 25 · 18 · 1619 · 17 · 14 · 14£3.0k · £3.3k · £3.8k · £4.1k-35%
Walton Montessori28 · 20 · 13 · 202 · 2 · 0 · 11£0.9k · £1.4k · £0.9k · £1.5k-31%
Rookwood36 · 15 · 21 · 156 · 20 · 4 · 10£1.9k · £2.2k · £2.0k · £2.1k-29%
Orchard Kew26 · 29 · 21 · 1818 · 23 · 10 · 9£1.9k · £2.8k · £4.0k · £4.0k-29%
Why
Non-ad enquiries fell too, so this is a school-side or routing problem — or, in south-west London, families choosing a sister school. Westbury’s Google lead actions were all set to Removed and its August nursery Search was replaced by a Maximise-clicks campaign that converted nothing.
Action
For each: submit a test enquiry through every form and confirm it lands in Digistorm under the right school and division; ask admissions what changed in June–July; check sister-school enquiries in the same weeks. No budget increases until done.
07

Meta structure leaks money and signal

Verified
Evidence
Facebook feed £40 vs Instagram feed £99 per platform conversion. Yateley Prep/Senior ads link to prep.inspiredlearninggroup.co.uk where its pixel does not fire: 719 clicks, 0 landings; £626 on Audience Network at frequency 98. 19 “-2” duplicate campaigns splitting learning. India teacher-training campaign inside the schools account (May: 1.0M impressions, 35,402 clicks). Rookwood Meta: no conversion events, £853 per Digistorm lead.
Action
Pause Yateley Prep/Senior Meta until its pixel is on the prep. pages; exclude Audience Network, Threads and right-hand column; fold “-2” campaigns into parents; move recruitment to its own account; test a Facebook-feed-weighted ad set against Advantage+ placements for 3 weeks.
08

The monthly reports mislead the people reading them

Verified
Evidence
Sheet totals typed onto Holme Court’s row (May Senior £5,518 & 11 leads; May Full School 3 leads; July Senior £3,539). Duplicated rows: May Shebbear Senior Google £1,376; June Derby Full School Meta £127. Full School enquiries recorded for 11 schools in May and 5 in August, making total enquiries appear to fall (1,081 → 956) when like-for-like they rose. August notes say St Francis College Meta is excluded yet its figures appear. Eton End Meta account disabled; St Francis Pewsey billing unsettled; St Francis College Meta not API-accessible.
Action
Fixed template: totals on a labelled row, one row per school per division, Full School enquiries every month, spend reconciled to platform within 2%, cluster totals added.
09

Google rates the landing pages below average, so every click costs more

Verified
Evidence
Keywords with a Quality Score, Jun–Aug: £56,686 of £70,041 (81%) sits on scores of 1–4; only £8,086 on 7–10. £61,660 (88%) is rated “below average” for landing-page experience, against £13,178 below average for ad relevance. Worst accounts by spend-weighted score: Ruskin 1.7, Rookwood 1.8, GPPS 2.0, Orchard Kingston 2.3, Danesfield 2.4, Orchard Hampton 2.4. Biggest single keywords: Ruskin “day nurseries” QS 1 £2,949; St Felix “nursery school” QS 3 £2,741; GPPS “nursery school” QS 1 £1,516; Danesfield “day nurseries” QS 2 £1,503. Ad strength is mostly Good/Excellent, so the ads are not the problem.
Why
The shared nursery./prep. pages are thin, form-in-iframe pages on an ILG subdomain rather than the school’s site; Prep pages (Eton End, Essendene, Westbury) carry no form at all and send parents to a Digistorm page on another domain. Google charges more per click and shows the ads less often when it judges the page weak — the same cause as Prep Search losing 61–70% of impressions to rank.
Action
Rebuild the top ten pages by spend first (St Nicholas, Ruskin, Essendene, Orchard Wimbledon, Orchard Kew, St Christopher’s, Derby, Danesfield, GPPS, Orchard Kingston): school name and area in the headline, fees/funded hours, Ofsted, opening hours, photos, map, tap-to-call number, and the form visible without scrolling. Put the form on every Prep page. Split “day nurseries” / “nursery school” phrase keywords into tighter local ad groups.
10

“Near me” and the schools’ own names eat the generic budget

Verified
Evidence
Search terms costing £15+, Jun–Aug (£35,722): “near me” queries £12,735 → 34.9 conversions (£365 each) — Westbury £1,323 → 0, St Nicholas £1,260 → 5.5, Orchard Kingston £1,002 → 0, Wimbledon £777 → 1, Ruskin £626 → 0, The Study £525 → 0. Searches for the school’s own name inside non-brand campaigns: £8,308, 2,994 clicks, while dedicated brand campaigns spent £580 — Sunninghill £936, St Felix £823, Warlingham £785 (1 conversion), Gidea Park £463 (0), Eton End £408 (0), St Francis College £301 (0). Free-childcare, term-dates, holiday-club and council-admissions searches £660, 0 conversions. 769 of 865 terms (£27,660) converted nothing.
Why
Phrase and close-variant matching on “nursery near me” buys every nursery search in a radius, including families wanting a different provider or free-hours places. Brand searches with zero conversions (Gidea, Eton End, St Francis College) are also a tracking warning: people searching for the school by name almost always enquire somewhere.
Action
Add each school’s name as a negative in its generic campaigns and run it only in a low-cost brand campaign. Move “near me” to exact match with its own budget and a 4-week test; stop it at Westbury, Orchard Kingston, Ruskin and The Study if it stays at zero. Add a shared negative list: free, funded, 15/30 hours, term dates, holiday club, council, jobs, Ofsted report.
11

Calls from the ads are a hidden lead source, and one in eight is missed

Verified
Evidence
Google call log, 1 May–15 Sep: 2,348 calls from ads, 932 lasting a minute or more, 283 missed. Missed-call rates: St Felix 65 of 118 (55%), Wood Wharf 43 of 110 (39%), Westbury 30 of 116 (26%), Rookwood 14 of 68, Ruskin 15 of 91, Orchard Kew 15 of 101. 207 of the 283 missed calls were on weekdays between 8am and 5pm. Only six accounts count calls as conversions, and none of these calls appear in the Digistorm lead counts. Nine high-spend nursery pages show the phone number as text that cannot be tapped (Ruskin, both Orchard Kingston pages, Orchard Hampton, Orchard Cambridge, Wood Wharf, Walton, Corner House, Eton End). St Nicholas’s page shows “020 820 59744” but its tap-to-call link dials 020 7125 1485.
Why
Admissions teams are small and phones are not covered; calls are not logged as enquiries, so schools that attract callers look worse than they are.
Action
Send each school a weekly missed-call list; route unanswered ad calls to a central admissions line or voicemail-to-email. Log calls over 60 seconds as Digistorm enquiries. Make every page number tappable and check the St Nicholas numbers. Add call schedules to call assets so calls only show when someone can answer.
12

Google spends outside realistic catchments

Verified
Evidence
Spend by searcher town, Jun–Aug: St Felix (Southwold) £1,359 in Great Yarmouth, Gorleston and Norwich → 3 conversions, plus £1,683 in Lowestoft → 7, while Southwold itself got £467 → 0. St Francis College (Letchworth) £1,352 in Luton, Houghton Regis and Dunstable → 0 conversions, £71 in Letchworth. Warlingham £910 in New Addington → 0. Orchard Hampton £1,397 in Hampton → 0 while Twickenham and Feltham take £3,737. Yateley £646 in Reading, Earley, Woodley, Basingstoke, Woking and Guildford → 1 conversion. Rookwood (Andover) £459 in Southampton and Winchester → 0. The Meta side is similar: St Felix Prep targets 63 postcodes including Ipswich and Bury St Edmunds.
Why
Radius and PMax location settings include people “interested in” the area and large towns at the edge of the radius, where nursery parents will not travel.
Action
Exclude Great Yarmouth, Gorleston, Norwich, Luton, Houghton Regis, Dunstable, New Addington, Reading, Earley, Woodley, Southampton and Winchester; keep Lowestoft under review; set location options to “presence” for nursery campaigns; cap nursery radii at a 20-minute drive; review PMax location reports monthly.

Google in detail

Campaign type by month — platform spend, conversions, cost per conversion
TypeMay £Conv£/cJun £Conv£/cJul £Conv£/cAug £Conv£/c
Search generic£27,07796£281£34,526124£278£41,249146£283£39,513128£309
PMax£17,876230£78£24,700196£126£26,695135£197£26,188121£217
Brand£00£10£4775£95£8633£293
Competitor£14338£4£22622£10£77211£70£80120£41
Display£3470£540£00£00
Demand gen£1280£00£00£1990
Camps/Swim£98669£14£926201£5£1,257321£4£36848£8

Platform conversions changed definition in August (finding 03), so compare within a column with care. Camps/swim shown for completeness only.

Google campaigns with £700+ spend and 2 or fewer platform conversions (May–Aug), cross-checked with Digistorm
AccountCampaignDivisionBiddingSpendConvVerdict
The Orchard Nursery - KewLeadGen-5kmRadius-All-Nursery-Search-10thJuly2025-OrchardDayNursery-IOSNurseryMaximize Conversions£4,8832.0Tracking-blind: carries 57% of this Google budget while Digistorm credits Google with 47 leads
Orchard Day CambridgeLeadGen-6km-Search-02Dec2025-OrchardDayCambridge-IOSNurseryMaximize Conversions£3,6172.0Tracking-blind: carries 58% of this Google budget while Digistorm credits Google with 41 leads
St. Christopher's SchoolLeadGen-10kmRadius-Nursery-Jul2025-StChristopherSchool-IOSNurseryMaximize Conversions£3,6160.0Unclear: Digistorm Google leads (19) may come from this school’s other campaigns
Westbury HouseLeadGen-6kmRadius-All-Nursery-Search-7thAug2025-WestburyHouse-IOSNurseryMaximize Conversions£3,1542.0Tracking-blind: carries 40% of this Google budget while Digistorm credits Google with 19 leads
Orchard Day CambridgeLeadGen-5kmRadius-Nursery-Pmax-11Nov2025-OrcharddayCambridge-IOSNurseryMaximize Conversions£2,6200.0Tracking-blind: carries 42% of this Google budget while Digistorm credits Google with 41 leads
Yateley Manor SchoolLeadGen-10kmRadius-All-Prep-Pmax-6thJan2026-Yateley-IOSPrepMaximize Conversions£2,2220.4Genuinely weak: Digistorm credits Google with only 10 leads here
St. Francis CollegeLeadGen-20kmRadius-All-Sixthform-Search-28thNov2025-StFrancis-IOSSeniorMaximize clicks£1,9640.0Genuinely weak: Digistorm credits Google with only 7 leads here
St. Francis PewseyLeadGen_20km_Prep_Search_18March2026_St.FrancisPewsey_IOSPrepMaximize Conversions£1,9560.0Genuinely weak: Digistorm credits Google with only 2 leads here
Yateley Manor SchoolLeadGen-15kmRadius-All-Senior-Pmax-6thJan2026-Yateley-IOSSeniorMaximize Conversions£1,7871.4Genuinely weak: Digistorm credits Google with only 4 leads here
St. Felix SchoolLeads-Pmax-FullSchool-SainfFelix-IOS-9thAprilFull SchoolMaximize Conversions£1,5791.0Genuinely weak: Digistorm credits Google with only 9 leads here
Yateley Manor SchoolLeadGen-10kmRadius-All-Prep-Search-6thJan2026-Yateley-IOSPrepMaximize Conversions£1,4930.0Genuinely weak: Digistorm credits Google with only 10 leads here
Walton MontessoriNursery Tour Enquiry Feb 26NurseryMaximize Conversions£1,4792.0Genuinely weak: Digistorm credits Google with only 6 leads here
Yateley Manor SchoolLeadGen-15kmRadius-All-Senior-Search-6thJan2026-Yateley-IOSSeniorMaximize clicks£1,2100.0Genuinely weak: Digistorm credits Google with only 4 leads here
St. Francis PewseyLeadGen-20km-Prep-Pmax-16thApril2026-StFrancisPewsey-IOSPrepMaximize Conversions£1,0861.0Genuinely weak: Digistorm credits Google with only 2 leads here
Shebbear CollegeLeadGen_20km_8thApril2026_Search_Prep+Senior_Shebbear_IOSSeniorMaximize clicks£1,0410.0Genuinely weak: Digistorm credits Google with only 4 leads here
St. Francis CollegeLeadGen-20kmRadius-All-Sixthform-Pmax-16thDec2025-StFrancis-IOSSeniorMaximize Conversions£9701.0Genuinely weak: Digistorm credits Google with only 7 leads here
Clayesmore MarketingClayesmore_Senior_SixthForm_Search_LeadGen_30Miles_23rdJuly2026_IOSSeniorMaximize Conversions£9291.0Genuinely weak: Digistorm credits Google with only 2 leads here
Clayesmore MarketingClayesmore_Nursery_PMax_LeadGen_25Miles_28rdJuly2026_IOSNurseryMaximize Conversions£8292.0Genuinely weak: Digistorm credits Google with only 11 leads here
Orchard Hampton NurseryLeadGen-5kmRadius-NurseryCompetitors-Search-20thJune2026-OrchardHampton-IOSNurseryMaximize clicks£7640.0Unclear: Digistorm Google leads (31) may come from this school’s other campaigns
Clayesmore MarketingClayesmore_Prep/Senior/Sixth-Form_PMax_LeadGen_25Miles_28rdJuly2026_IOSSeniorMaximize Conversions£7562.0Genuinely weak: Digistorm credits Google with only 2 leads here

Tracking-blind £14,274: fix tracking, don’t pause. Genuinely weak £19,300: reduce or rebuild. Unclear £4,380: check campaign-level attribution. Clayesmore campaigns launched 23–28 July and are early.

New non-camp campaigns launched Jun–Aug (36, £10,474)
TypeCampaignsSpendConv£/conv
Search generic11£4,50424£188
PMax6£3,04321£142
Competitor5£1,3870
Brand11£1,3418£169
Demand gen3£1990
Where Google traffic lands, Jul–Aug
HostSpendShareClicksConvCVR
nursery.inspiredlearninggroup.co.uk£91,74768.5%58,1653680.63%
prep.inspiredlearninggroup.co.uk£21,89316.4%23,888880.37%
nurseries.inspiredlearninggroup.co.uk£4,2633.2%4,039250.63%
senior.inspiredlearninggroup.co.uk£4,1843.1%9,94270.07%
clayesmore.com£4,0473.0%4,901220.45%
school.inspiredlearninggroup.co.uk£3,7352.8%2,743120.42%
sixthform.inspiredlearninggroup.co.uk£1,2280.9%77900.00%
daycamps.inspiredlearninggroup.co.uk£1,0750.8%70230443.28%
swim.inspiredlearninggroup.co.uk£5380.4%4896413.09%
yateleymanor.com£3610.3%9411.06%
royalhospitalschool.org£3120.2%435204.55%
theorcharddaynurseryhampton.co.uk£1860.1%2500.00%
essendenelodge.co.uk£1700.1%3500.94%
admissions.thestudyschool.co.uk£1130.1%9121.65%
Landing pages with £500+ spend and zero platform conversions, Jul–Aug (£15,064)
AccountPageSpendClicksConv
Wood Wharf Kindergartenhttps://nursery.inspiredlearninggroup.co.uk/wood-wharf-enquire/£1,6851,0210
St. Christopher's Schoolhttps://nursery.inspiredlearninggroup.co.uk/st-christophers-school-nursery-enquire/£1,6441110
Westbury Househttps://nursery.inspiredlearninggroup.co.uk/westbury-house-nursery-enquire/£1,5161,0260
Westbury Househttps://nursery.inspiredlearninggroup.co.uk/westbury-house-nursery-enquire/£1,4642220
St. Francis Pewseyhttps://prep.inspiredlearninggroup.co.uk/st-francis-school-prep/£1,4391540
Rookwood Schoolhttps://school.inspiredlearninggroup.co.uk/rookwood-school/£1,0502290
Orchard Day Cambridgehttps://nursery.inspiredlearninggroup.co.uk/orchard-day-cambridge/£8586850
St. Francis Collegehttps://sixthform.inspiredlearninggroup.co.uk/st-francis-college-sixth-form/£8563920
Yateley Manor Schoolhttps://nursery.inspiredlearninggroup.co.uk/little-lodge-nursery-enquire/£7782090
St. Francis Collegehttps://prep.inspiredlearninggroup.co.uk/st-francis-college-prep-school-enquiry/£7393290
St. Felix Schoolhttps://school.inspiredlearninggroup.co.uk/saint-felix/£7349600
Yateley Manor Schoolhttps://senior.inspiredlearninggroup.co.uk/yateley-manor-senior-school/£5973970
Orchard Day Kingstonhttps://nursery.inspiredlearninggroup.co.uk/orchard-day-kingston-enquire/£5971030
Orchard Hampton Nurseryhttps://nursery.inspiredlearninggroup.co.uk/orchard-hampton-enquire/£562400
Westbury Househttps://prep.inspiredlearninggroup.co.uk/westbury-house-prep/£5473190

All five pages spot-checked in a browser loaded with a phone number (not always tappable) and an embedded Digistorm form; zero here can mean tracking, not a broken page (Wood Wharf is efficient in Digistorm). One Orchard Hampton destination URL is malformed ({ignore}?https://) and should be corrected.

Google conversion actions that are not admissions enquiries, May–Aug
ActionWhereConversions
“Book Now” button clicks (camps)Derby, Eton End, Yateley, Clayesmore, Sunninghill, St Francis College, Pewsey≈540
Swim-school formsSt Francis College, Yateley, Clayesmore≈110
“Calls from ads”Gidea Park, St Francis College, St Felix, Wood Wharf, Wimbledon, Royal Hospital≈150
Email-address clicksRoyal Hospital66
Second or third form action on the same enquiryDanesfield, St Nicholas, Essendene, Ruskin, St Felix, Warlingham, GPPS, The Studydouble-counts
Search quality, Jun–Aug keyword spend
Quality ScoreSpendShareConv
1–4£56,68649%363
5–6£5,2695%70
7–10£8,0867%142
No score (low volume)£46,34940%387
Landing page “below average”£61,66088% of scored
Search terms costing £15+, Jun–Aug (£35,722)
Query typeSpendClicksConv£/conv
Generic and competitor£14,0992,38850.5£279
“… near me”£12,7353,01134.9£365
Own school name, in non-brand campaigns£8,3082,99490.2£92
Own school name, in brand campaigns£5804252.0
Ad calls, 1 May–15 Sep (Google call log)
SchoolCalls≥60sMissedTap-to-call on page
St Nicholas2351039%number mismatch
Gidea Park2331020%yes
St Francis College1631021%
Eton End148732%no
St Felix118855%yes
Westbury House1165626%yes
Wood Wharf1102639%no
Yateley Manor1023510%
Orchard Kew1014415%yes
Warlingham Park1013812%yes
All 30 accounts2,34893212%
September 1–15 vs August (non-camp Google, excl. Clayesmore)
August1–15 Sep
Spend per day£2,062£1,818
Platform conversions per day7.57.6
£ per platform conversion£274£239
Meta main account £ per Lead+CR£109£88
No Google spend in SeptemberOrchard Wimbledon, Orchard Cambridge, St Christopher’s; Ruskin £3,736 → £188
Google change history, last 30 days (API limit)
WhatChanges
Keywords and negatives added (Kingston 392, Collingwood 534, Danesfield 225, Essendene 174, Eton End 171, Clayesmore 166)2,629
Budget edits (St Christopher’s 19, Kingston 13, Pewsey 9)≈140
New campaigns: Orchard Kingston 5 (incl. Brand and Demand Gen), Orchard Wimbledon 3, Royal Hospital 3, Pewsey 112
Kew, Wood Wharf and Kingston campaigns moved to Target Impression Share3
Walton network setting changed by auto-applied recommendations3

Search-term clean-up started in late August, after most of the Jul–Aug waste. Day-of-week and hour were checked and are not a lever: cost per conversion is £123–£144 in every part of the day.

Meta in detail

Most expensive school × platform (4 mo, £2.5k+)
SchoolPlatformSpendLeads£/lead
Westbury HouseMeta£4,8325£966
Walton MontessoriGoogle£3,5616£593
St FelixGoogle£11,15419£587
Orchard KingstonGoogle£10,48819£552
CollingwoodMeta£7,08614£506
St Francis PewseyGoogle£5,34612£446
Essendene LodgeMeta£5,71313£439
Orchard HamptonMeta£4,45511£405
Shebbear CollegeMeta£4,64612£387
St Francis CollegeGoogle£8,79823£383
Essendene LodgeGoogle£11,30030£377
Shebbear CollegeGoogle£4,09011£372
Most efficient school × platform (4 mo, £2.5k+)
SchoolPlatformSpendLeads£/lead
Corner HouseGoogle£3,23564£51
Derby GrammarMeta£3,27654£61
Derby GrammarGoogle£7,891115£69
Gidea ParkMeta£4,28456£76
Eton EndGoogle£12,177142£86
Wood WharfGoogle£3,58236£100
Gidea ParkGoogle£4,86047£103
GPPSGoogle£8,21270£117
Meta checks
CheckFindingStatus
Optimisation event52 ad sets (£57,011) optimise for CompleteRegistration; 31 (£26,405) for Lead; some campaigns mix bothFix
Placements (Jun–Sep)Facebook feed £40, Instagram Stories £74, Instagram feed £99, Facebook Reels £106 per platform conversion; Threads, Audience Network, right-hand column £559 for 2Test / exclude
Frequency4.5 → 6.9 May–Aug on UK activity; reach +24% vs spend +118%Refresh creative
Change historyBudget edits: May 23, Jun 12, Jul 45, Aug 33; clustered 2 Jul and 16–21 JulSlow down
Events that never fireRookwood (all ad sets) and Shebbear Senior optimise for Lead; neither pixel receives LeadFix now
Server-side eventsMost main-account pixels receive them; Yateley, Derby, Royal Hospital and Wembley pixels do notAdd CAPI
Pixel housekeeping7 never-fired or duplicate pixels; Orchard Kingston optimises on the “Park Hill” pixelTidy
Geography & age99.99% of spend in England; ages 45+ convert cheapest (£37–£40)Keep
Account healthEton End account disabled; St Francis Pewsey billing unsettled; St Francis College not API-accessibleResolve
School Meta accounts at the same depth as the main account, 1 May–15 Sep
AccountSpendResultsWhat is wrongFix
Yateley Manor£5,429507 leads, mostly camps and swimAudience Network £633 for 1.67M impressions and 0 leads; June–July CPM £0.70–£1.49, CTR 0.21–0.38%, frequency 21. PrepSenior ad set £1,767 at frequency 24 with 0 landing-page views (pixel absent on prep.). Nursery ad set: 1,494 clicks → 115 page views (8%). Two ad sets optimise on a PageView rule for a thank-you URL. No server-side events.Exclude Audience Network; pause PrepSenior until pixel fixed; add pixel and CAPI to the nursery landing host; optimise on Lead.
Derby Grammar£4,408Nursery 25 leads Aug, 12 in 1–15 SepNursery ad set £3,482 at frequency 11.5 on 52k people. One ad (“Jan5”, live since 17 April) carries £1,938. CTR 2.56% (Jun) → 0.77% (Aug) → 0.75% (Sep). Awareness ad sets target Engineering, Automotive, Luxury vehicle and Music industry interests; remarketing includes OX44 and SW14 postcodes. No server-side events.Three new nursery creatives now; retire “Jan5”; remove irrelevant interests and postcodes; add CAPI.
St Felix£6,44751 CRNursery ad set optimises for value with no values; £3,029 at frequency 16.9. Its budget was raised £10 → £20 → £30/day within four days of launch, then edited five more times. Monthly CR 17 → 11 → 10 → 6 while spend doubled and frequency rose 4.5 → 7.9. Several “Dynamic” ad sets were created on 1 September and three deleted the same day. Prep targets 63 postcodes including Ipswich and Bury St Edmunds.Rebuild nursery ad set on conversions (Lead); one budget change a week; trim postcodes to a 30-minute drive; answer the phone (55% of ad calls missed).
Shebbear£5,43850 CRSeniorSixthForm ad set optimises for Lead (£1,374, 0 leads) — pixel only sends CompleteRegistration. Instagram £167 vs Facebook £101 per CR. CTR 2.05% → 1.21%; frequency up to 5.6. Targets Plymouth and pins near Exeter and Tiverton.Switch Senior to CompleteRegistration (or add Lead); Facebook-weighted placements test; new creative.
Rookwood£1,8770Every ad set optimises for Lead; pixel received only PageView in 28 days. Prep: 1,187 clicks → 23 page views. Targets Andover 20-mile radius plus Newbury with military-industry interests; September GCSE duplicates; £1/day awareness ad set.Pause until pixel is on the landing host and a Lead event fires; then relaunch one ad set.
Holme Court£0No spend in the period.
Eton Endn/aAccount disabled by Meta for “unusual activity”; all ads paused.Appeal in Business Support Home this week.
St Francis College · St Francis Pewseyn/aSFC not yet enabled for API reading; Pewsey billing unsettled (re-checked 16 Sep).Settle Pewsey balance; review SFC in Ads Manager.

Competitor check (Meta Ad Library, UK, live on 16 Sep): Bright Horizons launched “Autumn Open Day” ads on 15–16 September; local nurseries lead with funded 15/30 hours and September spaces. ILG nursery ads lead with “Book a tour”. An open-morning date and funded-hours message are worth testing now.

School by school

Four-month spend and ad leads from your reports; enquiries are Nursery + Prep + Senior, May–Jun vs Jul–Aug.

28 schools (Clayesmore reported from August only)
SchoolSpendAd leads£/leadGoogle £/leadMeta £/leadEnquiriesWhat is going onDecision
Collingwood£17,44770£249£185£50650 → 74Enquiries +48% (50→74). Meta costs £506 per lead vs Google £185. £362 on Search Partners. Competitor campaign £185, 0 conversions.Grow Google; halve Meta
Westbury House£17,14545£381£308£96660 → 22All-source enquiries −63%. All Google lead-form actions set to Removed. August: nursery Search cut to £178 and replaced with a Maximize-clicks campaign (£424, 0 conv). Shares 7 Meta postcodes with The Study.Investigate before spending
Essendene Lodge£17,01343£396£377£43934 → 39Nursery Search £778→£3,768 (May–Jun vs Jul–Aug) with conversions flat at 2. Meta £439/lead. Shares 9 Meta postcodes with Warlingham.Cut to May–Jun
St Felix£16,99145£378£587£22531 → 30Google £587 per lead. Full School PMax +£817 for 1 conversion. school. landing page £734, 0 conv.Cut to May–Jun
Orchard Kingston£16,43337£444£552£33027 → 44Extra-lead cost £1,339. Main Meta campaign optimises on the “Park Hill” pixel. Overlaps Westbury, Hampton, The Study.Cut to May–Jun
Eton End£16,362166£99£86£174155 → 85Best Google volume but ad leads halved (111→55). Nursery PMax conversions 20→13→7.5→5 on flat spend. Separate Meta account disabled.Investigate; refresh PMax
St Christopher's£15,79360£263£344£17741 → 59Nursery Search +£773 for 0 conversions. Nursery enquiry URL £1,644, 0 conv. Largest Meta budget raises (Jun, Jul). Shares 4 postcodes with St Nicholas.Hold; fix nursery Search
St Nicholas£15,490106£146£150£4672 → 74Efficient on Google (£150/lead) but extra £663/month produced −12 leads. Overlaps St Christopher’s.Cut to May–Jun
St Francis College£15,17668£223£383£142125 → 138Meta not in API; report inclusion inconsistent. Sixth-form page £856 and prep enquiry page £739, both 0 Google conversions.Hold; resolve data
Yateley Manor£14,86081£183£192£15858 → 69Prep/Senior Meta links to a domain its pixel doesn’t track (719 clicks, 0 landings); £626 on Audience Network. Senior page £597, 0 conv. Nursery performs.Grow nursery; fix Prep/Senior
Ruskin House£14,67578£188£188£19181 → 79Google says conversions rose (Search 7→24) but Digistorm ad leads flat (39→39). £368 on Search Partners.Cut to May–Jun
GPPS£14,59297£150£117£23660 → 67£332 Search Partners + £381 Display from Search campaigns. Extra-lead cost £493.Hold; switch off networks
Warlingham Park£14,15564£221£200£27552 → 34All-source enquiries −35%. Nursery Search conversions 5.5→0. Shares 9 postcodes with Essendene.Cut; investigate
Orchard Hampton£13,44342£320£290£40532 → 33Competitor Search £764 on Maximize clicks, 0 conversions. One final URL malformed ({ignore}?https://).Hold; pause competitor
Danesfield Manor£13,23658£228£208£30552 → 50Nursery Search on Maximize clicks: +£1,376, conversions 17→11. Shares 4 postcodes with Walton.Cut; switch bidding
Orchard Wimbledon£12,75546£277£294£14433 → 51Extra leads at £117 each. Enquiries +55%.Grow +20%
Orchard Kew£12,73060£212£182£32055 → 39Nursery Search ≈£1,350/month Jun–Aug with 0 platform conversions; Digistorm Google leads fell 22→5. Competitor campaign 0 conv. Enquiries −29%.Cut; rebuild Search
Derby Grammar£11,167169£66£69£61116 → 121Best cost per lead in the group (£66). Meta pixel has no server-side events.Grow +20%
St Francis Pewsey£9,28224£387£446£32837 → 34+£4,430 over Jul–Aug for 10 fewer ad leads. Prep landing page £1,439, 0 conv. Meta billing unsettled.Cut to May–Jun
Gidea Park£9,144103£89£103£7670 → 110Strongest growth: enquiries 70→110. Nursery Search loses 35% of impressions to budget.Grow +20%
Orchard Cambridge£9,08264£142£152£12445 → 71Extra leads at £140. Nursery landing page is a school page, not an enquiry page (CVR 0.41%).Grow; test enquiry page
Shebbear College£8,73623£380£372£38743 → 39May report duplicated £1,376 of Google spend. Enquiries recovering.Hold
Sunninghill£8,28057£145£160£13351 → 76Extra leads at £117; enquiries 51→76.Grow +20%
Rookwood£8,15740£204£170£85351 → 36Meta campaign records no conversion events (£853 per Digistorm lead). Senior Search 3 conversions in 4 months. Enquiries −29%.Hold; pause Meta
The Study£5,86931£189£204£16634 → 48Enquiries +41%, but shares 7 postcodes with Westbury — some growth may be Westbury’s loss.Hold
Corner House£5,53178£71£51£16477 → 66Best 4-month cost per lead (£71), but doubling spend in Jul–Aug produced 16 fewer leads.Cut to May–Jun
Wood Wharf£4,74951£93£100£7845 → 58Google landing page £1,685, 0 platform conversions, and Meta campaign records no events — yet Digistorm credits 51 ad leads at £93. Tracking is missing, not performance.Grow; fix tracking first
Walton Montessori£4,65115£310£593£12148 → 33Small numbers. Enquiries −31%. Shares 4 postcodes with Danesfield.Hold

Campaign and budget actions

Pause or rebuild
CampaignWhy
Orchard Hampton — NurseryCompetitors Search (Max clicks)£764, 0 conversions
Orchard Kew, Collingwood, Wood Wharf competitor Search£624 combined, 0 conversions
Westbury — All-Nursery-Search-31stJuly2026 (Max clicks)£424, 0; launched as the older nursery Search was cut to £178
St Francis Pewsey — Prep Search 18March2026 & Prep PMax£3,042, 1 conversion; 2 Digistorm Google Prep leads
Yateley — Prep & Senior Search and PMax (Google); YateleyManor-Conversion-IOS (Meta)£6,712 Google for 1.8 conversions; Meta pixel missing on landing domain
St Francis College — Sixthform Search (Max clicks)£1,964, 0 conversions; sixth-form page 0%
Rookwood — all Meta ad setsOptimise for Lead; pixel has only PageView; £1,877, 0 results
Shebbear — SeniorSixthForm (Meta)Lead goal, no Lead event; £1,374, 0 leads
Yateley — Audience Network placement£633, 1.67M impressions, 0 leads
“Near me” keywords at Westbury, Orchard Kingston, Ruskin, The Study£3,476 Jun–Aug, 0 conversions
All Demand Gen and Display campaigns£728 over 4 months, 0 conversions
Fix, don’t pause
Campaign / settingFix
Orchard Kew nursery Search; Orchard Cambridge nursery Search & PMax; Westbury nursery SearchTracking-blind: fix lead event, import Digistorm conversions, then reassess
Wood Wharf Google & MetaEfficient in Digistorm (£93), invisible in platforms: fix tracking
Every Google Search campaignSearch Partners off, Display off, tablets −100%
Danesfield nursery Search; Shebbear Prep+Senior SearchMaximise clicks → Maximise conversions (after tracking fix)
Eton End nursery PMaxConversions 20 → 5 on flat spend: new assets, check final URL
Orchard Hampton final URLRemove the embedded second URL
Orchard Kingston nursery page“Book a tour” points to Hampton’s Digistorm; placeholder images (also Wimbledon)
Conversion goals, all 30 Google accountsOne primary enquiry action; calls, emails, Book Now, swim to secondary; camps on campaign goals
Brand terms in generic campaigns£8,308: add school-name negatives, run brand separately
St Felix, Wood Wharf, Westbury phones55% / 39% / 26% of ad calls missed; nine pages without tap-to-call
Location exclusionsLowestoft/Great Yarmouth (St Felix), Luton (SFC), New Addington (Warlingham), Reading (Yateley)
St Felix nursery Meta ad setValue optimisation → Lead conversions
Walton Google accountTurn off auto-applied recommendations
Prep Search (Eton End, Collingwood, St Christopher’s, GPPS, Danesfield, Westbury)61–70% lost to rank: new ads + enquiry landing pages
Gidea Park nursery Search; Ruskin nursery SearchLosing 35% / 25% impressions to budget — Gidea gets more (Digistorm grows); Ruskin does not (Digistorm flat)
School budget decisions
SchoolMonthly May–JunMonthly Jul–AugAd leadsEnquiries£/leadExtra-lead costDecision
Essendene Lodge£2,750£5,75618 → 2534 → 39£396£859Cut to May–June level
St Francis Pewsey£1,213£3,42817 → 737 → 34£387No gainCut to May–June level
Orchard Kingston£3,104£5,11217 → 2027 → 44£444£1,339Cut to May–June level
Ruskin House£2,725£4,61339 → 3981 → 79£188No gainCut to May–June level
Orchard Kew£2,372£3,99341 → 1955 → 39£212No gainCut to May–June level
St Felix£3,442£5,05321 → 2431 → 30£378£1,074Cut to May–June level
Danesfield Manor£2,653£3,96531 → 2752 → 50£228No gainCut to May–June level
Corner House£895£1,87047 → 3177 → 66£71No gainCut to May–June level
Warlingham Park£3,151£3,92636 → 2852 → 34£221No gainCut to May–June level
Westbury House£3,939£4,63335 → 1060 → 22£381No gainCut to May–June level
St Nicholas£3,707£4,03859 → 4772 → 74£146No gainCut to May–June level
Rookwood£2,048£2,03026 → 1451 → 36£204Hold; investigate
Shebbear College£2,231£2,1388 → 1543 → 39£380Hold; investigate
Eton End£4,300£3,881111 → 55155 → 85£99Hold; investigate
St Christopher's£2,815£5,08225 → 3541 → 59£263£453Hold
GPPS£2,785£4,51145 → 5260 → 67£150£493Hold
Orchard Hampton£2,531£4,19117 → 2532 → 33£320£415Hold
The Study£1,088£1,84713 → 1834 → 48£189£304Hold
St Francis College£3,608£3,97921 → 47125 → 138£223£29Hold
Walton Montessori£1,108£1,2184 → 1148 → 33£310£32Hold
Collingwood£3,484£5,24027 → 4350 → 74£249£220Grow +20%, then re-check
Derby Grammar£1,993£3,59076 → 93116 → 121£66£188Grow +20%, then re-check
Orchard Wimbledon£2,486£3,89111 → 3533 → 51£277£117Grow +20%, then re-check
Sunninghill£1,457£2,68318 → 3951 → 76£145£117Grow +20%, then re-check
Orchard Cambridge£1,710£2,83124 → 4045 → 71£142£140Grow +20%, then re-check
Gidea Park£1,769£2,80344 → 5970 → 110£89£138Grow +20%, then re-check
Yateley Manor£3,309£4,12135 → 4658 → 69£183£148Grow +20%, then re-check
Wood Wharf£799£1,57520 → 3145 → 58£93£141Grow +20%, then re-check
Monthly budget movement
MoveWhere£/month
Return to May–June levelEssendene, St Francis Pewsey, Orchard Kingston, Ruskin, St Felix, Orchard Kew, Danesfield, Corner House, Warlingham, Westbury, St Nicholas−£16,436
Grow 20%Orchard Wimbledon, Sunninghill, Gidea Park, Orchard Cambridge, Wood Wharf, Yateley (nursery), Derby, Collingwood (Google)+£5,565
Stop verified wasteSearch Partners/Display, Search tablets, competitor, Demand Gen, Display, weak Prep/Senior (halved)≈−£5,000
NetOverlaps between the cuts and waste fixes reduce the total≈−£12k to −£16k

Safeguard: if any school’s weekly Digistorm enquiries fall more than 20% below its 4-week average for two weeks, restore half its cut. These decisions come from four months of observed data, not controlled tests.

30 / 60 / 90-day plan

Action · platform · campaign · reason · expected impact · priority · timeline
ActionPlatformCampaign / scopeReasonExpected impactPriorityWhen
Test-submit every form at the 6 declining schoolsWebsiteWestbury, Eton End, Warlingham, Walton, Rookwood, Orchard KewAll-source enquiries −29% to −63%Recover enquiries outside adsP0Week 1
Search Partners & Display off; tablets −100%GoogleAll Search campaigns, 29 accounts£8,976 for 5.5 conversions≈£2,000/month savedP0Week 1
Return 11 schools to May–June budgetsBothCut list£32,872 extra bought −84 leads−£16,436/month, enquiries expected flatP0Week 1
Pause competitor, Demand Gen, Display, weak Prep/Senior campaignsGoogleSee Pause list0–2 conversions; weak in Digistorm≈£3,000/month savedP0Week 1
Pause Yateley Prep/Senior Meta; add pixel to prep. pagesMetaYateleyManor-Conversion-IOS719 clicks, 0 landingsStops blind spendP0Week 1
Settle Pewsey Meta billingMetaAccount levelUnsettledAccount healthyP0Week 1
Standard Digistorm lead event in every school’s tagsBothAll school containers and pixelsSchool ratios 0.05–2.6× DigistormPlatforms count what Digistorm countsP0Weeks 1–3
One primary Google conversion per account; calls/emails/Book Now/swim to secondaryGoogleAll 30 accountsDuplicates and non-enquiries counted as leadsBidding follows real enquiriesP0Week 1
Pause Rookwood Meta and Shebbear Senior ad set; switch St Felix nursery to LeadMeta3 accountsOptimising for events that never fire / value with no values≈£700/month stops going blindP0Week 1
Fix Kingston “Book a tour” link, placeholder images, St Nicholas phone numbers; tap-to-call on nine pagesWebsiteKingston, Wimbledon, St Nicholas + 9 nursery pagesLeads misrouted or lostRecovered enquiries at no media costP0Week 1
Missed-call list to schools weekly; call schedules on call assetsGoogle / admissionsSt Felix, Wood Wharf, Westbury first283 missed ad calls≈15–25 conversations/month recoveredP0Week 1
Confirm why Wimbledon, Cambridge, St Christopher’s have no September Google spendGoogle3 accounts + RuskinTwo grow-list schools dark in term-start weeksAvoid losing September demandP0This week
School-name negatives in generic campaigns; “near me” to exact match test; shared negative listGoogleAll Search accounts£8,308 brand in generic; £365 per “near me” conversion≈£2,500–3,500/month re-usedP1Weeks 1–2
Location exclusions and presence-only targetingGoogleSt Felix, SFC, Warlingham, Yateley, Rookwood, Hampton≈£4,700 Jun–Aug in far towns, 4 conversions≈£1,500/month savedP1Week 2
Rebuild top-10 nursery landing pages; forms on Prep pagesWebsiteSt Nicholas, Ruskin, Essendene, Wimbledon, Kew, St Christopher’s, Derby, Danesfield, GPPS, Kingston88% of scored spend rated below-average page experienceHigher Quality Score, lower CPCP1Weeks 2–8
New creative for Derby, St Felix, Shebbear; open-day and funded-hours anglesMetaSchool accountsCTR halved, frequency 6–17, competitors running open daysRestore CTR to 1.5%+P1Weeks 1–3
Appeal Eton End Meta accountMetaEton EndDisabled for unusual activityRestores a channel at a declining schoolP0Week 1
One Meta optimisation event per school; fold “-2” campaignsMeta52 CompleteRegistration ad sets; 19 duplicatesSplit and wrong signalCleaner learningP1Weeks 2–3
Cluster budgeting and postcode ownershipBothSW London, Caterham, Wembley clustersCluster spend +40–59%, enquiries −2% to +18%Stops paying twice for the same familiesP1Weeks 2–4
Grow 8 efficient schools by 20%BothGrow listExtra leads at £117–£220Possibly +25–45 ad leads/monthP1Weeks 2–6
Prep/Senior enquiry pages and new Prep Search adsGooglePrep Search at 61–70% rank-lostOverview pages; senior 0.07% CVRLower Prep/Senior cost per leadP1Weeks 3–8
Import Digistorm enquiries as offline conversions (GCLID / fbclid)BothAll accountsBidding learns from real enquiriesFixes the £14,274 blind campaigns permanentlyP1Weeks 3–8
Cap PMax at 30% with brand exclusions; placement test on MetaBothAll PMax; top 3 Meta schoolsPMax £78 → £217; FB feed £40 vs IG £99Evidence for reallocationP2Weeks 4–8
Fix report template; add weekly Digistorm trackerReportingMonthly ILG reportPasted totals, duplicates, inconsistent Full SchoolTrustworthy trendsP1Weeks 1–2
Record enquiry stage in Digistorm; report cost per visit and enrolmentDigistormAll schoolsEnquiries are not enrolmentsBudget by cost per pupilP2Days 60–90
Re-audit on September–October dataBothPortfolioConfirm cuts didn’t cost enquiriesNext budget cycleP2Day 60

Method, checks and limits

Checked and fine

Google day-of-week and hour (£123–£144 per conversion in every part of the day, no scheduling gain); ad strength (mostly Good/Excellent); flagship Meta September trend (cost per result improving); Meta geography (99.99% England); Google spend abroad (≈£3); Google “area of interest” targeting (£87 per conversion, cheaper than presence); Meta 45+ audiences (cheapest); Reels overlay, Marketplace and in-stream placements (£53–£65); main-account landing rates (85–95% of clicks reach a tracked page).

Data corrections applied

Holme Court rows holding sheet totals removed; May Shebbear Senior Google and June Derby Full School Meta duplicates removed (confirmed against API); Clayesmore and Full School enquiries excluded from trends.

Earlier versions

Corrected in v7: Google platform-vs-Digistorm ratios included camp and swim conversions (July 1.93× → 1.01×); “tags cannot see the iframe” → tags do load inside the Digistorm form; Kew and Westbury Search are unsignalled but their accounts do record conversions in PMax. Withdrawn earlier: “40% August collapse”; “£45–59k zero-lead Meta spend”; “camps 40–80× cheaper, shift budget”; “August tracking rebuild made it worse”; “Yateley/Derby are templates”; “exclude Reels overlay and Marketplace”.

Limits

  • No controlled incrementality tests; cut and grow decisions rest on observed May–August data.
  • May–July reports do not state how ad-lead columns were filled; August states Digistorm.
  • Enquiry stage, visits and enrolments were not available.
  • Forms were inspected in a browser but not submitted, to avoid creating false enquiries.
  • Cluster analysis uses Meta targeting overlap; it shows competition is possible and enquiries shifted, not which families switched.
  • Eton End, St Francis Pewsey and St Francis College Meta accounts could not be read via API.
  • Page speed: Google’s speed score returned no values and the PageSpeed Insights API was over its shared daily quota; pages were checked in a browser for content, forms and phone links instead.
  • Raw, enquiry-level Digistorm data (source, stage, date) could not be read — the Digistorm connector is not connected. Export or connect it to measure lead quality and lead-to-visit rates.
  • Google change history is only available for the last 30 days; call logs cover Google call assets and call ads only, not calls from the website.
  • Search-term and keyword analysis covers terms costing £15+ and keywords costing £20+, which is £35.7k and £116k of Jun–Aug Search spend respectively.
  • Royal Hospital School is Google-only and not in the Digistorm reports; its “Competitor Campaign” mostly buys its own name and counts email clicks as conversions. New RHS nursery campaigns started 11 September.