Google Ads success story · Early childhood education provider

How Learning Care Group grew registrations 331% by teaching Google which inquiries enroll.

Name: Overtop Media Digital Marketing
Address: 933 Louise Ave Suite 101-18, Charlotte, NC, 28204, US
Telephone: (704) 237-0707
Price range: $$

Plenty of families were filling in forms. Too few were enrolling. Learning Care Group stopped rewarding Google for inquiries and started telling it which families actually registered.

Business: Learning Care Group
Market: More than 1,100 schools across 11 brands
Goal: More enrolled families, not just more inquiries

Colorful storage bins filled with learning toys on white classroom shelves

The results.

Google did not publish the period these results are compared with.

331%increase in registrations from Performance Max fueled with CRM data
159%lift in lowest-funnel conversions
22%lower cost per activated lead with AI Max for Search

Reported in the company’s 2026 Google Ads Impact Award entry as published by Google. No measurement method or comparison period was stated.

The challenge.

Learning Care Group runs more than 1,100 early education schools under 11 brands. It had an enrollment gap: its campaigns brought in inquiries, but not enough of them became registered children.

The reason was what the campaigns were told to chase. They were optimizing for form fills, so Google found more people who fill in forms. School directors and the call center spent their time following up on families who were never going to enroll.

InquiryA family fills in a form or calls.
Qualified by the call centerThe lead is confirmed and recorded in the CRM.
Tour and registrationEach milestone is sent back to Google Ads.
Campaigns learnPerformance Max and Search bid for families who enroll.

What they did.

Performance Max · AI Max for Search · Broad match with target CPA · Customer Match · CRM enrollment data

Connected enrollment data: Enrollment records from the company’s CRM were sent back to Google Ads with offline conversion imports, so each step, from tour scheduled to registration, counted as its own result.
Changed the goal: Leads confirmed by the call center became the main signal for bidding, instead of every form submission.
Let Performance Max find families: Performance Max ran on that data across Search, YouTube, Display and Discover, with customer lists showing it who already enrolled.
Widened Search on the same signal: Broad match with a target cost per lead, and a pilot of AI Max for Search, reached more families once the bidding knew what a good lead looked like.

Why it worked.

Our read on the decisions behind the numbers, and what any business can take from them.

The goal matched the business: A school is paid for an enrolled child, not a form. Once the campaigns were judged on registrations, they found more of them.
Better data, wider reach: Broad match and AI-driven campaigns are risky with weak signals. With real enrollment data behind them, the extra reach brought families who enrolled.
Less wasted follow-up: Fewer dead-end inquiries meant directors and the call center spent their time on families who were ready.

How we would run this play for your business.

You do not need a national budget to use the same ideas. This is how Overtop Media Digital Marketing puts them to work in our google ads management.

Track the enrollment, not the form: We connect your CRM or enrollment system so Google sees tours, applications and starts, with conversion tracking that ties each one back to the ad.
Bid on qualified leads: Our specialists set the campaigns to value the steps that lead to a signed family, so your budget follows enrollment instead of inquiries.
Plan every location: Multi-location schools and practices get campaigns built around each location’s capacity and service area, so open seats get the budget.
Report what the board cares about: Cost per enrolled family and enrollments by location, every month, not clicks and form counts.