Be found on Google or be forgotten

Wed Nov 02 2016 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)

Be found on Google or be forgotten

02 November 2016

The winners of a University of Auckland competition run in collaboration with internet giant Google were praised for increasing traffic four-fold to a Warkworth-based website.

The Google AdWords certification programme is available free each year to University of Auckland students, with places limited and highly sought after.

Students from a range of study areas complete workshops on New Zealand digital media and online marketing. Participants also run a real digital media campaign, and sit the Google AdWords accreditation exam.

Daniel Talbot and Phoebe Joiner won the overall award for best campaign at a celebration event attended by Google and other New Zealand-based digital companies on October 13.

Their campaign for Talbot Dance Academy based in Warkworth involved a website redesign and an AdWords campaign to boost the company’s presence and ranking on the search engine.

“Our campaign led to a four-fold increase in site visits and a number of new enrolments,” says Daniel, whose sister runs the Talbot Dance Academy. 

“It worked excellently because we were given complete access to change the website as we wished. She has been really pleased with the results.”

Daniel is studying a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Psychology and minoring in Drama, while Phoebe is studying a Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Commerce conjoint in Management, Marketing, Politics and International Relations and Writing Studies.

This is the fourth year Google has made the AdWords Accreditation Programme available free to students in collaboration with the University’s Career Development and Employment Services division.

Media Contact:

Danelle Clayton 
Communications Office
d.clayton@auckland.ac.nz