Welcome to Part 2 of our Google Ad Grants for Not for Profits (NFPs) series. In this article, we will simplify the program, making sure you get the most out of it for your NFP.
Google provides up to $10,000 USD of free AdWords advertising per month to eligible NFP organisations through their Google Ad Grants program. It is a brilliant opportunity for NFPs to increase awareness, gain more support and make a greater impact in their community and even around the world.
Here’s a quick look at how it works.
Mission-Based Campaigns
Each ad and keyword in a Google Ad Grants AdWords account must:
- reflect the non-profit’s primary mission
- be relevant to the non-profit’s programs and services
- be specific in order to provide a good experience for users.
The following, taken from Google’s Mission-based campaigns page, is not permitted:
- Branded words that you don’t own like “YouTube” or “Google” or names of newspapers or other organizations
- Single-word keywords (excluding your own branded words, recognized medical conditions, and a small number of exception keywords published here)
- Note terms with dashes, periods, or special characters are not treated as single-word keywords
- Overly generic keywords like “free videos”, “e-books”, “today’s news”, “easy yoga”, “download games”, “job alert”, names of places, names of historical events/people
- Keywords with a quality score of 2 or less.
So, what if your account doesn’t comply? If an account is found in violation, then it will be subject to automatic suspension. But don’t worry, once the problems are corrected, you can request reinstatement and we can help you with this.
Account Management Policy
A CTR of 5% must be maintained on all Google Ad Grants accounts. In order for this to occur, there are further account management policies that should be followed:
- Accounts should use geo-targeting to help ensure ads are shown only in relevant locations.
- At least 2 ad groups should be active in each campaign.
- Each ad group needs 2 closely related keywords and 2 active text ads.
- An account should have at least 2 sitelink ad extensions.
If an account’s CTR falls below 5% for 2 consecutive months, the account will be deactivated.
Website Policy
The websites connected to the Ad Grants account must observe the following criteria:
- Owned And Operated Website:
- The domain attached to the account must be owned by the organisation.
- High-Quality Website:
- The site must have a clear description of the organisation and mission with enough information to help users understand your purpose.
- The site should function without broken links.
- The ads, keywords and website should not make claims that promise results. Websites with such claims must cite verifiable references.
- Commercial Activity:The main purpose of the website must not be commercial activity.
- Your non-monetary mission needs to be supported by any commercial activity on the site.
- Your site needs to explain how funds from commercial activities are used.
- Limited Ads on Website:
- Advertising should only be relevant to your mission and non-obtrusive.
- The website cannot have Google AdSense ads or affiliate advertising links.
Any personalised suggestions and notifications of non-compliance will be sent through in-product notifications.
These policies are specific to Ad Grants accounts, but these accounts also need to ensure they are following standard AdWords policies also.
If you are a non-profit business and do not know about Google Ad Grants accounts, or you have an account and are having trouble implementing these changes, contact us at The Online Co. We’re here to help!
Haven’t set up your Google Adwords account yet? Read Part 1 of our series for a simple step by step guide here. Otherwise, click through to Part 3 of our Google Ad Grants series to learn how to start setting up your Ad Grant.
If you have any questions, or need help setting up or managing your account, that’s what we’re here for! Contact us anytime – we’d love to hear from you.
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