How to manage your Ad Grants account
If you have an AdWords Express account, this doesn’t apply to you. All you need to do is stick to the daily limit of $329 and have at least two text ads per campaign. That’s all you need to get your account approved.
Google Ads is more complicated. There are conditions regarding both account structure and performance, and even limits on keyword usage. If you fail to comply with any of these, your account will be deactivated until you rectify the issue.
Basic programme restrictions
Campaigns can only be targeted using keywords, and adverts will only appear in Google search results. It is not possible to use the affiliate network.
Users can only be redirected from the ad to the domain you specify during registration. Otherwise, your account will be deactivated until the ad links to the correct domain. However, if your organisation has multiple domains, you can add them. Simply fill in this form.
Account and campaign structure
Your account must use geographic targeting so that ads are displayed only in places where your organisation actually operates. If you provide services only in a specific location, e.g. in Prague, then you must target only Prague. If, on the other hand, you provide your services regardless of where the user is located, then you can target the whole country.
If you are an organisation that even offers its services outside the country, then you can target the countries where you offer your services. Google uses this targeting to try to increase the relevance of your ad.
You must also adhere to the campaign structure. Every active campaign must contain at least two active ad groups. Ad groups, in turn, must contain closely related keywords and at least two active text ads. Each ad must have at least two landing page extensions.
Budget and CPC bid
The permitted daily budget per account is $329, which equates to $10,000 per month. The CPC bid (cost per click) can be a maximum of $2. And believe me, that’s not a small amount. Very few people use up this amount.
Performance
Every account in the Ad Grants programme must achieve a minimum click-through rate (CTR) of 5% each month. If the CTR requirement is not met for two consecutive months, the account will be temporarily deactivated until you adjust your campaigns so that they are able to achieve this performance. This rule does not apply to AdWords Express.
But don’t worry. For newly created accounts, this rule isn’t enforced for the first 90 days. So you have plenty of time to optimise your campaigns to ensure they perform consistently.
Conversion tracking
Within the Google Ad Grants programme, you can use conversion-based bidding strategies in your campaigns (e.g. conversion maximisation, target CPA or target return on ad spend). However, you must have conversion tracking set up correctly.
You can set a conversion to be, for example, the submission of a donation, the sale of merchandise bearing your organisation’s logo, the registration of volunteers or a newsletter subscription; even time spent on a page can count as a conversion, etc. It is entirely up to you what you define as a conversion. However, it is important to meet the following two conditions:
- You are not permitted to use the homepage or frequently visited pages for conversion tracking.
- Conversions must always be correctly labelled. If you are measuring a conversion in the form of a monetary donation, this conversion must be categorised under ‘Purchase/Sale’. This category should only be used for conversions relating to monetary values and nothing else.
Google recommends using a conversion tracking window of 90 days rather than the default 30 days.
Prohibited keywords
There are also strict conditions regarding the use of keywords. The following keywords are prohibited:
- Single-word keywords (exception: brand names, recognised disease names and a few other keywords, see below). Keywords containing a hyphen, full stop or special characters are not considered single-word keywords and are therefore permitted.
- Overly general keywords, names of cities, historical events or people’s names.
- Keywords with a Quality Score of two or less.
Exceptions to the ban on single-word keywords in the Ad Grants programme
- charity
- donate
- donation
- NGO
- NGOs
- non-profit organisation
- charities
- charity
- homeless person
- homelessness
- MOOC
- suicide
- abuse
- abused
- abuser
- harasser
- harassment
- rape
- pimping
- addiction
- stigma
- bullying
- bullying
- victim of bullying
- cyberbullying
- abortion
- adoption
- lesbian
- gay
- bisexual
- transgender
- intersex
- LGBT
- LGBT
- LGBTQ
- LGBTI
If you find the rules too strict and are worried that your account won’t meet all the above conditions, you can still use an AdWords Express account. These conditions do not apply to this account. Furthermore, it is possible to have both a Google Ads and an AdWords Express account, with both covered by the Google Ad Grants programme. However, these two accounts will share a monthly budget of $10,000.
Submitting your account for review
You’ll certainly be pleased to hear that we’ve actually reached the end of our journey. If you’ve managed to meet all the conditions, all you need to do now is submit your account for review and continue to look after it. AdWords Express takes good care of itself, but Google Ads really does need regular attention. You’ll need to check your keywords to ensure the entire account meets performance requirements, and I definitely recommend trying out new ad copy from time to time to see if they perform better than the old ones. And if the $10,000 budget isn’t enough for you, I’ve got some good news. There’s the Grantspro programme, where you have up to $40,000 a month at your disposal.
I WANT TO SET UP CAMPAIGNS IN AD GRANT