Whether you’re a seasoned search engine marketing (SEM) professional or just starting to get to grips with the Google Ad Grant, this guide provides a framework for success.
Google Search Ads are a powerful tool in the world of online advertising. They are essentially paid advertisements that appear on Google’s search engine results page (SERP) when users search for specific keywords. These ads are designed to be highly relevant to the user’s search query, making them an effective way to reach potential customers when they’re actively looking for products, services, or information.
Google Search Ads work on a pay-per-click (PPC) model, meaning you only pay when someone clicks on your ad. This model allows for a high degree of control over your advertising budget and ensures that your ad spend is directly tied to user engagement.
For non-profit organisations, Google offers a unique opportunity through the Google Ad Grants program. This program provides up to $10,000 per month in free advertising on Google Search, enabling non-profits to promote their mission and initiatives on a global scale. However, to get the most out of this generous grant, it’s crucial to understand and comply with Google’s specific policies and guidelines.
Ad Policies and Compliance
Google has established policies specifically for Ad Grant recipients to ensure the quality and relevance of the ads they serve. These policies cover various aspects, including ad content, keyword selection, and account management.
Ad content must be relevant, useful, and of high quality. It should directly relate to the mission of your non-profit and the services you provide. Ads that are misleading, inappropriate, or of low quality can lead to disapproval or even suspension of your Ad Grant account.
Compliance with these policies is not just about avoiding potential issues—it’s also about creating effective ads that resonate with your audience. By adhering to Google’s guidelines, you can ensure your ads are relevant, engaging, and more likely to drive meaningful results for your organisation.
These policies exist largely to ensure that non-profits are focused on driving relevant traffic to their causes. By doing this Google ensure their users find the information they want quickly and have the best possible experience. It prevents people from chasing “traffic for traffics sake”.
Keyword Research
Keyword research is a critical step in creating successful Google Search Ads. It involves identifying the words and phrases that your target audience uses when searching for services or information related to your non-profit.
Understanding search volume and competition is key to effective keyword selection. High search volume keywords can potentially drive more traffic, but they also tend to be more competitive, which can make it harder for your ads to stand out. On the other hand, low-competition keywords may have less traffic, but they can offer opportunities to reach a highly targeted audience.
Another big factor in determining the relative demand on certain keywords or phrases is where they sit in the consumer decision-making funnel. For example, somebody who is searching specifically to make a donation to a charity might search using bottom-of-funnel keywords like “donate to charity” or “donate to cancer charity” – these people are ready to take action and consequently are extremely valuable for charities who have fundraising as an objective.
Google Ads offers different keyword match types—broad match, phrase match, exact match, and negative match—that allow you to control how closely the user’s search query needs to match your keyword. Choosing the right match type can help you balance reach and relevance to maximise ad performance.
Campaign Setup
Setting up a well-structured Google Ads campaign involves several key steps. First, you need to choose the right campaign type. For Ad Grant recipients, the Search Network campaign type is the one you’ll need to choose – you can’t advertise on the Search Partners or Google Display Network using the Ad Grant.
Next, you’ll need to organise your campaign into ad groups. Each ad group should focus on a specific theme or topic related to your non-profit’s mission. This structure allows you to create highly relevant ads and keywords for each ad group, improving your ad performance.
Choosing the right ad format is also crucial. Text ads are the most common format for Search Ads, but you can also use Dynamic Search Ads, which automatically generate ad headlines and descriptions based on the content of your website.
Ad Copywriting
Writing compelling ad copy is an art. Your ads must attract attention, generate interest, and inspire action – all within a limited number of characters.
A good ad starts with a compelling headline that directly addresses the user’s search query. The description should provide additional information and a clear call to action, telling the user exactly what they can expect when they click on your ad.
Creativity is key in ad copywriting, but it’s also important to stay focused on your mission and the value you provide. Remember, your goal is not just to get clicks, but to attract the right audience that is genuinely interested in your cause.
Ad Extensions
Ad extensions are a powerful feature that can enhance the visibility and performance of your ads. They provide additional information and interactive elements, such as sitelinks, call extensions, and location extensions.
Sitelinks allow you to add additional links to your ad, leading users to specific pages on your website. Call extensions enable users to call your organisation directly from the ad, while location extensions show your physical location, making it easier for local users to find you.
Implementing ad extensions can increase the overall size and prominence of your ad, potentially leading to higher click-through rates and better ad performance.
Bidding and Budgeting
Google Ads uses an auction system to determine which ads to show and in what order. As an advertiser, you need to set a bid – the maximum amount you’re willing to pay for a click on your ad. With the Ad Grant the maximum amount you can bid using the “manual bidding strategy” is $2.
Google offers various bidding strategies, including manual bidding, where you set your bids yourself, and automated bidding, where Google adjusts your bids based on the likelihood of your ad achieving a certain outcome, such as a click or conversion. Using these automated bid strategies your Ad Grant can automatically push about the $2 bid cap imposed when using manual bidding. However, you’ll usually find that the automated bid strategies aren’t aggressive enough to bid high enough to give you much visibility for extremely competitive terms, for example “donate to charity” related terms.
Setting a realistic budget is also crucial.
While the Ad Grant provides a significant amount of free advertising, allocating your funds effectively to achieve your campaign objectives is still important. This involves prioritising your most important campaigns and keywords and regularly reviewing your budget allocation based on your campaign performance.
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Performance Monitoring
Monitoring and analysing your campaign performance is key to maximising your return from the Ad Grant. Google Ads provides a range of reporting tools that allow you to track key metrics, such as clicks, impressions, click-through rate, and conversions.
These metrics can provide valuable insights into how your ads are performing and where there’s room for improvement. By making data-driven decisions, you can optimise your ads for better results, whether that means adjusting your bids, refining your keywords, or tweaking your ad copy.
Conversion Tracking
Conversion tracking is a powerful tool that allows you to measure the effectiveness of your ads in driving desired actions, such as donations, sign-ups, or downloads.
Setting up conversion tracking involves adding a piece of code to your website that tracks when a user completes a specific action after clicking on your ad. This data can help you understand which ads and keywords are most effective in driving conversions, providing valuable insights for optimising your campaigns.
Conversion tracking is a must have to use conversion-optimised bid strategies effectively – these bid strategies will allow you to push beyond the default $2 bid limit and increase your impression share on more competitive search terms.
Campaign Optimisation
Campaign optimisation is an ongoing process that involves refining your keyword targeting, adjusting your bids, improving your ad relevance, and more. The goal is continually improving your campaign performance and maximising your Ad Grant return.
Optimisation strategies can vary based on your specific objectives and performance data. However, some common best practices include regularly reviewing your keyword performance and removing underperforming keywords, testing different ad copy to see what resonates best with your audience, and using ad extensions to enhance your ad visibility and performance.
In conclusion, getting the most out of your Google Ad Grant involves a deep understanding of Google Search Ads, careful compliance with Google’s policies, thorough keyword research, strategic campaign setup, creative ad copywriting, effective use of ad extensions, smart bidding and budgeting, diligent performance monitoring, accurate conversion tracking, and ongoing campaign optimisation.
By following these steps, you can maximise the impact of your advertising efforts and drive meaningful results for your non-profit organisation.
