The Google Ads Grant Trap - Ben Martin with Five Q
In Episode 42 we speak with our very own Ben Martin. Ben is the Senior Digital Strategist at Five Q. He got his start in radio, then has transitioned to internet marketing, With experience ranging from international ministries, schools, and broadcast, Ben brings a ton of experience in digital marketing, and managing the Google Ads Grant, which is what we discuss today.
What is the Google Ads Grant?
For those who may not be aware, Google offers qualifying nonprofits $10,000 per month of in-kind advertising. The requirements to qualify for the grant vary by country but in the US the majority of 501c3 organizations will make the cut. The exceptions are medical and educational institutions.
If you are familiar with the Google Ads platform you’ll know it supports a wide range of ad formats for different purposes. When talking about the ads grant, however, we are only focused on search ads (the text-based ads that display above and below the organic search results) as this is the only ad format that is eligible.
What Does it Take to Manage an Ads Grant Account?
The Google Ads Grant does come with some additional restrictions that make it critical that you actively manage your account, not only so you can utilize the full allotted budget, but all to ensure you remain compliant and your account does not get suspended.
The areas of compliance that most commonly cause issues for ministries are:
1. Active management, you are required to log in to your account and make updates at a minimum every 30 days. With the hectic nature of working in a ministry, it’s easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of day-to-day projects and forget to manage your account.
2. Single-word keyword phrases - With the ads grant you are not allowed to bid on single-word keyword phrases. This is not a restriction for a normal ads account and can be easy to forget.
3. Moving landing pages - It’s not uncommon for your digital team to redirect old pages, and remove content from your website without thinking to check if there are ads linking to that page. Having ads that point to a broken link or a redirected page will drop you out of compliance.
There are many more tricks and tips that Ben shares, including how to decide if you are going to manage your account yourself or use a 3rd party, how to get started, and even what to do if your account does get suspended. Be sure to listen to the full episode to hear all of his insights before you get started with your Google Ads Grant Account.
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