Google Ad Grants
Google Grant Overview
The Google grants program provides organizations categorized as 501(c)(3) by the IRS $10,000 in free advertising every month. It’s an excellent opportunity to get your message out to a much wider audience and increase fundraising dollars. The free advertising works to drive qualified traffic to your website.
The free Google grants have already been used by thousands of nonprofits to spread their message across the internet and those messages are being seen by people who are searching for terms and keywords related to their organization and the work they’re doing. The success stories are numerous, showing just how effective the Google grants program can be as an advertising tool.
Grant Policy Changes
(effective January 1, 2018)
Google has made some important changes to the grant accounts that work in your favor to drive the most qualified traffic to your website.
Accounts are now required to maintain a minimum 5% click-through rate (CTR), an increase from the previous 1% CTR. If your account misses the 5% threshold for two consecutive months the account will be suspended. Other policy updates include:
- Nonprofits cannot buy branded keywords they do not own.
- Keywords must have a quality score of 3 or higher.
- Campaigns must have at least 2 ad groups with at least 2 ads running in each.
- Accounts must have at least two active site link extensions.
- Accounts must have geo-targeting.
- Single-word keywords are prohibited.
- The $2 bid cap can be released on eligible campaigns using the maximize conversion setting.
