Category: Google Ads
Could your Salisbury or Wiltshire based charity benefit from receiving $10,000 per month in free advertising? Well that is exactly what you could get from Google if your charity meets certain criteria.
More than 35,000 organisations are now taking part in the scheme and if your campaigns are carefully managed it can generate huge support and donations for your charity.
Over the last few months however there have been some changes that you should know about before undertaking a grant with Google. We have picked out some of the changes for you.
5% click through rate requirement
Google see these grants as a great way to publicise your charity and they do not want to see your spend go to waste, so they have brought in a minimum 5% click through rate (CTR) rule. The click-through rate of an advertisement is defined as the number of clicks on an ad divided by the number of times the ad is shown (impressions), expressed as a percentage.
This means that the keywords you want to appear on along with your adverts must be carefully crafted and highly targeted. Doing this will mean that you get to keep your $10,000 each month.
5% may seem quite high which is why an expert should manage your account. Of course, every account fluctuates, sometimes due to seasonality, something which is beyond your control but ensuring you stay above this threshold is a must or you put that $10,000 worth of advertising at risk.
Each campaign you run should also have at least two active ad groups, containing related keywords and two active text ads. You should also feature a minimum of two sitelink extensions, ideally implemented at the campaign or ad group level. Confused? Don’t worry, we can help, but there is more to know.
Lifting of the $2 bid cap
In the past, although you had $10,000 to spend each month, no single bd could be more than $2.
Google Grants has lifted the $2 bid cap when campaigns use the Maximize Conversions bid strategy. This bid optimisation strategy automatically sets bids to maximize the potential for improved conversion volume. It decides the perfect bid for any given ad. This means that Google will also help you improve the amount of leads and enquiries you receive.
Other changes
There have been other policy updates, including:
Keywords need to have a quality score of at least 3. This is out of a possible 10 and if your quality score is less than 3 then you may need a new website.
Most single-word keywords are now banned, effectively meaning non-profits have to choose well-targeted keywords. Spire Digital can create these keyword lists for you.
Every ad and keyword in your account “must reflect your organisation’s primary mission, be relevant to your non-profit…and be specific enough to provide a good experience for the user seeing your ads.”
Google says it’s giving accounts time to adjust to the changes, although some in the industry have criticised the introduction of big updates at short notice. And while some say Google is now encouraging non-profits towards the alternative of AdWords Express, the search giant insists this remains only an option.
Spire Digital can help submit your grant application and manage your PPC account from just £300 per month so email us today to get the ball rolling on your grant or fill in our contact form here.