Imagine your nonprofit received an $120,000 for marketing.
You could reach more people, attract volunteers, promote programs and help donors find your organization.
Google Ad Grants offers eligible nonprofits up to $10,000 a month in in-kind search advertising. Google explains the program here.
There is a catch. Of course.
Free advertising does not mean people will click your ads, take action, or donate.
What good is free advertising if it does not help your organization reach its goals?
Here are four ways to make your Google Ad Grant more useful.
1. Decide what success looks like
Website traffic is not the same as business value.
A thousand visitors who leave immediately may be less useful than 20 people who sign up for your program, volunteer, or make a donation.
Choose one clear goal for each campaign.
For example:
- A food bank might want more volunteer applications
- A youth nonprofit might want more families to discover its programs
- An advocacy organization might want more people to sign up for its newsletter
- A nonprofit with a fundraising campaign might want more qualified visitors
Google’s Ad Grants program supports goals such as raising awareness, attracting donors and recruiting volunteers. Your campaign should connect to a specific action.
What to do: Write down what you want visitors to do. Then make sure your website can record that action.
Google provides official Ad Grants requirements and guidance to help organizations understand the process.
2. Target what people search for
Broad keywords attract people who are not looking for your particular service. More specific searches help you reach people whose needs match what your nonprofit’s offers.
Start with the programs, services, and actions most important to your organization.
If you operate a local food bank, you might explore searches related to food assistance, food donations, and volunteering in the communities you serve.
Make sure the keywords match your services.
Google notes that relevant, location-specific targeting can help smaller local nonprofits compete for visibility. See Google’s Ad Grants FAQ.
What to do: Review your search terms. Identify which ones attract relevant visitors. Pause or revise terms that attract the wrong audience. This is all subject to your account’s performance and policy requirements.
3. Send visitors to a page that matches the ad
Suppose someone clicks an ad about volunteering.
They land on your homepage. Then they have to hunt for that one volunteer application.
That is silly.
It should be easy and clear for people to find the right page.
Google requires Ad Grants participants to maintain a high-quality website and follow its program policies. The program is not a way to buy more visits to any page on your site.
What to do: Pick your most important campaign. Test the entire journey yourself. Click the ad, review the destination page, and complete the intended action. Make sure it works on mobile.
If the page is confusing, fix it.
4. Measure actions
An ad can attract visitors without producing the result you need. I have been there, and it hurts!
So conversion tracking matters. Where in the process people go and where they stop.
Ask three questions:
- How many relevant people clicked the ads?
- How many completed the action the campaign?
- What did it cost in staff time or outside help to achieve those results?
Do not judge the campaign only by how much of the grant it spends. Judge it by whether it helps your organization reach its goals. And whether it is worth your time and investment.
Your next step
Google Ad Grants gives eligible nonprofits access to a valuable advertising resource. But the grant itself is not the result. The result is reaching the right people and helping them take meaningful action.
Start with one campaign and one clear goal. Make sure the destination page supports that goal. Track what happens.
If your nonprofit already invests in marketing content or video, review how those assets support the same journey.
Want to get more value from your nonprofit’s existing videos? Team Trust Productions offers a free 15-minute video marketing review to help nonprofits identify three ways to get more fundraising and marketing value from the video assets they already have.