The Google Ad Grants programme gives charities up to $10,000 per month of advertising spend using Google AdWords. This is a great way for charities to promote their websites and raise awareness of their mission and services. In this webinar with freelance web developer, Jason King, we will cover applying for a Google Grant; writing eye-catching ads that appear in Google search results; and good practice for choosing keywords that work. We'll also look at how the Quality Filter and Adwords policies can frustrate Google account holders, and how to overcome them. Enroll in my Google Ad Grants Complete Course at https://course.kingjason.co.uk.

1. GOOGLE
GRANTS
A Lasa webinar
Presented by Jason King
October 2017
WWW.KINGJASON.CO.UK @JASONCSKING

2. Based in France, works with charities
in the UK, USA and Australia
Google Ad Grant management
Social media training
WordPress website support
Co-organiser of NTEN's
WordPress Community
Ex-librarian
JASON KING
WWW.KINGJASON.CO.UK @JASONCSKING

3. IF YOU BUILD
IT, THEY WILL
COME
Is not a viable approach to
website promotion
WWW.KINGJASON.CO.UK @JASONCSKING

4. Search Engine Optimisation
(SEO)
Google Search Console
Google Analytics
Google My Business
Referral building
Yoast plugin for WordPress
SpyFu
YOUR WEBSITE PROMOTION STRATEGY
SHOULD INVOLVE MULTIPLE TOOLS
Email newsletters
Facebook
Print (remember that?)
Twitter
Google Plus
Instagram
Reddit
+ Google Ad Grants
WWW.KINGJASON.CO.UK @JASONCSKING

5. It's one of the Google for Nonprofits offerings
$10,000 of free digital advertising per month
You create ads using the Google Adwords tool
Which are shown in search results
And are triggered by keywords that you choose
Your ads compete with other nonprofits and
businesses to be shown - this is a bidding war
HOW THE GOOGLE GRANT
WORKS
WWW.KINGJASON.CO.UK @JASONCSKING

6. POORLY STRUCTURED ACCOUNT
with low quality website pages
WELL OPTIMISED GOOGLE GRANT
with ads leading to quality landing pages
Based on stats for month of August 2017

8. Case study: The Ectopic Pregnancy Trust
goo.gl/nEpyoT
OPTIMISATION TAKES TIME
A long-term look at a Google Grants account, over four
years, seeing clicks and CTR rise, and cost per click fall.

9. THE AVERAGE
GRANTEE ONLY USES
$330 PER MONTH OF
THE $10,000
- searchenginepeople.com

10. HOW TO APPLY
THE GOOGLE GRANT
Be prepared, stay calm, follow instructions

11. 1. APPLY TO GOOGLE FOR NONPROFITS
Check eligibility for your country. The following applies to England and Wales.
You must be registered with the Charity Commission; and/or with HMRC as tax
exempt. And not one of the following:
- Governmental entity or organization
- Hospital or health care organization
- School, academic institution, or university (philanthropic arms of educational
organizations are eligible).
Sign up with tt-exchange, the local partner of TechSoup. On doing so, you are given a
validation token.
Complete the application form on the Google for Nonprofits website, entering your
validation token when prompted. You should get a decision within 10 business days.
support.google.com/nonprofits/answer/3367631

12. 2. THEN ENROL TO GET A GOOGLE GRANT
You enrol to use specific products, of which the Google Grant is one. Others include
YouTube for nonprofits and G Suite.
1. Set up a correctly configured Adwords account.
2. Make a note of your Adwords customer ID.
3. Login to your Google for Nonprofits account at google.com/nonprofits/account
4. Click to enrol in the Google Grants programme and enter your customer ID.
You should get a response in 1 - 3 days.
support.google.com/nonprofits/answer/3367461

13. support.google.com/grants/answer/1689506
DON'T MAKE A
MISTAKE, OR
YOU MAY HAVE
TO START OVER
C O R R E C T L Y C O N F I G U R E
Y O U R A D W O R D S A C C O U N T

14. MISTAKES CHARITIES MAKE WHEN
THEY SET UP THEIR ADWORDS ACCOUNT
Creating their account without clicking the button on on
support.google.com/grants/answer/1689506
Choosing a currency other than US dollars.
Entering billing information. That could be an expensive mistake, and
Google won't refund money. Don't! Not even if Adwords prompts you
to do it.
Not using manual bidding, or setting bids to over $2.
A daily budget that adds up to over the $329 limit.
Once it's set up, not logging in every 30 days, or making at least one
edit every 90 days... you risk losing the Grant.

15. HOW TO USE YOUR GRANT TO
PROMOTE A SECOND DOMAIN
Use the Additional Domain Name(s) Request form,
but read the policy first. You must own the domain
and the website, and can't point ads at social media.
support.google.com/nonprofits/answer/1657899

16. USING ADWORDS
THE GOOGLE GRANT
How to structure your ad campaigns

17. BEFORE YOU GET STARTED, STOP
AND CONSIDER THE BIG PICTURE
Who are your audiences?
What are they searching for?
What action do you want them to take?
Which landing pages on your website
encourage those actions?
Therefore, how will you structure your ad
campaigns?

18. LET'S LOOK AT A LIVE
GOOGLE GRANT ACCOUNT
TO SEE HOW IT'S BEEN
STRUCTURED.
Watch the webinar recording, the live demo starts at the
38 minute mark. But watch the rest too!
goo.gl/UK9unU

19. QUALITY FILTER
THE GOOGLE GRANT
OF JUNE 2017

20. In response to studies that showed that Ad Grants ads
were disproportionately of a lower quality than
standard, paid ads, in June 2017, we implemented a
quality filter on Ad Grants in the Google Search ads
auction. This filter helps keep the quality of Ad Grants in
line with standard ad quality, so Ad Grantees can
continue to enjoy free advertising and a great product
experience.
goo.gl/BRTNeu
Google's announcment

21. EFFECTS OF THE QUALITY FILTER
Typically, click Through Rate (CTR) increases, but impressions
decrease. The better quality your website content and code, and
the better optimised your ads and keywords, the less you should
be affected. Below, this charity's website was so badly built using
Wix, that their Google Grant became completely ineffective.

22. KEYWORD QUALITY IS MORE
IMPORTANT THAN EVER
Check your Quality Score for keywords. If you don't see it, use the icon (of
three vertical lines) to modify your columns. If the score is low, delete the
keyword and/or improve the landing page.

23. IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF YOUR
WEBSITE'S LANDING PAGES
SSL security certificate and HTTPS
Fast loading - tools.pingdom.com
Mobile friendly - search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly
Well coded
Well written for SEO. If you use WordPress, install the Yoast
plugin to help you - yoast.com
Landing pages should include similar words to your ads
And use the same keywords as your ads
A call to action on every landing page
Landing page best practices: goo.gl/bswfCX
Landing page examples: goo.gl/eyXFwY

24. ADWORDS POLICIES
Falling foul of
and what to do next

25. Has an ad or keyword been disapproved? You might get an email to warn
you. Or you might notice a notification in the Adwords dashboard.
Hover over the ad status to see the pop-up information. Click "Read the
policy" to find out what's wrong. Rewrite the ad slightly. It will be
automatically re-reviewed and might be allowed this time.
On that policy page there's a button to request a review. I tried it. A
Google employee phoned me the next day, said he understood that no
policy was really being broken, but couldn't over-ride it.

26. ADWORDS POLICIES: WHAT CAN YOU DO?
Adwords is a sales lead tool, that has been offered free to non-profits. Policies keep
sellers within the laws of the country where their ads are shown. But the awareness
raising mission of nonprofits is very different to selling products. Some examples:
- A nonprofit helping youth in gangs breaks the rule on promoting hate crime by using
the word gang in an ad.
- A pregnancy loss charity's ads are not shown in some countries because Adwords
wrongly assumes the word pregnancy means it's selling birth control products.
- A mental health charity cannot point ads at one of their website pages because the
page mentions the name of a depression medication.
If it's a keyword disallowed you can tick a box to request an exemption. If it's an ad you
can fill in a forum to request a review. If it's a website page, you could reword it. But
don't expect to always get your way, or for reason to prevail. And be aware that Google
warn you that repeat offenders risk losing their Adwords account.

27. NEW POLICY ON ADS AND DONATIONS
Simple solution: state your charity registration number in the
footer on all website pages.

28. GOOGLE FOR NONPROFITS ANNUAL SUMMIT
1ST NOVEMBER 2017, KING'S CROSS
GOO.GL/VTVR9W

29. OFFICIAL GOOGLE GRANTS FORUM
Particularly helpful for problems with application and
setup and policy issues. goo.gl/uPir8B
CHARITY IT ASSOCIATION
Volunteers provide tech surgeries and IT consultancy
and projects. charityithelp.org.uk
Forums for Data, WordPress, Women in Nonprofit Tech,
Drupal, Tech Decision Makers... and being planned now:
digital advertising. community.nten.org
NTEN ONLINE COMMUNITIES

30. JASON
KING
Google Ad Grant
management
Social media training
WordPress website
support
Co-organiser of NTEN's
WordPress Community
Ex-librarian
WWW.KINGJASON.CO.UK @JASONCSKING