How non-profits can maximise their Google ads grant

The Google Ads Grant is available to registered charitable organisations, with a few exceptions such as hospitals, schools, and government entities.

For non-profits in England and Wales, eligibility is determined by being registered with the Charity Commission. To meet the eligibility criteria, organisations must satisfy two key requirements:

• Income exceeding £5,000: To qualify, a non-profit’s income must exceed £5,000. This threshold ensures that organisations actively engage in charitable activities and have a level of operational stability.
• Definition of a charity under the Charities Act: Organisations must satisfy the definition of a charity as set out in the Charities Act. This definition covers various aspects, including having a clear charitable purpose, providing public benefit, and operating within legal and ethical guidelines.

By meeting these criteria, registered charities in England and Wales can register for the Google Ads Grant program and leverage its benefits of up to £7,000 a month in ad credits to expand their online presence, raise awareness, and drive meaningful actions.

Having well-defined goals is essential when leveraging the Google Ads Grant for your non-profit organisation. Whether it's raising awareness, increasing donations, or driving sign-ups, having well-defined goals will help guide your campaign strategy and ensure the effective use of the grant.

Your well-defined goals will allow you to align your campaign assets, such as ad copy, landing pages, and key messages, with the desired outcomes.

For example, if your goal is to increase donations, your ad copy can highlight the impact of contributions, while your landing page can emphasise the ease of making a donation and the benefits it brings. By aligning your assets with your goals, you ensure that your messaging resonates with your target audience and drives them to take the desired actions.

By tracking relevant metrics and comparing them against your defined objectives, you can assess the effectiveness of your ads, make data-driven optimisations and evaluate the overall performance of your campaign.

Keyword research and optimisation play a crucial role in the success of Google Ads Grant campaigns for non-profit organisations.

In the context of Google Ads for non-profit organisations, keywords are crucial as they help target specific search queries that users enter into the Google search engine.

Non-profit advertisers select relevant keywords related to their cause, mission, or services and bid on them within the Google Ads platform. When a user's search query matches the selected keywords, the non-profit organisation's ads have the opportunity to appear in the search results, allowing them to connect with potential supporters, volunteers, or donors who are actively seeking information or ways to contribute to causes they care about.

By strategically selecting and utilising relevant and high-performing keywords, charities can enhance their visibility, attract the right audience, and drive meaningful actions. Tools like Google Keyword Planner and SEMrush are valuable resources that can aid in identifying keywords that align with the charity's mission and target audience.

These tools provide insights into search volume, competition, and related keywords, allowing charities to make informed decisions in their keyword selection. Additionally, focusing on long-tail keywords is paramount to increasing relevance and reach. Long-tail keywords are more specific and targeted, enabling organisations to connect with individuals who are actively searching for their cause or services. By optimising keywords through proper research and targeting, non-profit organisations can effectively leverage the Google Ads Grant and maximise their impact in reaching their intended audience and achieving their campaign goals.

Compelling ad copy is of paramount importance for charities and non-profits when running Google Ads campaigns. It serves as a powerful tool to grab the attention of users and motivate them to take action.

Clear and concise messaging is crucial in conveying the unique value proposition of the charity, highlighting what sets it apart and why it matters. Incorporating emotional appeals and storytelling techniques creates a strong connection with the audience, allowing them to relate on a deeper level and understand the impact of their support.

Furthermore, strong calls-to-action encourage immediate engagement and conversions, guiding users towards the desired actions such as making a donation, signing up as a volunteer, or spreading the word.

With compelling ad copy, charities and non-profits can effectively engage and inspire their target audience, ultimately driving meaningful actions and making a difference in their causes.

The significance of optimising landing pages to align with campaign objectives is often overlooked when constructing Google Ad campaigns. If your campaign aims to achieve a specific objective, such as increasing donations, it is crucial to optimise the landing page for a seamless, user-friendly, and trustworthy donation journey. This can be accomplished by incorporating social proof elements or addressing security concerns through the inclusion of trust badges.

Furthermore, it is vital to ensure that the content on the landing page is directly relevant to the specific ad. For instance, if the ad campaign focuses on fundraising for a particular cause, the landing page should be tailored specifically to that cause rather than simply directing users to a generic site-wide donation page. By optimising landing pages, charities and non-profits can enhance user experience, increase trust, and maximise the impact of their Google Ads campaigns.

Conversion tracking allows you to measure the success of your campaigns by tracking specific actions, such as donations, newsletter sign-ups, or contact form submissions. If you are already using Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to monitor website activity and digital key performance indicators (KPIs), you're in luck! Google Ads seamlessly integrates with Google Analytics 4, making it a convenient solution for managing your conversion tracking.

To set up conversion tracking, follow these simple steps:

1. Enable Enhanced Measurement: Ensure that Enhanced Measurement is enabled in your GA4 property settings. This feature automatically tracks common conversion events like form submissions and outbound clicks, reducing the need for manual event setup.
2. Set Up Events in GA4: Use the Event Builder or implement the Measurement Protocol to create custom events that align with your conversion actions. Define the event parameters and values to capture relevant data for tracking.
3. Define Conversion Events: Determine the specific events you want to track as conversions. This can include completed donations, newsletter subscriptions, or any other relevant actions. Clearly define each conversion event to accurately measure its success.
4. Enable Data Import in Google Ads: Enable data import from GA4 to Google Ads. This allows you to import your defined conversion events into Google Ads for tracking and optimisation purposes.
5. Configure Conversions in Google Ads: In your Google Ads account, configure your conversion actions by selecting the relevant events imported from GA4. Set conversion values, attribution windows, and any other desired settings to refine your conversion tracking.

By following these steps, you can effectively set up conversion tracking using Google Ads and GA4. This integration allows you to measure the success of your campaigns, gain deeper insights into user behaviour, and make data-driven decisions to enhance your non-profit organisation's online performance

Using the Google Ads reporting dashboard you can monitor your Google Ads campaign success on an ongoing basis.

By tracking key metrics and analysing campaign data, you can identify areas of improvement and make necessary adjustments to enhance campaign effectiveness over time. Here's how you can achieve this:

1. Track Key Metrics: Keep a close eye on essential metrics such as click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, and cost per conversion (CPC). CTR measures the percentage of users who clicked on your ads, conversion rates indicate the percentage of users who completed desired actions, and CPC measures the average cost incurred for each conversion. These metrics provide valuable insights into campaign performance and help you gauge the effectiveness of your ads.
2. Utilise Google Ads Reports: Take advantage of the reporting capabilities in Google Ads to access detailed campaign data. Generate reports that showcase the performance of different ad groups, keywords, and campaigns. This information allows you to identify high-performing elements and areas that require improvement.
3. Analyse Campaign Data: Dive into the data and analyse trends and patterns to gain actionable insights. Look for specific ad groups or keywords that are generating high CTRs and conversions. Identify underperforming elements that have low CTRs or conversion rates, as they may require adjustments or optimisation.

For sharing the success of your campaign, Looker Studio has a fantastic template that can be used for free. The template dashboard for Google Ads in Looker Studio provides a comprehensive view of your campaign performance and key metrics in a visually appealing and user-friendly format. With customisable widgets and charts, you can easily track important metrics such as impressions, clicks, conversions, and cost data. The dashboard allows you to analyse the effectiveness of your campaigns, monitor budget utilisation, and identify areas for optimisation. With real-time data and interactive visualisations, the template dashboard in Looker Studio empowers you to make data-driven decisions and maximise the impact of your Google Ads campaigns.

Ad extensions offer several benefits to enhance your Google Ads campaigns and improve user engagement. Here are the key benefits of using ad extensions like sitelink extensions, call extensions, and location extensions:

• Enhanced Visibility: Ad extensions expand the space your ad occupies on search engine results pages (SERPs), increasing its visibility. With more prominent ad placements, your ads are more likely to capture users' attention and generate higher click-through rates.
• Increased Click-through Rates (CTR): Ad extensions provide additional relevant information to users, making your ads more compelling and enticing. This can lead to increased CTRs as users are more inclined to click on ads with extra details that match their search intent.
• Improved Ad Relevance: Ad extensions allow you to provide specific information tailored to users' needs, improving ad relevance. Sitelink extensions enable you to showcase additional landing pages related to different products, services, or sections of your website. This allows users to find the most relevant content, increasing the chances of conversion.
• Expanded Ad Messaging: Ad extensions give you extra space to convey your message and highlight unique selling points. You can utilise callout extensions to add additional text to your ad, emphasising special offers, features, or benefits. This helps to grab users' attention and differentiate your ad from competitors.
• Easy Contact and Interaction: Call extensions enable users to call your business directly from the ad, making it convenient for them to reach out and engage with your organisation. This can lead to immediate inquiries, conversions, or direct communication with potential supporters.
• Improved Ad Rank: Ad extensions positively impact your ad rank by providing additional ad quality signals to Google. Higher ad ranks result in better ad positioning, increased visibility, and potentially lower costs per click (CPC).
• Better User Experience: By providing users with relevant and valuable information upfront, ad extensions enhance the overall user experience. Users can quickly access specific pages, contact you directly, or find your physical location, leading to a seamless and satisfying interaction with your ads.

By leveraging ad extensions like sitelink extensions, call extensions, and location extensions, you can provide additional information, improve user engagement, and enhance the effectiveness of your Google Ads campaigns. These extensions contribute to increased visibility, higher click-through rates, improved ad relevance, and a better overall user experience, ultimately driving better results for your non-profit organisation

To use Google Analytics 4 (GA4) effectively for measuring your campaign success, follow these steps:

1. Set Up Conversion Goals: Define your conversion goals within GA4 to track the specific actions you want users to take on your website, such as donations, sign-ups, or purchases. Create custom events or use predefined events to capture these actions accurately.
2. Enable Enhanced Measurement: Activate Enhanced Measurement in your GA4 property settings. This feature automatically tracks common conversion events, reducing the need for manual event setup. It captures data like button clicks, form submissions, outbound link clicks, and more.
3. Analyse Acquisition Reports: Access the Acquisition reports in GA4 to understand how users are finding and entering your website. Evaluate the performance of different marketing channels, including Google Ads, organic search, social media, and referrals. Assess metrics like sessions, bounce rates, and conversion rates to gauge campaign effectiveness.
4. Utilise Conversion Reports: Explore the Conversion reports in GA4 to measure the success of your goals and track the conversion rates for each goal. Monitor metrics such as conversion completions, conversion value, and conversion rate to evaluate the performance of your campaigns.
5. Analyse Behaviour Flow: Examine the Behaviour Flow report within the “Explore” section to understand the user journey and identify potential bottlenecks or drop-off points. Analysing this data helps you optimise your campaign landing pages, user experience, and conversion funnels.
6. Implement UTM Parameters: Utilise UTM parameters in your campaign URLs to track campaign-specific data within GA4. This allows you to segment and analyse the performance of individual campaigns, ad groups, or keywords in Google Ads.
7. Create Custom Reports: Customise your GA4 reports to focus on specific campaign metrics and dimensions that align with your objectives. Create custom reports to track key performance indicators (KPIs), such as click-through rates, conversion rates, average session duration, or revenue generated.
8. Set up Dashboards and Alerts: Create GA4 dashboards to visualise and monitor important campaign metrics at a glance. Configure alerts to notify you of any significant changes or anomalies in your data, enabling you to react promptly to optimise performance.

By following these steps and leveraging the features of GA4, you can effectively measure your campaign success, track key metrics, and gain valuable insights to optimise your Google Ads campaigns for better results.

If you're a non-profit looking for help getting the most from your Google Ads grant, our team can help. Get in touch via [email protected] to start getting more from your Google Ads grant.