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Extensions
Ad extensions give searchers additional information and more ways to interact with your ad.
According to Google, extensions “typically increase an ad's click-through-rate by several
percentage points,” so Google will often give ads with extensions more visibility. You can set
up extensions to be visible on ads in certain ad groups or campaigns, or can assign these at the
account level, meaning they might show up on any of your ads. Here are four of the most
common extensions used in ad campaigns:
● Sitelinks: To maintain eligibility with Google Ad Grants, your account must have
two active sitelink extensions. These extensions are links that appear at the bottom of
your ads and point to pages on your site other than the ad landing page (see example
below). If the searcher sees an ad from your Used Clothes ad group, you could include
sitelinks for your Used Furniture page and your Used Appliances page.
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● Call: This extension gives searchers the opportunity to call your phone number
directly from your ad without visiting your website. Don’t add these unless you really
do want phone calls!
● Location: This extension gives searchers the opportunity to visit your brick and
mortar location and/or call your main business number. This extension requires that
you link your Google Ads account with your Google My Business account, which will
give users your hours of operation, photos of your organization, and directions to get
there.
● Callout: Include additional 25-character snippets of text in your ad highlighting your
benefits, like “Support a Child in Need” or “A+ Charity Rating”.
Tracking Performance
Consider looking at the following metrics by campaign, ad group, keyword, ad, and even
device type to determine whether your ads are performing well:
● Clicks: This tells you if your campaigns and ad groups are generating interest, but not
if they are successful in getting people to take action. If some of your ad groups are
getting a lot of unexpected clicks, your targeting may need to be changed. Check the
search queries report to see if you are attracting irrelevant searches.
● Impressions and Click-through Rate (CTR): Impressions refers to the the number
of times your ad is shown, and CTR is calculated by dividing total clicks / total
impressions. If your CTR is under 5%, try adjusting your ad group keyword targeting
and/or your ad text.
● Average Position: If your average position is between 1-2, your ads have strong
visibility. If your position is 4 or 5 or worse, your ads probably aren’t showing at the
top of the search results. Consider changing your strategy to get your ads to the top of
the page, and pause the ad group if the low average position is hurting your CTR.
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● Conversions: Which campaigns, ad groups, keywords, and ads are producing the
most conversions? Can you segment your ad groups and ads to target more specific
searches and capture even more conversions? If your account is consistently hitting its
daily budget, consider creating a new campaign protecting your most valuable ad
groups with a sufficient daily budget.
● Conversion Rate: If you receive a lot of clicks but have a low conversion rate,
consider changing your landing pages to better persuade searchers to take action. Also
check this out by device; is your conversion rate for donations on mobile devices much
lower than on desktops? If so, your donation page isn’t as mobile-friendly as it could
be.
● Cost / Conversion: How much is an email sign-up, a new member, or a $20 donation
worth to you? While you don’t have to worry about this as much when using a Google
Ad Grant, it’s critical to determine the dollar value of each conversion type when
you’re spending your own marketing dollars on ads.
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Summary
Google Ad Grants can be a powerful tool for your online marketing strategy because Google
Ads gives you the power to put your organization in front of people who are actively searching
for what your organization does.
We’ve discussed the following key pillars to creating and managing a successful Google Ad
Grants account:
● Becoming eligible and maintaining compliance
● Signing up for the Google for Nonprofits program and creating an account
● Best practices for creating campaigns, ad groups, ads, and extensions
● Tracking the performance of your ads
Learning to set up and manage Google Ads can definitely feel overwhelming, but if you follow
these steps, you’ll be up and running in no time.
If you need assistance with Google Ad Grants, we’re happy to help. Mighty Citizen specializes
in digital marketing for not-for-profit organizations.
For help with Google Ad Grants, get in touch!
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