If you use Google Ad Grants -- or manage accounts for nonprofits that do -- you should read this.Over the past year, we have been documenting troubling, and in my opinion predatory, behavior from Google toward its Google Ad Grants recipients. Google has been restricting delivery from certain accounts without showing an error message, providing an email notification, in-product alert, or any kind of explanation whatsoever. For nonprofits without much in experience managing Ad Grants accounts, this "shadow-ban" is completely invisible. They don't even know it's happening.Their ads simply stop performing -- or never even start -- and thus they conclude they must be doing something wrong, and quietly give up on a grant they are fully entitled … [Read more...]
Asset Creation for Ad Grants Performance Max: Templates & Best Practices
Performance Max campaigns live or die by the quality of their assets. They need raw materials to work with: headlines, descriptions, images, and logos that they can mix, match, and test. Give it mediocre assets, and you'll get mediocre results. Give it compelling, diverse, high-quality assets, and you'll see the AI work its magic. This guide walks you through creating every asset type you'll need, with templates, examples, and best practices gleaned from managing hundreds of Ad Grants PMax campaigns. Understanding Asset Requirements Before we dive into creation, let's get clear on what you actually need. Performance Max campaigns require: Text Assets: 3-5 short headlines (30 characters max) 1-5 long headlines (90 characters … [Read more...]
How Nonprofits Can Use Performance Max Campaigns in Google Ad Grants to Drive Donations
Performance Max campaigns (which I'll call PMax from now on, since I'm one of the cool kids) are definitely the biggest deal/change in Google Ad Grants in the history of the program From 2003 until now, you've only been allowed to use search campaigns in Ad Grants; now there's another option. That's huge, and I tell you with confidence, I never thought I'd see the way. For orgs focused on driving conversions ( particularly donations), PMax brings something new to the table that search campaigns don't. However, the PMax available to Ad Grants accounts is not the same product that paying advertisers use. You gotta learn how to use the specific PMax tactics that work within the Grants ecosystem. PMax targeting works different from … [Read more...]