Why isn’t my Google Ad Grant working? 9 common problems to check
Your nonprofit has been approved for the Google Ad Grant and you’ve launched an ad campaign, but your ads don’t seem to be working. You’re getting few (or zero) results, your ads aren’t showing when you expect them to, your website isn’t getting the traffic you anticipated, or your campaign seems to have suddenly stopped performing. What’s going on?
Short answer: There are a variety of reasons a Google Ad Grant may not be delivering the results you expect. Common problems include account or campaign eligibility issues, low search demand, overly restrictive targeting, bidding limitations, conversion tracking problems, ineffective conversion goals, compliance issues, or an account-level issue preventing your ads from serving.
The challenge is figuring out which problem is affecting your account or campaigns. Changing keywords, ads or bidding strategies without first identifying the cause can make troubleshooting more difficult. Here are nine common problems to investigate when your Google Ad Grant isn’t working as expected.***
1. Is your Google Ad Grant account actually active?
Being approved for the Google Ad Grant doesn’t necessarily mean your ad campaigns are currently able to serve. There are several stages between being approved for the program and having ads actually run.
An organization can have an approved Ad Grant while an associated Google Ads account, campaign or other account-level issue is affecting ad delivery. The important distinction: Grant approval and active ad serving are not necessarily the same thing.
2. Are your campaigns, ads and keywords all eligible?
Even when an account is active, individual campaign components may not be eligible to serve. Eligibility can be affected at the campaign, ad group, ad and/or keyword level, as well as by Google Ads policies and other requirements.
A campaign can appear enabled while something within it is preventing ads from serving. An account that looks active isn’t necessarily an account in which everything is eligible.
3. Do your keywords have enough demand?
Google Ads can only show your ads when people are searching for terms that trigger them. If your keywords are extremely specific or have very little search volume, a campaign may receive few impressions even when it is otherwise configured correctly.
This can be particularly frustrating because low search demand can look like a campaign problem when the real issue is that there simply aren’t enough relevant searches. The challenge is finding the right balance between reaching enough people and keeping the traffic relevant to your nonprofit.
4. Is your targeting too restrictive?
Keywords aren’t the only factor that determines whether your ads can reach potential users. Geographic targeting, audience settings, keyword choices and other campaign restrictions can all affect the number of searches that are eligible to trigger your ads.
Targeting is important, but making a campaign increasingly specific doesn’t automatically make it more effective. In some cases, several individually reasonable restrictions can combine to significantly limit an account’s opportunity to serve.
5. Could your bidding strategy be limiting performance?
Google Ad Grant campaigns have bidding considerations that differ from typical paid Google Ads campaigns. The appropriate bidding approach depends on the account, campaign objectives and available conversion data. Google currently supports conversion-based Smart Bidding strategies for eligible Ad Grant campaigns.
This is an area where making changes without understanding the account’s requirements and available data can create more problems rather than solve them. Bidding is only one part of the picture. It needs to be considered alongside the account’s overall setup and performance.
6. Is your conversion tracking working properly?
Conversion tracking is one of the most important parts of an effective Google Ad Grant account. Google needs reliable information about what happens after someone interacts with an ad. If important conversions aren’t being recorded correctly, Google may not have the signals it needs for campaign optimization.
Google’s Ad Grant program also requires active, accurate and specific conversion tracking. And having a Google tag installed doesn’t necessarily mean that the right actions are being recorded correctly. Conversion tracking can involve multiple technical elements, and problems aren’t always obvious from the campaign interface.
This is one area where a campaign can appear to be functioning normally while important tracking problems exist behind the scenes.
7. Are you tracking the right conversions?
Having conversion tracking isn’t enough. You also need to track the right things. A conversion should represent an action that is meaningful to your nonprofit, rather than simply something that is easy to measure. A webpage visit, for example, may be measurable without telling Google that someone has taken an action that actually matters to your organization.
Google’s Ad Grant guidance emphasizes meaningful conversion tracking rather than simply measuring website activity. This means conversion strategy needs to be considered separately from conversion installation. An account can have conversion tracking installed and still have a conversion strategy that isn’t providing Google with useful signals.
8. Could a compliance problem be affecting your account?
Google Ad Grant accounts are subject to program requirements that don’t necessarily apply in the same way as standard Google Ads accounts. Compliance involves multiple aspects of an account, including conversion tracking, account performance, campaign and ad requirements, website quality and Google Ads policies. A compliance problem can result in restrictions, suspension or deactivation, depending on the issue.
The tricky part is that an account can sometimes look like it is set up correctly from a campaign-management perspective while still having an underlying compliance problem. If your Ad Grant has suddenly stopped working, it’s therefore important to consider whether the issue may be related to account eligibility rather than campaign performance.
9. Everything looks fine. So why aren’t your Google Ad Grant ads serving?
This can be the most frustrating Ad Grant problem of all:
- Your campaigns appear enabled
- Your ads appear eligible
- Your keywords appear active
- Your website is working
- Your tracking seems to be installed…
And yet you’re still seeing little (or no) activity. At this point, continuing to make account- and campaign-level changes might not help. The problem may not be visible in any single setting and may require looking at how different parts of the account work together.
This is where professional troubleshooting can be particularly valuable. Instead of continuing to change things and hoping something works, the goal is to determine what is actually preventing the account from performing as expected. It’s time for a thorough account audit.
Do you need help troubleshooting your Google Ad Grant account or campaigns?
Google Ad Grant accounts can be surprisingly complex, particularly when an account appears to be active but isn’t generating the impressions, clicks or website traffic you expect.
Stir Marketing helps nonprofits troubleshoot, manage and improve their Google Ad Grant campaigns. If your Ad Grant isn’t working as expected, we can review and audit your account, identify potential campaign, tracking, website or compliance issues, and recommend appropriate next steps.
Get in touch to book a free, no-obligation Google Ad Grant consultation today.
*** IMPORTANT NOTE before you make changes to your account: The issues above are common problems to investigate, not specific advice for your account. Every account is different, and making changes without understanding the cause can create new problems. If you’re not experienced with Google Ads, we recommend working with a Google Ad Grant professional before making significant changes to your campaigns, tracking or account settings. Compliance issues can sometimes be resolved, and suspended or deactivated accounts may be reinstated, but the process can be difficult and reinstatement is not guaranteed. This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute account-specific advice. We cannot guarantee that these recommendations are appropriate for your account or that following them will prevent performance or compliance issues.