There’s a terrific article by Jason King in the 1/23/2018 edition of the Nonprofit Technology Conference blog that examines how recent changes to Google Ad Grant’s terms and conditions put some users at risk of temporary account suspension.
A whole raft of new rules came into effect on the January 1st of 2018, many of which carry the risk of temporary suspension of your account. Here are some of the new policies:
- If your account’s click-through rate (CTR) drops below 5% for two consecutive months, it will be temporarily suspended.
- Single word keywords are banned. There is a short list of exemptions.
- Keywords must reflect your mission and not be generic.
- Campaigns must be geo-targeted to relevant audiences. If your nonprofit serves only the people of Seattle, don’t target the whole country.
- Keywords with a quality score of 1 or 2 are not allowed.
- Each campaign must have at least two ad groups.
- Your account needs at least two sitelinks.
There won’t be immediate suspensions. Instead, you’ll be sent warnings and given a date by which to make your account compliant.
Be sure to read the entire article as King does an excellent job at diving into the “why” behind Google’s decision and how it’s likely to be a very good thing for your organization.
