[ A BEGINNERS GUIDE ]

Contents
Hello! AdWords & Google Grants Important program guidelines
I. AdWords account restrictions for Grantees II. Cost and budgeting for Grants accounts III. Length of grant

Managing your account Useful tools & navigating your account

I. Navigating your AdWords account II. Making keyword and ad text changes III. Generating keywords IV. Checking your ads on Google

Making the most of your campaigns

I. Setting up an effective campaign II. Ad performance and optimizing your campaigns

Additional resources & support

I. Where can I find additional information? II. Who can I contact if I need help?

Hello!
Welcome to the Google Grants Program! Now that your AdWords account is active, you'll need to regularly monitor the performance of your campaign by logging into your account. This guide reviews how to manage your AdWords account and get the most from your ads once they are up and running. We included the information that we think will be most relevant to help you get started. Congratulations, and we hope you make the most of the free advertising!

The Google Grants Team

Google Grants & AdWords Important program guidelines

I. AdWords account restrictions for Grantees
When navigating your Google Grants account, note that the AdWords system and interface is designed for our paying advertisers. You may find that some features or advertising opportunities may be restricted within your account. It is important to note these key differences between a Google Grants account and a regular AdWords account: Google Grants accounts: Have a daily budget set to $330 dollars, which is equivalent to about $10,000 per month Have a maximum cost-per-click (CPC) limit of $1.00 USD Only run keyword-targeted campaigns Appear only Google.com, and will not display on search or content networks Only run text ads

II. Cost & budgeting for Grants accounts

Google Grants provides select 501(c)(3) nonprofits with free advertising via the AdWords program. This program is at no cost to you or your organization, with no obligation to pay for advertising in the future. However, since you are using the same account interface as a paying AdWords advertiser, you will be working with sections in your account referring to cost and budgeting. The information below will explain how this terminology relates to your Google Grants account. Cost-per-clicks (CPCs) and bidding If you have ever used AdWords as a paying customer, you know that advertisers are charged a certain cost-per-click (CPC) whenever a user clicks on their ad, e.g. 30 cents per click. As a result, advertisers set maximums that they want to pay per click and also an overall campaign budget to ensure they are appropriately spending their advertising dollars. As a Google Grants recipient, you will not be charged for any clicks to your ads. Each account is allocated a maximum CPC of $1.00, which is used to rank your ads in the AdWords auction. Keep in mind, that due to quality factors, some keywords will not remain active with a maximum CPC of $1.00. Please visit the Ad performance and optimizing your campaigns section of this guide to learn more. Daily Budget Limit Google Grants accounts have a set daily spend limit of $330 per day, which is equivalent to about $10,000 in spend per month. This means that we will show your ads as much as possible each day, up until your account accrues about $330. Keep in mind that the daily spend limit is an automated cap within the Google Grants system.

If you were to set your campaign daily budget above $330, your account will still only be allowed $330 in traffic. Please note: Not all Google Grants account will receive enough traffic to accrue $330 in free advertising per day. Depending on the reach, size, and type of organization, some grantees will reach $330 per day in traffic, while most only use a small portion of this allocated budget.

III. Length of Grant

We require organizations in the Google Grants program to be actively engaged in their AdWords account. As long as your organization is actively managing the AdWords account, adhering to our program guidelines, and making the most of this award, you shall continue to remain in the Google Grants program. Please note that Google does reserve the right to terminate your organization's participation in the Google Grants program for any reason without notice at any time. If you are removed from the Google Grants program, your organization will be ineligible, and should not apply again.

Managing your account Useful tools & navigating your account

I. Navigating your AdWords Account
Within your account, you have one or more campaigns, and in each campaign you can have multiple Ad Groups. To make this easy to navigate, your AdWords account has different compartments or tabs:

Campaign Management. This tab is where you control your account, campaigns, Ad Groups, and keywords. The top level shows your performance information for different campaigns. Clicking on a campaign shows Ad Group performance information, and clicking on an Ad Group shows keyword performance information. Reports. This tab lets you create customized and detailed reports by keyword, ad text, account, and other variables. You can experiment by running different reports to find the ones most useful for you. Google store up to five reports in your Download Center, or you can have them automatically emailed to you. Analytics. The Analytics tab provides you with advanced tools to track your campaign results and other data. You will need to set-up a free Google Analytics account, if you would like to take advantage of this tracking tool. To learn more, visit http://www.google.com/analytics/indexu.html My Account. Use this tab to control your personal information, such as your login and user preferences. We highly recommend inviting others at your organization to your AdWords account. There should be at least one active contact at your organization for the length of the award. You can find more detailed information on navigating your account at http://services.google.com/grants/edu/account/

II. Making keyword and ad text changes

Now that your account is active, you should be reviewing account statistics and making edits and additions on a regular basis. Visit http://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=6753 for details about editing various aspects from within your account. In addition to the standard editing tools within your account, if you need to make changes across different campaigns or Ad Groups, AdWords Editor is a free, campaign management application to help you make these changes with ease and flexibility. You can download your campaigns, make bulk or individual edits offline then upload your changes to your AdWords account. With AdWords Editor, you can: Work offline on your Mac or PC Make large scale changes quickly Share changes with team members before applying them to your account Quickly find and replace terms throughout your account Make advanced URL changes Sort and view performance statistics Add, edit, delete, copy, cut and paste keywords, text ads, Ad Groups and campaigns Upload changes to AdWords any time To download AdWords Editor, visit the AdWords Editor website at http://www.google.com/intl/en/adwordseditor/ and click Download AdWords Editor. For detailed information about using the application, you can search or browse the AdWords Editor Help Center at http://www.google.com/support/adwordseditor/

III. Generating keywords

The Keyword Tool is a great way to generate additional keyword variations and to source negative keywords (see more on negative keywords in Section 2), and its available directly within your account. Check out the Help Center for Instructions on how you can use this tool: https://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=25918

IV. Checking for your ads on Google

If you want to check where your ads are appearing on Google search, we recommend you use the Ad Preview tool. This tool shows you ads and search results as they would appear on a regular Google search results page, without accruing extra impressions for your ad and affecting your campaign statistics. To perform a test search with the Ad Preview tool: 1. Visit https://adwords.google.com/select/AdTargetingPreviewTool 2. Enter a keyword 3. Enter the domain where you set your ads to show, such as google.com or google.fr 4. Select a display language 5. Select a location. You can choose a location from the drop-down menus, or enter specific latitude and longitude coordinates 6. Click Preview ads The search results and ads appear as they would on Google, except the links on the preview page arent clickable.

Making the most of your campaigns

I. Setting up an effective campaign
Its essentially up to you to organize your campaigns, Ad Groups, and keywords that make the most sense for your organizations goals and website. With a logical structure, you can determine what works and what doesnt. Account structure is a key component to starting strong. Keep reading for information on best practices around structuring your account. Step 1: Stick to one goal per campaign Step 2: Make Ad Groups out of your keywords Step 3: Review, test, and refine Step 1: Stick to one goal per campaign. Structure each campaign based on a simple, overarching goal. Ask yourself, What do I want to achieve with this campaign? Your answer might be to promote an event or attract volunteers, for example. We suggest you separate campaigns by theme or use the same structure for your campaigns as for your website. If your website is grouped into categories, your job is almost done. Its a good idea to map your structure on paper first. Step 2: Make Ad Groups out of your keywords. Just like your campaigns, organize your Ad Groups by common theme or goal. Think about which keywords you want to use, then group similar keywords together. You should be able to come up with two groups per campaign. Finally, make a distinct Ad Group for each group of keywords. Step 3: Review, test, and refine. Review one campaign at a time. Are your keywords logically grouped into Ad Groups? Does the campaign help you achieve a goal? Remember to check your progress and continually refine your keywords and your ad text.

Your Ad Groups, keywords and ad text should be organized in a logical format for the best results

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Selecting Keywords Selecting keywords is one of the most important parts of a successful campaign. TIP: When youre creating your keyword list remember negative keywords, which will help you create more targeted ads and reach the right audience! Negative keywords can be set at the Ad Group and campaign level. You can find more information on this and decide which level works best for you at: https://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=6635

Dos and Donts for account structure and campaign management Do create multiple Ad Groups per campaign group campaigns by theme, geography or goal make it easy to maintain continue refining your keywords and ad text Dont create just one Ad Group and a big list of keywords mismatch keywords in one Ad Group run dozens and dozens of keywords per Ad Group stop checking your campaign statistics

II. Ad performance and optimizing your campaigns

The best way to get higher ranking for your ad is to be as relevant as possible. The more relevant your ad is to searchers on Google, the more likely users will click on it. We use Quality Score to assess the relevance of your keywords. Ads with a higher quality score tend to get more clicks as they are more relevant and thus, are rewarded with higher positions. What is the Quality Score? The quality score is based on: the keywords click-through rate (CTR), relevance of your ad text, historical keyword performance, landing page quality, and other factors specific to your account. You can find more information on how the Quality Score is calculated at http://www.google.com/support/grants/bin/static.py?page=qualityscore.cs. Based on this Quality Score, we assign your keywords a minimum bid you must pay per click in order to keep your ad running for any one of your keywords. TIP: It is possible to view the current quality score status for your keywords. To see your Quality Score in your account statistics follow the steps listed at http://www.google.com/support/grants/bin/static.py?page=qualityscore.cs.

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Inactive for search keywords A keyword is marked inactive for search if it doesnt have a high enough Quality Score and cost-per-click (CPC) bid to trigger ads on Google. This means your keywords CPC bid doesnt meet the quality-based minimum bid (See diagram below). You may find that one of your keywords is marked inactive for search although no other or very few ads are appearing for a search on this particular keyword. Your quality score is specific to your account so the level of competitor bidding on any one keyword will not affect your keyword status. You will also find information on how Quality Score affects your keyword status at http://www.google.com/support/grants/bin/static.py?page=qualityscore.cs.

How can I activate an inactive keyword when CPC's are limited to a $1.00? Since your Google Grants account is limited to a $1.00 max CPC, you are unable to activate keywords whose minimum bid is above $1.00 by raising your bid. If you want to activate a keyword that is 'inactive for search', we suggest you first try optimizing your keyword, ad text, and campaign. For example, consider adding your keyword to your ad text, or changing your campaign targeting options. Please ensure that the keyword is highly targeted and relevant, as it will be difficult to reactivate general keywords through optimization.

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Additional resources & support

I. Where can I find additional information?
Below are additional resources that will also be useful to you: Help Center Frequently asked questions and help documents, including text and multimedia lessons http://www.google.com/support/grants/ Google Grants Blog Frequent updates about the Google Grants Program http://googlegrants.blogspot.com/ Google Grants Group Learn from other users and nonprofits http://groups.google.com/group/googlegrants-help

II. Who can I contact if I need help?

If you get really stuck, Google has email support to help. Please note that contacting email support should be your last resort. There will be a 3-5 business day turnaround for a response so if you need a quick answer, we recommend you search through this guide and our online help resources first. If you do require email support, please send your query to the mailbox below. [email protected]

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