Troubleshooting Google Ad Grants access issues

In this article, we will look at the most common issues organisations face when trying to access a Google Ad Grants account. It will help you troubleshoot issues including understanding if your organisation already has an account and how to regain access to it, problems registering for a new account, being charged unnecessarily or reactivating a suspended account.

What is Google Ad Grants?

If you are a registered charity, you may be eligible for Google Ad Grants – a programme run by Google which gives you US$329 per day of free in-search advertising budget. This is a great opportunity to reach new audiences with free advertising. In-search advertising means that your advert will show at the top of Google results pages.

You won’t be able to use your Ad Grants to advertise on YouTube, show your adverts on other websites, or to target with your advertising people who have already visited your website.

Applying for Google Ad Grants

Ad Grants are available to most registered charities and it’s a rolling grant, which means that once you’ve been approved, you don’t need to keep reapplying. There are a few exceptions to who is eligible. These include:

• Governmental entities and organisations,
• Hospitals and medical groups,
• Schools, academic institutions and universities.

If you fall into the latter category, you still may be accepted, as ’philanthropic arms of educational institutions’ are eligible.

In order to apply for Google Ad Grants, you need to go to Google For Non-profits and create an account. Before you start the process, you will need:

• Your organisation’s name (as it appears in your registration with the Charity Commission).
• Your organisation’s address.
• Your organisation’s charity registration number.
• An email address for your organisation.

When picking an email address, make sure that it isn’t a personal address. When employees leave, their email addresses get deactivated and that can lead to problems when trying to log into your Non-profits account later on. It’s good practice to use a Gmail address like: [email protected].

Once you have done the above, you will need to wait for your account to get verified. The organisation that does the verification for Google for Non-profits in the UK is called Percent. They may contact you for further information. The verification process usually takes between 2 to 14 working days.

Troubleshooting

If this was all there was to it, my work would be easy! Unfortunately, it’s not always that straightforward. Often organisations come to me when they are not able to access their account, or (worse still) they are being charged for advertising that is meant to be free.

So, what might have happened?

Below we will go through some of the most common issues I’m approached about and provide advice on what to do.

I’ve gone through the application process; it’s been close to two months, but my account is still pending

The approval of an Ad Grants application should take around 14 working days. In busy times it may take longer but after one month has passed, something may have got stuck. Google has this page: Troubleshoot issues with your Ad Grants activation but unfortunately it isn’t of much help.

Google Ad Grants don’t have a dedicated customer support telephone or email. However, you can use this form https://support.google.com/grants/gethelp to ask about the status of your account and hopefully get some idea about what might have gone wrong and how to move forward.

I don’t know if we have an Ad Grants account

In many organisations, staff turnover is substantial, so I am often approached by employees who don’t know if there ever was an Ad Grants set up in the first place.

If this is you, this is what I suggest you do:

• Go to Google for Non-profits and try to log in with the most likely email account you can think of.
• If it’s the wrong email, you will get a message saying that there is no account associated with this email. You can keep trying with alternative emails.
• If it’s the correct email, use the “Forgot Password” functionality to change the password.

If it worked – great. If it didn’t, you can follow the path of reactivating an account lapsed due to inactivity outlined below.

Our account lapsed due to inactivity

Google expects you to take an active interest in your Ad Grants account. To get the most from your advertising it’s sensible to manage the account on a weekly or fortnightly basis. But at the least and to avoid getting your account suspended, you should log into the dashboard and make a small change every two months.

If you know that you had an Ad Grants account but that it hasn’t been used in a long time, it has probably been made inactive.

If you know your login details, you can reactivate your account by completing the activation of the Google Ads account in Google for Non-profits. When you receive confirmation that your organisation has been verified, your Ad Grants account will be automatically reactivated.

However, in many cases, organisations don’t know what email was used to create the account.

Once you have tried the method listed in the previous section (‘I don’t know if we have an Ad Grants account’), you next step would be to fill in the Ad Grants account access form. You will be asked whether:

1. You know your login email,
2. You know your customer ID, or if
3. You don’t know any account information.

If you don’t know any account information, you need to Request administrative access to an existing account. Once you’ve done that, the current administrator will get a message like this. If they don’t respond within 14 days, the request goes to Google for a manual review. Then you will be required to provide documents proving that you are the official representative of the charity making the request.

I am asked to provide a payment method, or my account is being charged

Google Ad Grants is a free credit that allows you to run in-search advertising without paying for it. You should never be asked to connect a payment method to your account. If you do, you will be charged for your advertising and Google does not offer refunds.

Having said that, I am regularly approached by organisations who are being asked to connect a bank card to their account or being told that their ads are not running due to “low funds”.

So, what is happening there?

There are two possibilities:

• You already have a paid Google Ads account and you have logged into the wrong account.
• You have accidentally created a new paid ad account.

To check which applies to you:

• Log into your Google for Non-profits and take note of your Customer ID (this is the correct Ad Grants account).
• Then look at your Google Ads dashboard – is it the same ID?
• If not, is there a drop-down allowing you to switch between IDs? Can you switch to the Google Ads account with the ID that matches your Ad Grants account?

If you can’t see a second account, then you need to:

• Log out of that account (or possibly even delete it).
• Go back to Google for Non-profits and check which email you used to set it up.
• Go to https://ads.google.com/ and log in with that email.

To check if you are now in the correct account:

• In the drop-down in the top right-hand corner of the dashboard, check if your Customer ID matches the one in your Google for Non-profits.
• To be extra sure, go to: Settings > Billing > Summary. You should see “We don’t bill you” like in the screenshot below.

Unless you see this information in your account, you will be charged.

Finally, what if you find that the Customer ID is correct (for Ad Grants) but you don’t see the above information? This will be because it’s had payment details added to it. By doing this, your Ad Grants account would have been permanently turned it into a paid account. You need to cancel the account and reapply for an Ad Grant from scratch.

So why do so many organisations end up with paid accounts instead of the free Ad Grants accounts they’ve applied for? In many instances, the reason is that Google for Non-profits’ interface can be misleading.

Once you have been verified, you will receive a confirmation email. You then log into your Google for Non-profits account, where you will see a screen like the one below.

Under the section where you are being told that you status is “approved” and you are given your Customer ID, there is a small blue link that says, “Sign in to Ad Grants”. You would think that this link will take you to your newly created Ad Grants dashboard, but it doesn’t.

Instead, it will either:

• Take you to any existing Google Ads account that you have previously set up, or
• Walk you through the set-up of a new (paid) Google Ads account.

Instead, I would suggest ignoring this link altogether. Instead, open another window, go to https://ads.google.com/ and log in with the credentials you used for Google for Non-profits.

A very important final step: once you’ve logged in, go to Settings > Billing > Summary. Does it say ’We do not bill you’ Then you’re good to go!

My account was suspended due to a violation of their policies

If Google has found that you are in breach of one of their policies, you will have your account suspended.

When this happens, first you need to know the reason that you were suspended. The first port of call would be: Tools > Policy Manager in the old interface or Tools > Troubleshooting > Policy Manager in the new one.

How to find Policy Manager in an old Google Ad Grants account

How to find Policy Manager in a new Google Ad Grants account

One problem here is that once your account has been flagged up as being in breach of Google’s policies, no matter the reason for the suspension, Google will go through your account with a fine-tooth comb. This means that if there were other minor things that breach Google’s rules which you got away with before, you will not get away with them now.

Bringing a lapsed account into compliance is a big subject best suited to it’s own article but here are some actions you can take immediately:

• Remove one-word keywords.
• Check for any links leading to websites that have not been approved.
• Make sure that the overall click through rate (CTR) is 5% or higher – here is a handy article explaining what to do if your CTR is below that mark. You can also book an appointment with the Digital Culture Network to help you troubleshoot your account.
• Pause low performing keywords – those with Quality Score 1 and 2 (here is a video explaining how to do it).
• Make sure that the campaigns each have at least two active ad groups with one responsive search ad in each ad group.
• Change geo-location from United Kingdom to something more localised. Ad Grants give you many options to do this. For example, you can choose a city (Manchester), an administrative area (Greater Manchester) or specify a radius (like 50 miles from your address).

You should also make sure that your website loads fast on mobile. Some organisations applications for Ad Grants have been denied on the grounds that their website was too slow. To help with this, Google provides a great tool called Page Speed Insights. Simply paste your web address into the box and it will tell you how fast your website is. The score is given out of a 100. You should aim for your website to be in the sixties or higher. If it’s any lower, you need to speak to your developers to improve the speed of your website. If you don’t have a web developer, our Websites Tech Champion may be able to support you to improve you website speed.

Once you have got your account in order, you can put in a Request to reactivate Ad Grants account.

My account has been cancelled

Google doesn’t tend to cancel accounts – it suspends them. If you are trying to access an account that you know existed and you are being told that the account has been cancelled, then the likelihood is that someone (one of your current or past colleagues) cancelled the account. If that is the case, you will need to go back to Google for Non-profits and try to create a new account. If there is in fact no old account associated with your charity, then it should be straightforward.

Conclusion

Above I have outlined the most common Google Ad Grants access issues that organisations seek my advice on, and ways you can troubleshoot these issues yourself. If you are still struggling or if you need any other advice on Google Ad Grants including strategy, getting started with Ad Grants, or troubleshooting an underperforming account, please get in touch.

Further support

The Digital Culture Network is here to support you and your organisation. Our Tech Champions can provide free one-to-one support to all creative and cultural organisations who are in receipt of, or eligible for, Arts Council England funding. If you need help or would like to chat with us about any of the advice we have covered above, please get in touch. Sign up for our newsletter below and follow us on X (Twitter) @ace_dcn for the latest updates.