Ad Grants policy compliance guide

We launched updated Ad Grants policies in January 2018 to provide more guidance on running a high-quality account.

Please note that we primarily use in-product notifications to communicate personalised suggestions as well as notifications of non-compliance.  After modifying your account to comply with policies, request account reinstatement online. 

Along with the policies specific to Ad Grants, all Ad Grants accounts must also follow standard Google Ads policies.

No single-word keywords permitted

Under Ad Grants' mission-based policy, single keywords aren’t permitted. Your own brand keywords, approved medical conditions and some other cases are deemed an exception to this policy. To pause single keywords, you can use a filter.

Filter for single keywords and pause them

1. In your Google Ads account, click the Campaigns icon .
2. Click the Campaigns drop-down in the section menu and click on Campaigns or Ad groups.
3. Click the filter button  above the statistics table.
4. Start typing keyword text from the list of options and select it. Choose does not contain and in the text box enter a space by pressing the spacebar on your keyboard once.
5. Click Apply to see a list of single keywords. 
6. To return to an unfiltered view of your table, click the X above the statistics table.
7. (Optional) To save the filter that you’ve created for later use, click the save button , enter your filter name (i.e. single keyword) and click Save.

No overly generic keywords permitted

Ad Grants' mission-based policy requires overly generic keywords that don't indicate the intent of the person searching to be paused or removed, for example: 'free videos', 'eBooks' or 'today’s news'.

Your landing page experience is a good indication of whether your keyword is too generic. If a keyword has a landing page experience below average, this indicates that users weren't finding the content that they were looking for when they searched. Consider rewording these keywords or adding keywords found in the search term report that show a strong CTR. 

No keywords with a Quality Score of 1 or 2 permitted

Ad Grants' mission-based policy requires keywords with a Quality Score of 1 or 2 to be paused or removed. Check your Quality Score on a regular basis to pause non-permitted keywords. You can also set up an automated rule so that the system automatically pauses these keywords for you. 

How to check your keywords' Quality Score

The quality score can be found in a column in your Keywords tab. However, it may not be showing in your account as default. If you don’t see a Quality Score column in your keywords tab, you can add it:

1. In your Google Ads account, click the Campaigns icon .
2. Click Audiences, keywords and content.
3. Click Search keywords.
4. In the upper right-hand corner of the table, click the columns icon  .
5. Under 'Modify columns for keywords'.
6. Click on the drop-down arrow beside 'All columns' and then, open the Quality Score section.
7. To add the current Quality Score and its component statuses as new columns in the keyword reporting table, select Quality Score.
8. Click Apply.

   Quality Scores marked as '—' are exempt from this policy and not monitored.

Pause keywords with Quality Scores of 1 or 2 with an automated rule 

You can set up an automated rule so that the system regularly pauses keywords with a Quality Score of 1 or 2 for you when the condition is met. 

1. Click Keywords in the page menu to reach the keywords page and click the 3-dot icon.
2. Select Create an automated rule.
3. For Type of rule select Pause keywords.
4. For the Apply to keywords selection choose All enabled keywords.
5. For the Condition selection, choose Quality Score, then < and 3. Ensure that the tick box for Include keywords with quality scores of '—' is deselected. 
6. For Frequency, set Daily, time as 11.00 p.m. and using data from Same day.
7. Choose if you wish to receive an email notification, enter a rule name and click Save rule. 

Must maintain a 5% click-through rate (CTR) each month

Failing to meet 5% CTR for two consecutive months can result in temporary account deactivation.

To correct your CTR before your account is temporarily deactivated, or once your account is temporarily deactivated, follow these steps: 

1. Set the date range to the past seven days that your account was active. If your account was deactivated or campaigns were paused, set the date range to the last seven days that your ads accrued impressions. 
2. From the page menu on the left sidebar, click Campaigns. On the filter bar above the statistics table, select Campaign status and All enabled.
3. From the page menu, click Ad groups. On the filter bar above the statistics table, select Ad group status and All enabled.
4. From the page menu, click Keywords. On the filter bar above the statistics table, select Keyword status and All enabled. 
5. Order by top impressions down by clicking the column header Impr. at the top of the statistics table. 
6. Pause keywords with high impressions (see Impr. column) and low CTR (see CTR column) by clicking the tick box to the left of the keyword, click Edit and then Pause. This step will increase the average CTR of all enabled keywords. 
7. Continue until the CTR metric for the total bar on the statistics table, called Total: filtered keywords, reads at least 5%.  

If your account has already been temporarily deactivated, after following the above steps and correcting any other outstanding Ad Grants policy issues, fill in this form to request reactivation.

Take a look at our additional suggestions to improve CTR. 

Must have valid conversion tracking, if applicable

Ad Grants policy requires that accounts created since January 2018 and advertisers in the programme using Smart Bidding strategies must implement accurate conversion tracking.

Accurate conversion tracking means that you are reporting at least one conversion per month (see the Conversions column) and that if your conversion rate is high (see the Conv. rate column), it's accurately set up and due to strong performance of a meaningful conversion. Your total number of clicks should not nearly equate to your total number of conversions. 

If you haven’t received at least one conversion last month, please try one of the following options:

• Create a goal in Google Analytics and import it into Google Ads (recommended) or add a new conversion directly in Google Ads.
• If you’re using Google Ads conversion tracking already but not reporting conversions, troubleshoot your conversion tracking tag.
• If you have Google Analytics goals set up and imported into Google Ads already, then troubleshoot your Goals set up.

If your conversion rate is high, please confirm that it's due to strong performance for a meaningful conversion. Top fixes include:

• Consider changing your settings to suit the type of conversion and 'count one' instead of 'count every' conversion where appropriate (see counting options)
• Consider tracking a ‘thank you’ page where possible using Google Ads conversion tracking or a Destination goal with Google Analytics.
• If you don’t have a ‘thank you’ page to track on your site, try a Google Analytics Smart Goal
• Increase the barrier to what counts as a conversion:
  • If using a Destination goal or conversion, ensure that the page you’re tracking isn’t a frequently visited, common page, but instead one that’s accessed after someone completes a meaningful action, i.e. a 'thank you' page.
  • If using a Duration goal, consider increasing the minimum amount of time spent on site.
  • If using a Pages/Screens per session goal, consider increasing the minimum amount number visited.

Optimisation tips and troubleshooting steps can be found in our Ad Grants conversion tracking guide. 

Must have at least two ad groups per campaign

Create at least two ad groups per campaign with a set of highly relevant and tightly knit keywords that align with the two associated ads and destination landing pages. Take a look at your Search Terms report to see what multiple word searches have gained a good CTR and add these.

Learn how to create ad groups. 

Must have at least two sitelink assets

Sitelinks provide the person searching more opportunities to click directly from your ad to landing pages on your site. Consider what specific pages might be most valuable to people searching and add these as sitelinks, for example a campaign page for a fundraising campaign. 

Learn how to add sitelinks. 

Must respond to programme survey

All grantees must complete an annual programme survey. The survey has been sent to the login email addresses on each Ad Grants account earlier in the year. If you have submitted it but receive a notification that it still needs to be completed, then we haven't been able to successfully capture your submission based on the customer ID entered. Please resubmit.

The survey link can be found here. Pay careful attention to entering your customer ID in the format of 10 digits 'XXXXXXXXXX' so that we can identify your submission.