Google Grants provides eligible organisations with free keyword advertising using Google AdWords so you can connect directly with your target audience. Through simple, short text ads that run on Google.co.uk, thousands (or even millions) of people can learn about your organisation online as they are searching for related information. When someone enters keywords (short phrases specifying a particular search query) into Google.co.uk, ads targeted to those keywords appear alongside the search results.

Paying close attention to the information below as well as to the Google Grants Programme Guidelines will help you understand the way in which our advertising programme works. It will also enable you to successfully prepare your application.

How AdWords works
Our automated system monitors the performance of your ads, and displays the most relevant ads in the most visible position on the page. If it detects problems with your account or certain keywords, it may slow or stop showing your ads.

Once your campaign is running, you can see how well your ads perform by logging into your AdWords account to view your online reports, including how often people have clicked on each of your ads and keyword phrases, and the value of those clicks.

Effective ads and ad campaigns
To ensure your ads are effective, we encourage you to review all the topics below.

1. Targeting the right audience (reaching constituents in the region and language you specify)
2. How your target audience finds your organisation (developing your keyword lists)
3. Use keyword matching options for greater effectiveness (AdWords keyword tools)
4. Give searchers a reason to visit your site (creating effective ads)
5. Give searchers an easy way to respond (sending searchers to the right landing page)
6. About our minimum clickthrough rate (attracting enough clicks)
7. Tracking conversions (measuring the effectiveness of your Google.co.uk campaigns)

Through AdWords, you can create a variety of campaigns (groups of ads for different audiences or services) as well as target your ads to different geographic locations and languages. The three options for geo-targeting are:

• Global or nationwide: Your ads will appear to Google searchers located in, or searching for, results in the country (or countries) you select. This option is best suited for global organisations that serve specific countries.
• Regions and cities: Your ads will only appear to Google searchers in the regional areas you choose. This option is best suited to organisations whose programmes are centered in certain cities and regions, or when you need to target searchers located throughout a city or cities. (Available in some countries.)
• Customized: Your ads will only appear to Google searchers in a specified distance from your organisation. This option is best suited to groups serving a limited and specific area.
• Languages: You can choose "All Languages" or select any of dozens of languages in which your ads can appear.

Ask yourself which keywords – word combinations and phrases – you would type into the Google search box to find your organisation's programmes and services.

Then, search using Google.co.uk for those keywords you are considering. Make note of both the search and ad results you see, and eliminate the keywords that return results for information unrelated to topics your organisation focuses on.

Targeting your ads to the most relevant keywords will help your constituents to find you on Google.co.uk.

Remember that the more specific phrases are always better than general keywords. And a short, well-targeted list of words is much better than a long list of general keywords. We've found that our most successful advertisers use a combination of the following four types of keyword matching options:

• Broad matching example

For detailed help with choosing the right keywords and matching options for your campaign, please try our keyword matching demo.

The keyword matching options above will help you understand how to target your ad, but what about your ad text? Our experience shows that the more closely your ad relates to your keywords, the more likely a user is to click on your ad.

When someone enters a search query on Google and scans the search results and AdWords ads, your ad text will help Google users decide whether or not to click on your ad.

Our Editorial Guidelines are designed to ensure that your ads attract the right people to your message. We review every ad to make sure it adheres to these Guidelines, so it pays to be familiar with them.

In addition to following the Guidelines, these tips will help you create compelling ads:

Include keywords in your ad text or title.

• If your keywords appear in your ad text, Google users immediately recognize that your ad is relevant to their search.

Adopt a clear style.

• Short, non-repetitive sentences work best.
• Double-check spelling and grammar, and avoid uncommon acronyms and abbreviations.

Identify the unique aspects of your organisation and services.

• What makes your website useful, relevant, and different?
• Call attention to the unique benefits you offer to attract more Google users. Example: "Search our physician database to find a specialist in your area" or "Chat with other breast cancer survivors."

Use a strong call to action.

• A "call to action" prepares your audience for what you want them to do: register, join, subscribe, and so on.
• Make sure that this phrase is unique and specific to your programme so that it is more informative and compelling, and distinguishes you from the competition.
• Example: "Register for membership," "Volunteer in your neighbourhood today" or "Call our confidential help line."

One size doesn't fit all.

• Use our targeting options (country, language, region, state, zip code) to make sure you reach the right audience.
• If your organisation has many different programmes and initiatives, focus on one audience per ad (you may create up to 25 ad campaigns and up to 100 ad groups with unlimited ads).

View sample keywords and sample ads.

Keywords for sample ad #1: cancer surgery options cancer treatments information about cancer		Sample ad copy #1:
Keywords for sample ad #2: cancer volunteer cancer volunteers cancer survivors cancer support groups [volunteer] [volunteers]		Sample ad copy #2:

Searchers click on your ad when they are interested in what you offer. Make it easy for them to find out more by sending them directly to a relevant destination (landing) page. This web page should refer to something from your ad. (If you offer a free newsletter, the link should go to an easy sign-up page. If you are promoting an event, the ad about that should link to the page about this specific event.) Finally, be sure your landing page easy and intuitive for the user to understand.

To ensure your advertising is effective, we require that your account and individual keywords maintain a minimum clickthrough rate, or CTR. We define this as the ratio of clicks on your ad to the number of times it has appeared. Clickthrough performance is evaluated after every 1,000 times ads are shown on Google.

If our automated AdWords performance monitor detects problems with your account or certain keywords, it may slow or stop showing your ads so you can revise your ad copy or change your keywords to improve your campaigns.

Conversion tracking is a free AdWords tool that will enable your organisation to track the effectiveness of your Google campaign. After your webmaster inserts the special conversion tracking code we supply, you'll be able to see whether your ad clicks are helping you to achieve your online goals. For example, you can see whether people clicking on your ads "convert" to a membership, newsletter subscription, report download, and so on. You can see AdWords conversion data right down to the keyword level in your reports.