How Much Time Should I Spend on Keeping My Google Grant Up to Date?

Managing a Google Ads Grant is a valuable investment for nonprofits, providing essential resources to promote your mission and outreach. However, to fully harness the benefits of this funding, it’s crucial to stay proactive in maintaining and optimising your grant account. But just how much time should you dedicate to keeping your Google Grant up to date? Below, we explore the key activities and time commitments required to ensure your campaigns are effective and compliant.

Regular Monitoring and Updates

To ensure your Google Ads Grant is performing at its best, regular monitoring is essential. This involves reviewing your campaigns, ad performance, and keyword relevance. Here’s a breakdown of how much time you might need to allocate:

– Weekly Check-ins (1-2 hours): Spend time each week reviewing your campaign performance, focusing on click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, and budget utilisation. Adjust your bids and pause underperforming ads to maximise efficiency.

– Monthly Audits (2-3 hours): Conduct a comprehensive audit of your account once a month. This includes examining your account structure, keyword performance, and compliance with Google’s guidelines. Consider using tools like Google Analytics for deeper insights.

Keyword Research and Updates

Keywords are the backbone of your Google Ads campaigns. Staying current with keyword trends is vital for success.

– Keyword Management (1-2 hours per month): Dedicate time to research and refine your keyword strategy. Remove ineffective keywords and add new ones that reflect your nonprofit’s mission and objectives. Tools like Google’s Keyword Planner can help identify relevant search terms.

Ad Copy Optimisation

Creating compelling ad copy can significantly impact your CTR and overall performance.

– Ad Copy Review (1 hour per month): Regularly assess your ad copy to ensure it resonates with your audience. A/B test different headlines and descriptions to determine what drives the best engagement.

Conversion Tracking

Setting up and monitoring conversion tracking is essential to measure the success of your campaigns.

– Setting Up Conversion Tracking (2-3 hours initially, then 1 hour monthly): Spend time initially setting up conversion tracking for specific actions you want to measure, such as donations or newsletter sign-ups. After setup, allocate an hour each month to review the data and make adjustments as needed.

Reporting and Analysis

Understanding the impact of your campaigns is crucial for ongoing improvement.

– Reporting (2 hours per month): Take time to compile reports on your campaign performance. This will help you identify trends and areas for improvement, allowing for data-driven decisions in future campaigns.

Conclusion

In total, you may spend anywhere from 8 to 15 hours a month on maintaining and optimising your Google Ads Grant, depending on your organisation’s size and complexity. Regular monitoring, keyword management, ad copy optimisation, and conversion tracking are all vital activities to ensure your campaigns remain effective and aligned with your nonprofit’s goals.

We’ve been supporting Muslim charities with their digital marketing needs for almost 12 years. We’ve been managing their Google Grant for about the same time, so have more than a little understanding about how best to leverage this to make it work for them. It does take time and effort – which charities don’t always have – to get it right and stay on top of it. Get in touch to see how we can help you.