Your Charity's Google Ad Grant Is at Risk : 5 Compliance Mistakes That Get Accounts Deactivated

The Google Ad Grant can give an eligible charity up to $10,000 a month in free Google Search advertising : usually around £7,500, depending on exchange rates.

That’s up to roughly £90,000 a year to promote your services, attract donors, recruit volunteers and reach people searching for support.

But the grant isn’t completely hands-off.

Google has clear account management rules. If you ignore them, your ads may stop running and your account could be temporarily deactivated. Google often calls this temporary deactivation, although many charities refer to it as suspension.

The good news is that most compliance problems are fixable. You need to identify the issue, make the right changes and request reactivation through Google.

Here are the five mistakes that put charity Ad Grant accounts most at risk.

1. Letting your account-wide CTR fall below 5%

This is the rule most charity teams know about : and the one that’s easiest to miss.

Your Ad Grant account must maintain a minimum 5% click-through rate (CTR) each month, unless your account exclusively uses Smart Campaigns.

CTR measures how often people click your ad after seeing it. Google applies the requirement at account level, not necessarily to every individual keyword.

If your account falls below 5% for two consecutive months, Google can temporarily deactivate it.

That doesn’t mean every keyword needs a 5% CTR. Some keywords will naturally perform better than others. The problem is usually a collection of broad, irrelevant or low-performing keywords generating impressions without clicks.

What to check

• Account-wide CTR for the current month
• High-impression keywords with very few clicks
• Search terms that don’t match your charity’s work
• Broad keywords attracting the wrong audience
• Campaigns targeting locations you don’t serve

Google recommends reviewing your enabled keywords and pausing those with high impressions and low CTR. You can read the full Google Ad Grants policy compliance guide for the official process.

The practical fix is usually straightforward: tighten your targeting, pause weak keywords, improve your ad copy and make sure each campaign has a clear purpose.

Don’t wait until your account is already deactivated. A falling CTR is an early warning.

2. Using broken or meaningless conversion tracking

Google wants Ad Grant campaigns to drive useful action : not just website visits.

That means your account needs valid conversion tracking that records meaningful actions people take on your website. Depending on your charity, this could include:

• Donations
• Volunteer sign-ups
• Event registrations
• Email sign-ups
• Membership applications
• Petition signatures
• Information requests
• Calls to your organisation
• Ticket sales
• Completed contact forms

For many current Ad Grant accounts, particularly those created since 2018, Google requires valid conversion tracking and at least one meaningful conversion per month.

The common mistake is assuming that tracking is working because a tag was installed once. Websites change. Donation platforms are updated. Forms are replaced. Consent settings are altered. A conversion that worked six months ago may no longer be recorded correctly.

Another problem is counting actions that don’t show meaningful intent. Homepage visits, short sessions or simply spending time on a page shouldn’t usually be treated as your main conversion goals.

What to check

• Are donations being recorded?
• Do completed forms trigger a conversion?
• Are volunteer registrations counted?
• Is your tracking code still installed on the right pages?
• Are conversions being imported correctly into Google Ads?
• Are you counting real outcomes rather than casual visits?

Google’s Ad Grants conversion tracking guide explains the required setup.

Your conversion tracking should tell you whether the grant is helping people take the next step : not just whether they landed on your website.

3. Using the wrong bidding strategy

For Ad Grant accounts created on or after 22 April 2019, Google requires conversion-based Smart Bidding for campaigns, unless the account is using Smart Campaigns.

The permitted strategies include:

• Maximise conversions
• Maximise conversion value
• Target CPA
• Target ROAS

This requirement is closely connected to conversion tracking. Smart Bidding needs reliable conversion data to make sensible decisions about when and where to show your ads.

A common mistake is leaving campaigns on manual bidding, Maximise clicks or another strategy that doesn’t meet the account’s requirements.

Maximise clicks may be useful as a short-term starting point while you gather data. However, Google’s account management guidance says your priority should be implementing conversion tracking and moving to a conversion-based strategy as soon as you have enough information for the system to work effectively.

What to check

• The account creation date
• The bidding strategy used by every active campaign
• Whether conversion tracking is valid
• Whether the selected strategy matches your campaign goal
• Whether Google has changed a bid strategy automatically

This is one area where guesswork creates unnecessary risk. Changing bidding settings without checking the wider account can also affect performance.

A proper review should look at the conversion setup, campaign goals and available data together.

4. Allowing prohibited or poor-quality keywords to remain active

The Ad Grant isn’t designed for vague, high-volume keywords. It’s designed to connect your organisation with people who are genuinely looking for information, support or ways to take action.

Google’s policies restrict several types of keywords, including:

• Single-word keywords, except for approved exceptions
• Overly generic keywords with unclear intent
• Keywords with a Quality Score of 1 or 2

For example, a charity might be tempted to target words such as “support”, “community” or “volunteering”. These may sound relevant, but they’re too broad on their own. They don’t tell you what the person wants or whether your organisation can help.

More specific searches are usually more useful:

• “SEND support groups in Halifax”
• “volunteer with a mental health charity”
• “family support services near me”
• “donate to disability charities”

Google also requires keywords with a Quality Score of 1 or 2 to be paused or removed. Quality Score is influenced by factors such as relevance, expected click-through rate and the experience people have after clicking your ad.

A safer keyword review

• Remove single-word keywords where they aren’t exempt
• Pause generic keywords that bring the wrong traffic
• Review search terms regularly
• Pause keywords with Quality Score 1 or 2
• Match each keyword group to a relevant advert and landing page
• Add negative keywords to filter out unsuitable searches

The goal isn’t to use every possible keyword. It’s to use the right keywords for your charity’s mission and the people you want to reach.

5. Neglecting account structure, targeting and programme updates

Compliance isn’t only about CTR and conversions. A poorly maintained account can also create problems.

Google requires Ad Grant accounts to use appropriate location settings and include at least two unique sitelink assets. Its policy guidance also requires at least two ad groups per campaign, built around closely related keywords.

These requirements help ensure that campaigns are organised and useful rather than being one large collection of unrelated searches.

Your account may also be at risk if you:

• Target areas where your charity doesn’t provide services
• Send every advert to the same generic landing page
• Run campaigns with only one ad group
• Forget to add sitelinks to important pages
• Leave old campaigns active after your services change
• Ignore Google’s in-product notifications
• Fail to respond to the annual programme survey

That final point is easy to overlook. Google periodically sends surveys to Ad Grant accounts and requires participating organisations to respond. Missing the survey can lead to deactivation.

A simple monthly maintenance check

1. Review account notifications.
2. Check location targeting.
3. Confirm sitelinks are active and relevant.
4. Review campaigns and ad groups.
5. Check keyword quality scores.
6. Review CTR and conversions.
7. Confirm your website and landing pages still work.
8. Respond to any required Google survey.

This doesn’t need to become another major task for your team. It does need to happen consistently.

What to do if your Ad Grant has already been deactivated

If your account has stopped running, don’t panic. Deactivation is often recoverable.

Use this process:

1. Identify the reason

Check your Google Ads account notifications and determine whether the issue relates to CTR, conversion tracking, bidding, account structure, keywords or programme engagement.

2. Bring the account back into compliance

Make the required changes rather than simply restarting campaigns. For example, pause low-CTR keywords, correct tracking, switch to an eligible bidding strategy or update your campaign structure.

3. Request reactivation

Once the account meets the requirements, submit a request for account reinstatement.

Google’s account management policy explains the main requirements and reactivation process.

Ongoing management protects the opportunity

The Google Ad Grant is valuable because it gives your charity access to advertising that would otherwise cost thousands of pounds a month.

But claiming the grant is only the first step. You also need to manage it properly, check the account every month and connect activity to meaningful outcomes.

That’s where many stretched charity teams struggle. You’re already managing fundraising, service delivery, reporting and governance. You shouldn’t have to become a Google Ads specialist as well.

At Vault 5 Digital, we handle the full process:

• Eligibility and application
• Campaign setup
• Keyword and advert management
• Conversion tracking
• Monthly optimisation
• Compliance checks
• Performance reporting
• Reactivation support where needed

You get one team, one monthly package and a clear report showing what your grant delivered.

Check your charity’s Ad Grant position

If you’re worried your account is at risk : or you’re not sure whether it’s being used properly : start with a review.

Vault 5’s free eligibility check takes around two minutes. We’ll review your charity number and digital setup, then provide a personalised response within one working day.

There’s no obligation and no complicated sales process.

Check your charity’s eligibility for Google Ad Grant management and find out whether your account is compliant, underused or leaving valuable advertising unused.