A Google Ad Grant is one of the best deals in nonprofit marketing: up to $10,000 a month in free search advertising, indefinitely, as long as the account stays in good standing. That last part is where things can get tricky. Google enforces Ad Grants policy automatically, often without warning, and a suspended account can sit dark for weeks while an organization works out what happened.
Below are 20 of the most common reasons Ad Grant accounts run into trouble, grouped so you can scan for your own risk areas. The first 16 are written Google requirements, checked against Google’s help pages on September 30, 2026 and linked throughout. The last four aren’t written rules, but they are behind many of the problems we see.
Performance and conversions
1. Click-through rate below 5%
Every Ad Grants account, other than those running only Smart campaigns, must keep a 5% account-level click-through rate each month, per the account management policy. It’s measured across the whole account, not keyword by keyword, and two consecutive months under 5% can lead to temporary deactivation.
2. Missing or broken conversion tracking
Accounts created since January 2018, and any account using Smart Bidding, must have valid conversion tracking that records at least one conversion a month. Donations, volunteer sign-ups, event registrations, newsletter sign-ups and petition completions all count.
3. Counting the wrong things as conversions
Conversions have to reflect meaningful actions, and the conversion rate has to be believable. Time on site and similar engagement measures don’t qualify; if you track them, set them to the “Other” category and exclude them from the Conversions column.
4. Manual bidding instead of Smart Bidding
Accounts created on or after April 22, 2019 must run every campaign on conversion-based Smart Bidding (Maximize conversions, Maximize conversion value, Target CPA or Target ROAS), unless the campaign is a Smart campaign, per the same account management policy.
5. Low Quality Score keywords left active
Any keyword with a Quality Score of 1 or 2 must be paused or removed, per the Ad Grants Policy Compliance Guide. It’s one of the easier problems to catch, but only if someone checks Quality Scores regularly.
6. Ignoring the program survey
Google periodically sends a program survey to the account’s login email addresses, and accounts can be deactivated for not responding. One more reason to make sure account notifications reach an inbox someone actually reads.
Keywords and targeting
7. Single-word keywords
Under the mission-based keyword policy, single-word keywords aren’t allowed, with exceptions for your own brand terms, recognized medical conditions and a short published exception list.
8. Overly generic keywords
Even multi-word keywords can be too broad to reflect what your organization actually does. Generic phrases such as “free videos” or “today’s news” should be paused.
9. Location targeting that doesn’t match your audience
Ads should be targeted to the places where people will actually use your services or support your cause, not set to reach everyone everywhere. A local food bank targets its area; a national charity raising donations targets where its donors are.
10. Ads that break standard Google Ads policies
Every Ad Grants account is also subject to standard Google Ads policies, such as the rules on trademarks in ad text and on misleading claims. Ads that break them are disapproved, and repeated problems put the account at risk.
Account structure
11. Fewer than two ad groups per campaign
Each campaign needs at least two ad groups, each built around a tight set of related keywords, per the Policy Compliance Guide.
12. Fewer than two sitelinks
Some guides circulating online cite a minimum of four sitelinks. Google’s published requirement is a minimum of two sitelink assets, though using more is good practice, since sitelinks tend to lift click-through rate.
Your website
13. Sending traffic to a domain you don’t control
Your nonprofit has to own, meaning have real administrative control over, the website your ads point to, and the site can’t simply redirect to another organization or a third-party page.
14. Broken, slow or insecure pages
The same website policy calls for HTTPS throughout, working navigation and links (especially donation buttons), fast loading and pages that work well on phones. Any of these can put the account at risk, whatever the ads are doing.
15. A thin picture of your mission
The site needs to show clearly who you are and what you do: your mission, your programs and identifying details such as your address and charity ID.
16. Pages built around commercial activity
Pages focused mainly on selling products, or carrying third-party ads such as AdSense, don’t meet the website policy. Any sales should be limited, connected to your mission and clearly explained.
Habits that put accounts at risk
These aren’t written Ad Grants rules, but they are behind many of the suspensions and slowdowns we see.
17. Advertiser verification problems
Phone numbers and other details that fail Google’s advertiser verification can restrict ads across the whole account. In one account we audited, a single phone number that failed verification put a restriction on every ad, and spending fell to almost nothing within 48 hours. Read how the account recovered.
18. Nobody watching the account
Google doesn’t publish a login requirement, but an account nobody reviews is how small problems become suspensions. A monthly look at CTR, conversions, search terms and policy notifications catches most issues early.
19. Tracking that breaks after a website change
A new website, donation form or donation platform can quietly break conversion tracking, and with it the monthly conversion requirement. Recheck tracking after any change.
20. Notifications going to the wrong inbox
Policy warnings and survey requests go to the account’s login email addresses. If those belong to a former staff member, the first sign of trouble may be a deactivated account.
The pattern underneath all twenty
Almost every one of these traces back to one of three root causes: nobody is reviewing the account regularly, conversion tracking was never set up properly, or the account structure was built once and never revisited. Google’s enforcement is largely automated, so the accounts that stay healthy are the ones with a standing monthly check-in, not the ones that only get attention when something breaks.
Note: Google updates Ad Grants policy periodically. It’s worth spot-checking Google’s Ad Grants Help Center against any checklist, including ours, before treating it as final.
This is part of a bigger pattern.
Ad Grants compliance is just one slice of a much larger challenge: digital advertising has more moving parts than most organizations can track, and Google’s automated enforcement doesn’t wait for anyone to catch up.
That was the throughline of our three-part June 2026 webinar series for public media professionals:
101: Foundations (June 11): what has to be in place before you spend a dollar, including GA4 setup, organic vs. paid, and platform selection
201: In Practice (June 18): conversion events, funnel structure, retargeting, and why attribution is harder than it looks
301: Advanced (June 25): platform strategy across Meta, Google, TikTok, CTV, and beyond
The 301 session made a point worth repeating here: for most stations, the Google Ad Grant is the most underused asset they have, sitting well under the $10,000/month ceiling, or not running at all, largely because staying in compliance (see: the 20 items above) takes ongoing attention many internal teams don’t have the capacity for.
The pattern holds across every channel, not just Ad Grants: the tools are more powerful than ever and more failure-prone than ever if nobody’s watching them closely.
Check your account.
Our free, interactive Google Ad Grants compliance checklist covers Google’s current requirements, takes a few minutes and gives your account a rating, from At risk to Well managed. Then, if you’d like, schedule a call to go over the results with our team.
Sources
From Google for Nonprofits Help:
Account management policy
Ad Grants Policy Compliance Guide
Mission-based campaigns (keyword policy)
Ad Grants single keyword policy exceptions
Website policy