What a useful Google Ad Grant assessment actually examines

Start with the account, not the settings checklist

The market calls this an "audit," and most free ones work the same way: run the account through a long settings checklist, flag everything, and hand you a score. Every issue looks equally urgent, so nothing is actionable.

We start with what Google actually did: how much the Grant spent, which searches triggered ads, where those clicks landed, and whether any of them produced a mission-relevant action. That tells us where configuration matters and where it is a distraction.

The six questions we answer

The assessment is organized around six practical questions:

1. 01

   Are you spending?

   We compare actual monthly delivery with the $10,000 ceiling and separate a normal demand limit from an account that is leaving reachable traffic untouched.

2. 02

   Is the account set up too simply?

   A single campaign with broad themes rarely reflects the programs, audiences, and geography a nonprofit actually serves. We look for structure that can direct budget intentionally.

3. 03

   Where can the Grant extend organic reach?

   Queries where your site ranks around positions 3–10 are strong Grant candidates. If you already hold #1 or #2, we usually do not recommend paying for a click you can earn free.

4. 04

   Do the landing pages fit the query?

   We check whether the destination answers the search, makes the next action clear, and includes the conversion elements needed to turn traffic into a useful outcome.

5. 05

   Has recent work made it into paid?

   New program pages, articles, events, and social campaigns often never reach the Grant account. We identify recent content that deserves search coverage.

6. 06

   What should you stop paying for?

   Search terms reveal junk traffic, wrong intent, and queries your organization cannot serve. Those become negative keywords before more budget goes toward them.

Organic and paid should divide the work

The Grant should not cannibalize traffic your site already wins. We compare Search Console and ranking data with the paid query set so the account buys incremental reach instead of duplicating #1 and #2 organic positions.

That same comparison surfaces striking-distance opportunities: pages already ranking in positions 3–10, where a focused Grant campaign can add visibility while SEO work continues.

What the result contains

• Negatives to add now

  The clearest wrong-intent and junk queries to exclude before they absorb more donated budget.

• Striking-distance campaigns

  Queries where the site already ranks around positions 3–10, mapped to the pages and programs a focused campaign could support.

• Landing pages to fix

  Destinations where the query, page promise, and conversion path do not line up — with the first change we would make.

• Recent content to bring into paid

  New pages, events, articles, and campaigns that should be reflected in the Grant account, plus an order for making the changes.

How the process works

1. 01

   Submit the intake

   A short intake covering your organization and website, Grant account state, primary conversion goal, who manages the Grant, and when the campaigns were last updated. About five minutes.

2. 02

   Book your result-review call

   Your confirmation email includes a booking link for a 30-minute call where we walk through the result together.

3. 03

   Share read-only access

   A Google Ads Manager Account link and GA4 Viewer access — revocable anytime, never billing or administrative ownership. Spend is observed from your account, not self-reported.

4. 04

   Review the result

   We bring the finished assessment to your call: what to stop paying for, what to fund next, which pages need work, and the order we recommend.