Which type of organization are you?
- A. Using Google Grants/AdWords program but only for awareness and not fundraising.
- B. Using Google Grants/AdWords program for fundraising.
- C. Want to use Google Grants/AdWords but haven't started.
- D. Have no idea what this is!
Anyone who answered D, call me, write me, do some blogging and searching, talk to your agency — you're missing out on some great opportunities to spread the word about your organization. And yes, the "grant" part of Google Grants is true. Nonprofits get some things free.
Anyone who answered C, good for you. Now get started — you're late to the party.
Anyone who answered A, well, you're missing out on great fundraising opportunities. That AdWords account needs to be wrestled away from the marketers and branding folks and shared with the fundraisers. With that said, the below is still going to give you some heartburn if you have been tracking your current results and making decisions based on them.
I'll get in trouble for this (in other words, don't yell at me for my opinion — I know you might not agree already), but for many branding and awareness campaigns the metrics are a bit fuzzy and soft. If that describes your organization's tracking, change and start tracking this and making SEO decisions based on results.
Unfortunately, anyone who answered B (or frankly any of the other answers), get out the antacid because you're absolutely going to have heartburn — like everyone else out there running non-paid search campaigns through Google. If you're doing paid search, then it's a different story but keep reading.
Here's the deal. As Thom Craver of Search Engine Watch put it, "The day many SEO professionals hoped would never come, but feared eventually would, apparently has arrived. It appears that Google has cut off keyword data altogether."
This article, I must admit, made my head hurt just reading it, and that included just the explanation of what was going on. The Eleventy blog showcases the ins and outs of this change that started a few weeks ago in its post, "Google Just Made Your SEO A Lot Harder." Check out both resources after your read the rest of this blog.
Here's the gist of things …
Previously, you could look at your Google account and determine what search words were being used to find information on your organization. This information was invaluable because it helped nonprofits understand how its donors (and volunteers, members, prospects and beneficiaries) were finding them online through search. With that information, nonprofits could develop SEO campaigns that would drive greater visitation to their sites.
Then in 2011, Google made its first big change in this area. If you were signed in to one of your personal Google applications (Gmail, YouTube, etc.), then the searching you did was private and therefore did not show up on reports. This type of search is called "organic" search. While this has affected some industries more than others, nonprofits were still in a fantastic position to understand how constituents were finding them and using that for marketing decisions.
As we all know, Google Grants can be up to $10,000 per month (and in some cases $40,000 per month) for nonprofits to get free advertising through SEO. It's amazing. It's a great way to drive constituents to your organization. It's a great way to get materials into the hands of future donors. And yes, it is a great way to drive awareness and fundraising. So, while in 2011 this was a big change, nonprofits were getting such a fantastic benefit it was hard to cry foul.
Well, now the other shoe has officially dropped — and this time nonprofits will feel (more like "see") the impact of the change. Now, all organic searches will be considered private. Meaning, the reports that used to show the great detail by search word will simply not be as valuable anymore because they will be missing all of the words that are used by millions of people when they search.
But that's not all that seems a bit crazy about this situation. Ah, commerce, the American way. Guess what is available in your reports? That's right … if you buy search words from Google, it will be more than happy to report on those.
As a marketer and fundraiser, just learning about the words you pick is not the full picture. So what are you to do since all the organic, non-paid search results are missing from your reports? Oh, right, you have to buy more and more words so you can actually measure the results of your marketing.
Folks, it's not very often that I speak out like this, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that while Google wants to play this off as a "privacy" issue, it's plain to me that it's about making money. For nonprofits, this is going to present some huge challenges. Yes, there are ways to make sure your search is as effective as possible with the new rules (again, call or e-mail me). But, to me it seems like a bit of a monopoly move by Google to find a way to cut out the small guys and rake in a lot of money from those who have the deep pockets.
- Categories:
- Database Marketing
- Search Engine Marketing
- Companies:
Vice President, Strategy & Development
Eleventy Marketing Group
Angie is ridiculously passionate about EVERYTHING she’s involved in — including the future and success of our nonprofit industry.
Angie is a senior exec with 25 years of experience in direct and relationship marketing. She is a C-suite consultant with experience over the years at both nonprofits and agencies. She currently leads strategy and development for marketing intelligence agency Eleventy Marketing Group. Previously she has worked at the innovative startup DonorVoice and as general manager of Merkle’s Nonprofit Group, as well as serving as that firm’s CRM officer charged with driving change within the industry. She also spent more 14 years leading the marketing, fundraising and CRM areas for two nationwide charities, The Arthritis Foundation and the American Cancer Society. Angie is a thought leader in the industry and is frequent speaker at events, and author of articles and whitepapers on the nonprofit industry. She also has received recognition for innovation and influence over the years.