64% increase in donation income from Mind's Google Ad Grants activity

Every 2 seconds, someone in the UK Googles ‘depression’.

Each of those searches represents a vulnerable person who needs helpful, trustworthy advice at a time of need. A sobering thought.

This is where Mind comes in.

Mind are the leading UK mental health charity, working to ensure that no-one has to face mental health problems alone. One of the key ways they provide support is through the content on their website, covering a range of issues from coping with anxiety to helping a family member with mental health problems. Mind promote this content through their Google Ad Grants account.

Mind are lucky enough to have a Grantspro account which allows them to access $40,000 of in-kind advertising on the Google Search Network. This provides them with a huge opportunity to promote their information & support to people at the very moment when they are searching for authoritative, trustworthy advice.

In 2019, Mind approached us to re-build and manage their Google Ad Grants account and manage their paid-for PPC activity. Whilst their Google Ad Grant was already performing strongly, changes to the programme policies had impacted traffic, with their account spending around half of what it had prior to the policy changes coming into force. More importantly, this reduction in traffic had reduced the visibility of their Information & Support content, as well as affecting donations and other non-monetary conversions. As a result, Mind were using their paid-for Google Ads account to promote important pieces of Information & Support content.

Our objectives for the rebuild were:

1. Increase traffic from the Mind Google Ad Grants account
2. Reverse the reliance on paid-for Google Ads activity to promote Information & Support content
3. Increase donations from the Mind Google Ad Grants account

As part of the rebuild process we:

• Reviewed several years of search term data to identify high volume keyword territories and new opportunities for Mind’s Google Ad Grants activity.
• Wrote over 400 new ads, tailoring the copy to make it highly relevant and focused on user search intent. For example, we created separate ads for people searching for treatment options as opposed to general information about a condition. In total, our ads cover over 30 different mental health conditions.
• Included the new Responsive Search Ad format in all ad groups.
• Imported relevant conversions into the Google Ads interface to allow us to optimise campaigns for key conversions.
• Leveraged our knowledge as a Google Certified Professionals agency to discuss with Google their healthcare policy and ensure Mind’s ads for key content remained compliant with Google’s advertising policies.

• 41% increase in clicks year on year and an 85% increase spend. Mind’s Google Ad Grant account now regularly spends 80% of its Grantspro budget.
• Information & Support pageviews increased by 37% YoY.
• 64% increase in donation income from their Ad Grants activity year on year.

These results are so important for Mind as a charity. Not only have they seen a significant increase in donations from their Google Ad Grant, they have also increased the visibility of Information & Support content, right when people may be most in need of help. We are also incredibly proud of the way we were able to move campaigns back into Mind’s Google Ad Grants account, retaining account compliance and freeing up budgets to be used for other strategically important PPC campaigns.

We have continued to work closely with Mind to get the most out of their Google Ad Grants account. Key highlights include:

• Testing the automated Maximise Conversions bid strategy for a donation campaign, resulting in a 245% increase in income year on year whilst reducing CPA by two-thirds year on year.
• Successfully applying to Google’s Giving Season Fund, securing an additional $10,000 in in-kind advertising over the Christmas period.

We’re looking forward to another exciting year ahead with Mind, continuing to make the best use of their Google Ad Grant to support people searching for information about mental health, whilst using their paid-for PPC activity to support their income-generating activity through Legacy Giving, Challenge Event and Community Fundraising campaigns.