Your best Earth Day

Tuesday, April 22, 2008 | 6:28 AM

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Posted by Jessica, Google Grants Team

Earth Day is a big deal on the Google Grants team, and to get in the spirit, we wanted to give you environmental organizations a little extra love today.

Inspired by healthy competition and a little caffeine, we narrowed down our tips to our top five AdWords best practices for environmental organizations.

If you're focused on environmental causes, we hope you find these tips useful in making the most of your account on Earth Day and every day:

  1. Be more than green! Use negative keywords in your campaigns to make sure that only the most relevant searches return your ads. If you use the word "green" in any of your campaigns, consider adding some of the following terms as negatives: packers, eva, eyes, al, bowling, tea, pokemon, acres, shades, mile, seth, laser, "green day," lyrics, dragon, apple, airport, machine, goblin, eggs and ham, eggs, beret, brian austin, putting, onions, sage, lottery.

  2. Be active! Compose a razor sharp 'call-to-action' message in your ad text that highlights how a Google user can help conserve our environment. For example, include phrases such as, 'Want to be Green? Learn How!', or 'Learn How You Can Make A Difference.'

  3. Act locally, think globally! Use regional targeting to deliver your ads to the most appropriate audience. If you are holding a beach clean-up, target those ads just to users in the beach area. If you are soliciting donations for your organization overall, adjust your targeting for those ads to a wider audience.

  4. Recycle! Consider recycling text from successful ads for new ads in other ad groups.

  5. Be efficient! Run on 'solution' and 'issue' keywords in separate ad groups. For example, 'environmental crisis' and 'environment issues' are good keywords for an 'Issues' ad group. Alternatively, create a 'Solutions' ad group and include the keywords 'environmental solution' and 'save the planet.' This practice will help ensure that the best ads run in each instance. It's also helpful when reviewing your ad performance.
If you found these tips helpful and want to find out more about making the most of your Google Grant, check out our Help Center or go on to the Google Grants Help Group to discuss these and other topics with other non-profits.

Happy Earth Day!