Google Grants has always been an odd program. It comes with free money which is undoubtedly awesome. I don’t think you’ll find an advertiser that wouldn’t want a free $10,000 per month. This money is extremely difficult to spend due to various restrictions however which makes it decidedly less awesome. Google just announced a major increase in the bidding limit from $1 to $2 which was really exciting to me… until I read about the MAJOR catch.
Read the official announcement and see if you can find the problem:
First, as of January 28, 2013, Google Grantees may bid up to $2.00 USD on keywords. This is an increase from the previous CPC bid cap of $1.00 USD and may allow your ads to enter auctions previously unavailable at the $1.00 bid cap. Second, to balance the interests of businesses who pay to advertise on Google search, your ads will now appear below the ads of traditional AdWords advertisers.
Did you catch it? “your ads will now appear below the ads of traditional AdWords advertisers.”
Google is trying to appear friendly and benevolent by granting you a higher bid. Once you’ve been distracted by your good fortune they’ve gone ahead and relegated you to a murky sub-auction below the “real” advertisers. Congratulations, you’ve just become a second class Adwords citizen.
If you’re aiming for searches that only have other Grants advertisers on them your life isn’t going to change much. All of you are getting the same bid benefit which makes the whole thing meaningless. The only upside is your competitor may get caught sleeping and forget to move their bids from $1 to $2.
For those Grants advertisers that have been successful competing against “normal” advertisers, well you guys are screwed. The magic you may have worked by focusing on quality score to bring up the value of your $1 bid allowance has just been flushed. According to this announcement from Google you could be the most relevant ad with the highest bid and you’ll still lose top positions because of your Grant status.
My advice to you in February, watch your average position and traffic volume. If it makes a hard move in the wrong direction start complaining. As a Grant recipient you have no meaningful sway over Google as an individual, but if enough of you make some noise they may walk this unfriendly change back.