How do we choose keywords for our nonprofit's programs?
By Jose Gomez, Jr., CEA, MVTAAdapted from Chapter 5 of The Nonprofit Ad Grant Handbook · Checked against Google's rules November 3, 2026Build each keyword list from a program page outward, using Google's own data about what people search. Run the page through Keyword Planner, cross out the ideas that don't match what the page offers, and point every keyword at the most specific page that answers it. Launch with phrase and exact match, and add broad match later, deliberately.
Inside words and search words
An illustration from the handbook. The community arts school is a composite, not a real organization.
The education director at a community arts school was asked to "do the keywords" for the grant. She started with a blank spreadsheet and the school's own vocabulary: ceramics studio, youth arts enrichment, wheel-throwing intensive. Then a colleague showed her a different starting point. She pasted the address of the school's kids' ceramics page into Google's Keyword Planner. The list that came back was full of words her staff had never used, such as "pottery classes for kids" and "kids clay class," along with the city's name. Those were the searches parents were making.
| Before (inside words) | After (search words) |
|---|---|
| youth arts enrichment | pottery classes for kids [city] |
| ceramics studio | kids pottery class near me |
| wheel-throwing intensive | children's pottery classes |
| arts education | kids clay class [city] |
| creative youth programming | ceramics class for kids |
The left-hand column describes the program accurately. Almost nobody searches for any of it.
One keyword, one page
Every keyword needs a landing page, and that page should be the most specific page on your site that answers the search. Someone searching "pottery classes for kids" should land on the kids' pottery page, with dates, ages and a sign-up button. The homepage is the default many accounts fall back on, and it's almost never the right answer. It makes the visitor do the work of finding what they searched for, and a lot of them won't.
Getting ideas from Keyword Planner
Keyword Planner is free inside your Google Ads account, and grant accounts can use it.
- In Google Ads, open Tools, then Planning, then Keyword Planner. If the menus look different in your version, type "Keyword Planner" into the search bar at the top.
- Choose Discover new keywords.
- Choose Start with a website.
- Paste the address of one program page, and choose Use only this page.
- Check the location and language near the top. Set them to the area you serve and the language of the page.
- Press Get results.
Using a single page as the seed keeps the ideas focused on that program. You can also start with words instead, under Start with keywords, by typing two or three plain phrases a searcher might use.
In the results, Avg. monthly searches often shows as a range, such as 10 to 100, and that's fine. You're looking for the difference between searches people make and searches nobody makes. Don't be put off by small numbers. A search made 50 times a month in your city by parents looking for exactly your class is worth far more than a national search made 50,000 times by people who want something else.
From a hundred ideas to eight
The arts school's Keyword Planner run returned a little over a hundred ideas. The director struck anything that didn't match what the page offers. Adult classes went, because the page is for kids. Shopping searches went, because the school doesn't sell supplies.
Two kinds of keyword went for a different reason. Google's rules don't allow keywords that are just another organization's name, and grant accounts can't use single-word keywords such as "pottery" or "ceramics," apart from exceptions such as their own branded words, recognized medical conditions, acronyms and a small published list.
What remained were mostly parents looking for a class to sign their child up to. Because the class is local, most keywords got the city's name or "near me." The survivors fell into two small groups, kids pottery classes and seasonal kids art camps, for eight keywords in all. That ratio is typical. A short list of keywords that each fit the page will do better than a long list that mostly doesn't, because a precise keyword earns so many more clicks per impression.
Last, she read the page with the list in hand. The page said "ceramics" everywhere and "pottery" nowhere. A two-word edit to the heading made the match obvious to visitors and gave Google a clearer reason to see the page as relevant.
Match types at launch
Google recommends broad match, paired with Smart Bidding, because Smart Bidding uses many signals to decide how much a click is worth and broad match gives it more searches to choose from.
We launch grant accounts with phrase and exact match, and add broad match later, deliberately. The reason is the 5% click-through rate rule. Broad match reaches the searches that are least like your keyword, and those are the searches least likely to be clicked. We move to broad match once three things are true: conversion tracking works, with at least one real, tested conversion that the account records regularly; the campaign uses Smart Bidding; and Search click-through rate sits at about 6% or better. Then we try it first in one ad group or campaign that already performs well, read its search terms report every week for the first month, and add negative keywords for anything off-mission. If click-through rate drops toward 5%, we go back to phrase.
When there's no page
Sometimes the research turns up a search you'd love to answer and no page that answers it. You can write the page, or you can drop the keyword. Pointing the keyword at a general page and hoping doesn't work, and the keyword's Quality Score and click-through rate will show it.
Keep a running list of "pages we should write." It gives whoever manages your website a clear, prioritized reason for each new page.
Section 5.3 of the handbook walks through the arts school's six steps in full, and section 5.5 covers match types, including a month-long broad match test.
Questions
How many keywords should each program have?
There's no magic number. For most programs, somewhere between five and twenty keywords is plenty to start. You'll add more later from what people actually search.
Can we send our keywords to the homepage?
It's almost never the right answer. Send each keyword to the most specific page that answers the search. If you don't have one, write it or drop the keyword.
Our account has keywords written with plus signs. What are they?
That's modified broad match, which Google retired in 2021. Google now treats those keywords as phrase match. Rewrite them as phrase match so the account says what it does.
Do negative keywords cover plurals too?
No. A negative keyword doesn't cover close variants. Blocking "puppy" doesn't block "puppies," so add the forms people actually type.
See something wrong or out of date? Tell us
Jose Gomez, Jr., CEA, MVTAJose Gomez, Jr., CEA, MVTA, is the CEO of 3nity. He founded the company in 2001 to serve the people who serve people, after working as Internet Director at a media network. He built a career website that was acquired by Salem Communications in 2004, and created the 3nity Web Presence Platform. Through Nonprofit Marketing Center, a division of 3nity, he and his team help churches and nonprofits of every kind bring resources and awareness to their missions, including by helping them get the most from the Google Ad Grant.