Google Ad Grants Reactivation Checklist (2026)

Last verified against Google’s Ad Grants help pages: September 2026.

To get a deactivated Google Ad Grants account reactivated, fix the seven items Google lists on its reactivation request form, then submit the form. The seven items cover conversion tracking, low Quality Score keywords, single-word and generic keywords, geo-targeting, a CTR above 5%, account structure, and website compliance. Below: how to check each one, and what Google’s forum community reports happens after you submit.

First: are you deactivated or suspended?

Check which one you have before you fix anything. A deactivated Ad Grants account is a program-level pause that you can fix yourself. A suspended Google for Nonprofits account is a bigger problem, and the checklist below won’t resolve it.

Google’s page on suspended accounts says: “Suspended Google for Nonprofits accounts will be unable to activate new products or re-activate existing Google products.” Causes include serious ad policy violations (Abusing the ad network, Misrepresentation), loss of nonprofit status, and repeated violations. If that’s you, start with your Google for Nonprofits account, not your ads account.

There’s also a permanent tier. The reactivation form warns that “an account may be suspended permanently for repeated violations or an egregious violation,” and Google’s deactivated-account page says repeat offenders “may be cancelled and removed from the Google Ad Grants program.” Neither page says how many violations count as “repeated.”

Why Ad Grants accounts get deactivated

Deactivations come from the rules in the account management policy: account structure, CTR, conversion tracking, bidding, and the program survey. Violations are “subject to automatic suspension without notification,” so you often find out after the fact.

Most of those rules show up on the checklist below. Two don’t. Accounts created on or after April 22, 2019 must use conversion-based Smart Bidding unless they run Smart campaigns, and Google’s policy says it “periodically” sends a program survey that requires a response (a volunteer Product Expert on Google’s forum says it hasn’t been sent in years). If either applies, fix it too. Google’s compliance guide says it mostly flags problems through in-product notifications, so read those first.

The reactivation checklist: Google’s 7 questions

The reactivation form asks seven questions before you submit, and they’re the closest thing Google publishes to a reviewer’s checklist. Work through them in order.

1. Conversion tracking with active conversions

Google asks: “If your account uses auto-bidding or has been created since January 1, 2018, do you have conversion tracking installed per requirements and active conversion activity?”

“Active” is the key word. You need at least 1 conversion a month, and the conversions have to be meaningful. Google’s examples include donations, email sign-ups, volunteer sign-ups, and information requests. Time on site and homepage visits have to be excluded from “Conversions” and set to the “Other” category, per the account management policy. The compliance guide adds a sanity check: “Your total number of clicks should not nearly equate to your total number of conversions.”

2. No keywords with a Quality Score of 1 or 2

Google asks whether any active keywords “have a low quality score of 1 or 2 (of 10).” Add the Quality Score column to your keywords table and pause anything scored 1 or 2. Google’s compliance guide says keywords showing ”—” are exempt and not monitored.

Then set up the daily automated rule Google recommends to pause low scorers. One warning: step 9 of Google’s instructions says to set Quality Score to ”> 3,” which would pause your good keywords. It reads like a typo. Use less than 3.

3. No non-approved single-word or generic keywords

Google’s mission-based campaigns policy bans single-word keywords, with exceptions for your own brand, recognized medical conditions, acronyms, and a short list on the exceptions page. That list has exactly 10 words: charity, charities, donate, donation, ngo, ngos, nonprofit, nonprofits, volunteer, volunteering. Terms with dashes, periods, or special characters don’t count as single words.

To find single-word keywords fast, filter your keywords for text that “does not contain” a space, as the compliance guide shows. Then look for overly generic terms. Google’s examples include “best videos,” “things to do,” and the bare names of places or people. Pause them, or add words that show what the searcher wants.

4. Geo-targeted to your scope of service

Every campaign needs location targeting set to the places where people can actually use your services. Google’s own example in the account management policy: “If you primarily serve your local community, your ads should be shown only in your town or local area, such as food banks and houses of worship.” (Churches have their own eligibility wrinkles; see Google Ad Grants for churches.) Wider targeting is fine when that’s where your audience actually is.

5. Account CTR above 5% for the last 7 days

The form asks whether your “account-level CTR for active keywords” is “above 5% for the last 7 days of account activity.” The number Google looks at is the Total: filtered keywords row, with enabled campaigns and keywords filtered and the date range set to the last 7 days your ads got impressions (7651240, 9314402).

Two exemptions from the CTR page: accounts aren’t reviewed for this rule until they’re 90 days old, and Smart campaigns are exempt.

6. Two ads per ad group, two ad groups per campaign, active sitelinks

The form asks for “at least 2 text ads per enabled ad group, at least 2 ad groups per enabled campaign, and active sitelinks.” The account policy asks for at least 2 unique sitelinks.

Google’s pages disagree on ads per ad group. The tips page recommends “one responsive search ad per ad group” and allows up to 3. The reactivation form asks for 2. Build 2. That satisfies the form, and it stays under the limit of 3.

7. Website complies with policy

The last question points to the website policy: “Your nonprofit must own the domain(s) your ads point to.” The page also covers original mission content (no “Under Construction” pages), a mission statement that’s easy to find, links and donation buttons that work, and HTTPS. Check every ad’s final URL and every sitelink URL, not just your homepage.

How to get CTR above 5%

Sort keywords by impressions for the last active week and pause high-impression, low-CTR keywords until the filtered total reaches 5%. Keywords that show a lot but rarely get clicked drag the average down hardest, so pausing them moves it fastest.

Google’s CTR page also recommends pausing single-word and generic keywords, adding negatives from the search terms report, geo-targeting every campaign, tightly themed ad groups, bidding on your brand name, and turning on every relevant asset. On assets, Google says “on average we have found that there is a 10-15% CTR uplift” from a new one, and that it “cannot guarantee this or any uplift.”

Watch the numbers. The pausing step on that page says to pause keywords at “4% CTR or less until the ‘Total: filtered keywords’ row is 4% CTR or greater.” The very next line says the total “must be >=5% when you request reactivation.” Aim for 5%.

Is the rule even enforced? Jason King, a volunteer Diamond Product Expert on the Google for Nonprofits community forum, wrote in August 2026 that the CTR rule “has not been enforced since five years ago.” Other users on the forum have reported CTR-based blocks, and King has noted that CTR fixes are sometimes requested when an account is reactivated for a different problem. We can’t tell you which is true today. The form asks for 5%, so meet it.

Submitting the form, and the “let Google fix it” option

Once all seven items pass, submit the reactivation form. Enter the Customer ID of the Ad Grants account itself. The form asks agencies not to enter a manager account’s ID, and says to use a customer ID linked to your account “to avoid delays.”

The form also lets you hand the fixes to Google: “You can now provide the Ad Grants team with one-time approval to make changes to your account to bring it into full policy compliance. We’ll make the necessary changes within 5 business days.” The terms are worth reading:

• Google “cannot guarantee that your Ad Grants account will be reactivated,” and some issues “may require your action.”
• You’re “responsible for any impact these changes have on your account.”
• “…any changes that you make in your Ads account while Google Ads Specialists are working on your requested changes may be lost.”

So pick one path. Either fix everything yourself, or give consent and leave the account alone until Google confirms. Don’t do both at once.

The same form handles keyword appeals. If Google paused a keyword you think is legitimate, choose “Request a keyword exception” and explain how the keyword fits your mission, as the mission-based campaigns policy allows.

What happens after you submit

Google’s form only promises to “follow up with you only if we need more information.” The rest of this section is reports from Google’s Nonprofits community forum: field experience, not policy.

• Expect a wait. In 2026 threads, users reported a reactivation case open 16 business days, and another with only automated replies for over 2 months. Jason King wrote in a July 2026 thread that “Ad Grant support is currently dealing with a backlog” and that there’s “no point sending multiple support requests.”
• Look for a hidden $0.01 limit. King described the usual practice in an April 2026 thread: Google unsuspends the account so you can fix errors, imposes “a $0.01 limit on the account,” and you ask for it to be removed “by replying to their email.” Another user reported in August 2026 that this limit “isn’t visible or editable from campaign settings.” Zero impressions after reactivation? Check this first.
• Don’t leave the account dormant. Google’s FAQ says “there is no spend requirement.” But King has written on the forum that “accounts are usually cancelled after 14 months of zero impressions” (April 2026), and in another thread put it at “15+ months.” Either way, an account left deactivated for a long time is at risk.
• Permanent bans are permanent. When Google declines reactivation over a terms violation, King’s advice in the same April thread was blunt: “You cannot cancel an Ad Grant and apply for another.”

Keeping it from happening again

Run the same checks monthly: keep the Quality Score automated rule on, watch the “Total: filtered keywords” CTR, add negatives from the search terms report, confirm a real conversion fires every month, and opt the account’s email into Google’s notifications (the email notifications page shows how) so warnings reach you.

A grant that’s compliant but barely spends is its own problem, and in our screens it often comes down to how many people search for your mission. That’s worth checking before you put hours into a reactivation. The Ad Grants Fit Check tells you what your grant is worth before anyone touches the account.

Related reading

• Why your Google Ad Grant isn’t spending — the search-volume ceiling no agency can fix, plus the fixable causes
• The search-volume test for Ad Grants — how to tell if your mission has enough demand to use the grant
• Google Ad Grants conversion tracking — what counts as a conversion and what gets you deactivated