Covid-19: Google Gives $340 million in Ad Credits for Google Ads Accounts

Google has recently announced a $340 million Google Ads credit program, “The Small and Medium-sized Businesses (SMBs) ad credits program”, which is designed to help provide financial support for small and medium businesses who have been active advertisers over the past year. This is Googles way to help businesses during the economic slowdown. In fact, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google & Alphabet, announced Google is actually investing $800+ to help Small to Medium Businesses as the Corona outbreak worsens.

To be eligible, you have to have had an Google Ads account running for at least a period of 12 months. Within the 12 months, you must have at least 10 months with an active spend during the 12 months of 2019. This is a world-wide program which will go to every country where Google Ads is available.

You don’t need to take any action to benefit from this program. Google will roll this out gradually over the next few months, starting May 2020. Google Ads account holders will be notified automatically via their Ad account or email, and an ad credit will be automatically applied to your Google Ads account. Eligible customers are those who advertised directly with Google, or through a partner and adhere to the Google advertising policies.

Credits will be available to use until 31 December 2020. Its important to note any unused credits will not be added to Google Ads bills. Google Ads credits will expire after 31 December 2020, and any unused credits will be removed from your Google Ads account.

Google understands SMBs represent approx. 90 percent of all businesses and more than half of employment worldwide, according to the World Bank. This is why Google felt its important to show their support by way of offering ad credits to various Google Ads accounts.

Its important to note the Ad credits is only for future Google Ad spend and is available for all Google Ads platform including Search, Display and YouTube as well as all campaign types.

A common question is “How Much Credit Will Google Apply to my Google Ads account?” That’s the million dollar question. It all depends on a variety of factors including what country you are based in, historical spend, currency, and where the business is setup.

As for a breakdown to how the $800+ will be spent, it will be along the lines of:

$250 – in ad grants to help the World Health Organization (WHO).
A $200 million investment fund that will support NGOs and financial institutions around the world.
$340 million in Google Ads credits available to all SMBs with active accounts over the past year.
A pool of $20 million in Google Cloud credits for academic institutions and researchers.
Direct financial support and expertise to help increase the production capacity for personal protective equipment (PPE) and lifesaving medical devices.