Wood’s Homes

• Health
• 28. 03. 2025

About

Wood’s Homes is a nationally recognized mental health center offering treatment and support for children, young people, adults, and families. They provide over 40 programs annually, impacting 20,000 individuals. Founded in 1914, they are proud of their innovative services, research in children’s mental health, and longstanding reputation as a place of trust and care.

• Website: Wood’s Homes
• Location: Calgary, Canada
• Cooperation period: April 2020 – December 2024

Marketing Goals

• Drive 500 new visitors to the organization’s website
• Increase the number of contact initiations (via contact form, email and call)
• Increase the donation volume via online form

Initial Situation

When we took over managing Woods Homes’ Google Ad Grants account in April 2020, it already had a relatively long history with existing campaigns. Despite having been active since 2013, the account had been underperforming for years. By 2018, monthly spending had dropped below $500, and the campaigns were driving only 600 clicks per month at best.

Our first step was to conduct a detailed audit to uncover what was holding the account back. What we found was a mix of compliance issues, performance roadblocks, and missed opportunities for optimization. Keywords that didn’t align with the organization’s mission, having low-quality scores, and poorly configured conversion tracking were major obstacles. On top of that, broken links on the website, missing EIN disclaimers, and campaigns with insufficient ad groups or sitelinks posed compliance risks.

Performance-wise, the account was limited by narrow geographic targeting, outdated ad formats, restrictive bidding strategies, and poorly organized negative keywords. It was clear that the account needed a complete refresh to unlock its full potential.

Impact of Google Ad Grants

To help Woods Homes maximize their Google Ad Grants, we started by crafting a customized campaign structure that captured the essence of their mission. The structure was built to align seamlessly with their website’s content and priorities, ensuring each campaign served a clear purpose. We focused on creating campaigns that addressed both immediate needs and long-term goals, such as expanding service awareness and boosting engagement. In addition, we also added a dynamic campaign, which has taken off well and is now the second-largest campaign in the account. The campaigns were organized as follows:

Example Campaigns:

• Brand
• Brand awareness
• Dynamic
• Mental Health
• Donate
• Counselling
• Local
• Foster Care
• Volunteer
• Resources
• Coronavirus 2020
• Call Campaign
• Short-term Stays

Creating ad copies for the organization required a delicate balance of adhering to Google’s advertising policies while resonating with the organization’s diverse audience. Our primary objective was to ensure that the ads reflected the compassionate and professional tone of Wood’s Homes, aligning with the services and messaging on their website. Each ad copy was carefully written to highlight the nonprofit’s mission and offerings in a way that encouraged meaningful engagement.

The process began with an in-depth review of Woods Homes’ programs and target demographics. From there, we drafted initial versions of the ad copies. After consulting with the client, we refined the messaging to better reflect their goals and vision. Once the ads were live, we closely monitored performance metrics, using insights to continuously optimize and improve relevance and click-through rates. Navigating the challenges of ad disapprovals due to strict Health policies, we worked through appeals and made strategic adjustments to secure approvals for all ads.

Sample Ad Structure:

• Headline 1: Wood’s Homes Calgary
• Headline 2: For Children’s Mental Health
• Headline 3: Helping Children & Families
• Headline 4: For Over 100 Years
• Headline 5: Wood’s Homes Foundation
• Headline 6: We Never Turn Anyone Away
• Headline 7: Never Give Up
• Description Line 1: Learn More About The Work We Do To Restore The Well-Being Of Children & Families.
• Description Line 2: Offering A Safe Haven & Mental Health Services For At-Risk Youth.
• Description Line 3: We Support The Growing & Complex Mental Health Needs Of Kids, Youth & Families.
• Description Line 4: We Provide 40+ Programs & Services To 20,000 Children & Their Families Annually.
• Final URL: https://www.woodshomes.ca

Lastly, we configured conversion tracking as we typically do for other accounts. Our client was interested in tracking basic engagement conversions.

Key Performance Metrics

Within just a few months after launching our campaigns, these changes led to the full utilization of the grant. Even in the highly competitive landscape of health facilities and consulting services we’ve managed to generate over 75,000 clicks and 810,000 impressions, the campaigns reached a wide audience, driving nearly 10,000 conversions at an average CPC of $7.66. The conversion rate stood at an impressive 13%, demonstrating the effectiveness of our targeted approach.

In December 2024, Google recognized this success by doubling Woods Homes’ grant budget, further solidifying their ability to expand their outreach and impact. These results underscore the power of a well-optimized Ad Grant strategy in overcoming competition and achieving meaningful engagement.

Conclusion

After a successful and mutually satisfactory cooperation, we are now transitioning the account back to Wood’s Homes for independent management. All campaigns remain active, ensuring continued performance. This case study demonstrates that, even in competitive industries, a Google Ad Grant can be a powerful tool for nonprofits to increase visibility, engagement, and impact. If you’re interested in achieving similar results with your campaigns, don’t hesitate to contact our team!