Every ad in your Google Ad Grants account must link to an approved domain. This is one of the most straightforward rules in Ad Grants — and one of the most consistently violated. Using an unapproved URL in your ads is among the fastest ways to get an account deactivated. Understanding what qualifies as an approved domain, what doesn’t, and how to get additional domains approved will keep your account protected as your campaigns grow.
What Is an Approved Domain?
When your Ad Grants account is activated, your organization’s primary website domain is registered with Google as your approved advertising destination. This is the domain you submitted during your Google for Nonprofits application — typically your main organizational website (e.g., yournonprofit.org).
All ads in your account must send users to pages on this approved domain. That’s it. There is no ambiguity here: if the URL in your ad does not belong to your approved domain, it is a policy violation.
Why This Rule Exists
Google’s domain restriction exists to ensure Ad Grants traffic goes to legitimate nonprofit websites rather than third-party platforms, affiliate pages, or unrelated destinations. It protects the integrity of the program and ensures that the free advertising credit is genuinely serving the nonprofit’s owned web presence.
From a practical standpoint, it also protects donors and volunteers — users clicking an Ad Grants ad should land on a page the nonprofit fully controls.
What Counts as an Unapproved Domain
The most common violations come from organizations that aren’t trying to circumvent the rules — they simply don’t realize that certain destinations require prior approval. Common examples include:
Third-party donation platforms: If your organization collects donations through a platform like Donorbox, Classy, PayPal Giving Fund, or a similar service hosted on that platform’s domain, you cannot link directly to those pages from Ad Grants without approval.
Campaign microsites: A temporary fundraising or awareness campaign site hosted on a separate domain (e.g., savetherivers2026.org vs. yournonprofit.org) is not automatically approved, even if your organization owns it.
Event registration pages: Ticketing or event registration platforms hosted on external domains fall under the same restriction.
Partner or coalition sites: Even if your nonprofit is closely affiliated with another organization’s website, ads cannot link there without going through the approval process.
Subdomain considerations: Subdomains of your primary domain (e.g., donate.yournonprofit.org or events.yournonprofit.org) are generally treated as part of your approved domain. However, if you’re unsure, confirm this before directing ad traffic there.
How to Get Additional Domains Approved
Google provides a formal process for nonprofits that need to use secondary domains in their Ad Grants campaigns. The process involves submitting an Additional Domain Request Form to Google and receiving explicit written approval before using the domain in any ads.
The process:
- Identify the secondary domain you need to use and confirm your organization has a legitimate reason to advertise there (e.g., you operate or control the domain, or it directly serves your charitable mission)
- Locate and submit Google’s Additional Domain Request Form — this is available through the Google Ad Grants Help Center
- Wait for Google’s review and approval — this typically takes a few business days, though timing can vary
- Once you receive written confirmation of approval, you can begin using that domain as an ad destination
Do not assume approval will be automatic or fast. If you are planning a campaign that relies on a secondary domain — a year-end fundraising push on a donation platform, for example — submit the request well in advance. Last-minute requests that delay a campaign launch are entirely avoidable.
Planning Campaigns Around Domain Rules
The domain restriction becomes most relevant during campaign planning, when you’re deciding which landing pages to use. Build domain compliance into your planning process from the start:
Map your landing pages early: Before building out ad groups, confirm that every intended destination URL is on your approved domain. If any aren’t, start the approval process immediately.
Evaluate your donation flow: If your primary donation form is hosted on an external platform, you have two options — either pursue additional domain approval for that platform, or create a donation landing page on your own domain that redirects or embeds the form. The latter is often faster and more reliable.
Audit existing campaigns: If you have an active Ad Grants account, review your current destination URLs to confirm all are on approved domains. Legacy campaigns sometimes contain links to platforms that were added without going through the approval process.
Update campaigns when domains change: If your organization migrates to a new website domain, rebrands, or switches donation platforms, update your approved domains before updating ad destination URLs. Running ads to a new domain before it’s approved will trigger a violation.
What Happens if You Use an Unapproved Domain
Google reviews Ad Grants accounts for policy compliance on an ongoing basis. If unapproved destination URLs are found, the account can be suspended. Reinstatement requires fixing the violation, submitting an appeal, and waiting for Google’s review — a process that can take weeks and results in lost advertising time.
The straightforward nature of this rule makes violations particularly avoidable. A brief domain audit before launching any campaign is all that’s needed.
Want to avoid the compliance pitfalls that suspend Ad Grants accounts? Ad Grants Pilot helps nonprofits stay on top of domain rules, policy requirements, and ongoing account health — automatically.