What’s Happening?
Back in March, we shared that Google had announced they were committing to providing $340 million of free Google Ads credits to SMBs who have been “active advertisers” on Google Ads since the beginning of 2019. At the time they hadn’t clarified how much free credit each company would receive, nor when to expect them.
Well, it seems the moment has finally arrived! As of yesterday, we saw these being applied across the accounts that fit the specified eligibility criteria.
How Do I Know If I Have Credits?
If you are set up as a user on your Google Ads campaign manager, you should have received an email to inform you that credits had been applied.
You will also see a blue notification within Google Ads campaign manager when you next log in to your account like the one below:

Finally, you can also find your ad credit on the “Promotions” page in your Google Ads account. To view it, log in and click the tools icon at the top of the page, then under “Billing” select “Promotions”.
How Much Can I Expect To Receive?
Google hasn’t announced any official criteria around this, but we are seeing the following general trends:
Lower Spend Accounts (Total 2019 Google Ads Spend < £5,000) – £65 Ad Credits
Medium Spend Accounts (Total 2019 Google Ads Spend Between £5,000 – £25,000) – £220 Ad Credits
Larger Spend Accounts (Total 2019 Google Ads Spend Above £25,000) – £610 Ad Credits
We do have a couple of accounts that don’t quite fit into these brackets however. We have seen some that have spent over £25k throughout 2019 but only got the “Medium Spend” account credit. In these instances, the 2020 spend has been lower, so they may well be factoring in the 2020 spend levels for these assessments as well.
Do COVID-19 Ad Credits Expire?
Yes! Your credits will expire on December 31, 2020. So if you’re not currently running any Ads you may want to think about how you can best utilise those credits before the end of the year.
Can I Transfer My Credits To Another Account
Unfortunately, the credit can’t be transferred to another account. So if you have an old account where the credit was applied, or multiple businesses and wanted to give the credit to another account, this won’t be possible.
I Want To Make The Most Of My Covid–19 Google Ad Credits. Can You Help?
Good news: Of course we can!
Book a free Google Ads account audit with us, and we’ll tell you exactly what you can do to boost your Google Ads performance.