How a Google Ad Grant doubled Oldham’s web traffic
“Oldham Heritage, Library & Arts mission is to make a positive difference to people’s lives by connecting them to high-quality information and creative experiences.”
In January 2022, DCA offered Oldham libraries a free six-month pilot subscription to Koios’ unique Google
Ad Grant management service. Working with Delph Community Association, one of Oldham’s
community-run branches, Koios was able to apply for and secure a Google Ad Grant worth £95,000 per
year and start running campaigns to promote the library.
The pilot was very successful: by January 2022, Koios’ campaigns brought over 8,000 new visitors to
Oldham Library’s website in 30 days, spending 95% of the in-kind Ad Grant value, the average Ad Grant
spend across the charity sector in 17%.
Most new visitors were brought to the library’s online catalogue, a resource that is normally invisible to
regular online searches. Traffic to the site overall increased by over 40% and the library’s YouTube channel
saw a five-fold increase in viewers
By making the library visible where people were searching online, Oldham was able to reach a new, younger and more diverse audiences; letting them know that the local library has what they are looking for.
In early 2024 Oldham Council launched a new service: Oldham Heritage Libraries & Arts (HLA), combining
Oldham’s Gallery, Libraries, Local Studies and Archives and the Oldham Theatre Workshop.
With the support of the British Library’s LibraryOn initiative, Oldham HLA subscribed to the Koios service.
The library’s Koios-managed account generated thousands of clicks on ads, introducing more new visitors
to the library and its resources.
HLA is spending nearly all the available grant and seeing nearly 50% of their web traffic generated from the ads. This has translated into increased event attendance, circulations and library card sign-ups.
Oldham’s success with Koios is outperforming many better-funded libraries in the US, putting the HLA
library in the top 10% of its global client base.
Vickie Varley, Senior Development Officer at Heritage, Libraries and Arts said:
“Over the past ten months, Koios and the Ad Grant have brought us around 40,000 new visitors, mostly
directly to our catalogue, which is great. The ads also promote our events and programmes such as those
for business support and children and young people. Koios’ work has been critical to our community
outreach and engagement, driving loans, attendance and raising awareness to all the wonderful benefits of using HLA.”
the above screenshot from Oldham’s Koios reporting dashboard shows how well the ad grant is performing for HLA.
