Guides · Pregnancy centers
Marketing Benchmarks for Pregnancy Centers: The Numbers Worth Tracking
By Josh Croom · October 27, 2026 · 11 min read
The most useful marketing benchmarks for a pregnancy center come from pooling many centers' ad data, because one center's numbers swing too much to judge alone. Am-I-pregnant searches brought 30% of search ad clicks in 39 pooled center accounts, and searches with words like pregnancy center, pregnancy clinic or pregnancy help brought only 2%.
One line on the board report
7:15 PM. The treasurer taps one line on the monthly report. Clicks from Google search to the center's website fell almost a fifth from last month, and she wants to know whether the marketing has stopped working.
Start by comparing the drop with a benchmark. Across 9 pregnancy center websites with a full year of data, Google search clicks moved a median of 18% up or down from one month to the next. A drop that size is an ordinary month, and the board should hear that before anyone rewrites the plan.
Benchmarks for what women search
These figures come from the search ad accounts of the pregnancy resource centers we serve, pooled so that no single center shows. They describe the words women type before they ever reach your website.
- 30%of search ad clicks came from am-I-pregnant searchessymptoms, early signs, when to test
- 2%of clicks came from searches with pregnancy center, clinic or help39 center ad accounts
- 10,649different searches brought those clicks39 center ad accounts
- 19.5%of center ad impressions came from question searches12 weeks in 2026
Women rarely search for a pregnancy center by name, which is why only 2% of clicks came from those words. Most type the question on their mind, like what an early sign means or when to take a test, so a campaign built around their questions reaches far more of them than one built around the words pregnancy center.
The clicks in those accounts came from 10,649 different searches, and nobody on your staff could write all of them down in advance. That's why the pages behind your ads need to answer the common questions plainly and completely. Our pregnancy center marketing guide covers how to build those pages and campaigns, and our search terms study has the full question data.
A benchmark for Spanish searches
Spanish is a small share of the total, but it reaches almost every center. Searches typed in Spanish brought 6% of search ad clicks in the 39 center accounts we pooled, and 34 of those accounts got at least one Spanish click. If your town has Spanish speakers, expect some clicks to arrive in Spanish, whether or not you've ever written an ad in the language.
If a woman searched in Spanish, she needs a page she can read and someone who can talk with her in Spanish, so give the landing page and the front desk as much attention as the ad. We've built 22 live landing pages in English and Spanish for the centers we serve, and each one offers the page in both languages.
Benchmarks for the Grant and paid search
Where both programs run side by side at the centers we serve, paid search brought 52% of all search ad clicks, and the Grant supplied the other 48%. Each program carries a different kind of search, so a board report needs a line for each one.
What the Grant carries
- 92% of clicks from am-I-pregnant searches, like early signs and when to test.
- Questions and local awareness, with Google paying for the ads.
- Up to $10,000 a month, which Google's help page puts at $329 a day.
What paid search carries
- Searches a Grant ad seldom reaches.
- Just over half of all clicks where both programs run.
- As many campaigns as the mission needs, paid from the center's own budget.
Some of the searches that matter most to a center barely show on a Grant. Paid Search beside the Grant reaches them, with as many campaigns as the mission needs. So we judge the Grant and paid search separately, each on the searches it's there to reach.
The Grant benchmarks Google sets, and the one we measure
Google sets two rules every Grant account has to live with. The credit tops out at $10,000 a month, which Google's help page puts at $329 a day. Google also asks every Grant account to hold a click-through rate of at least 5% each month, counted across the whole account. Google's help page says that if an account misses the 5% mark for two months in a row, the account will be temporarily deactivated, so your report should show the account's click-through rate every single month.
The benchmark we watch most closely is how much of the credit a center actually uses. We ran 36 Grant accounts for all of September 2026, pregnancy centers included, and they put an average of 80.9% of the monthly Ad Grant credit to work. For context, published estimates put the average Grant account near 3% of its credit. Google decides how much of the Grant your searches can use, so this number is worth tracking every month alongside the click-through rate. Our Google Ad Grants guide explains how the Grant works from the first application onward.
Benchmarks for phone calls
Most of a center's marketing ends in a phone call, so start your benchmarks with the call log. A sample log like this one lets a director see each call's outcome at a glance.
Calls and forms
Pooled across 18 center ad accounts we serve, 6% of calls from Google ads rang with nobody picking up. In 19 pregnancy center and nonprofit ad accounts, 25% of calls from Google ads connected and ended in under 30 seconds. A call that short can be a wrong number, a hang-up or a quick question, and only your log can tell you which.
A missed call from an ad is a woman who reached out and didn't reach a person, so your log should show every missed call and the time someone called back. Log the short calls and hang-ups too, because they show which searches to cut.
Count contacts strictly
A common mistake in a center's marketing report is counting every conversion as a woman who reached out.
Grant accounts often record small steps, like a visit to an important page, next to calls and forms. Those steps help Google learn, and they help the Grant put its credit to work, but they aren't women who contacted you. When we count contacts for a center, we count calls, forms and chats, and we keep everything else on a separate line labeled recorded conversion actions.
The pages behind your ads have to work on a phone, too. Outside online stores, people made 68% of visits to our clients' websites on a phone, and 9% of visits had a dead click, meaning a tap on something that did nothing. If your call button is one of the things that does nothing, your contact count will be low for a reason no ad can fix.
Benchmarks for normal monthly swings and seasons
On the pregnancy center, church and nonprofit ad accounts we run, conversions moved 19% up or down in a typical month. After a month that fell by a fifth or more, the next month came in higher 63% of the time. That's why we ask boards to read three months together before they decide that something has gone wrong.
Seasons move the numbers too. Search visits to our nonprofit, church and pregnancy center sites peak in January, when they run 17% above each site's own monthly average. They bottom out in August, when they run 18% below it. A slow August after a busy January is usually just the season, so compare August with last August whenever you can.
Build your center's benchmark sheet
One page with five lines lets a board judge the marketing each month without guessing. You can build it from your Google Ads account and your front desk log in about an hour.
Line 1
Contacts, counted strictly
Write down the calls, forms and chats from your front desk log, and keep them apart from the other conversions your ad account records, because those other steps aren't women who reached out.
Line 2
Grant credit put to work
Each month, write down how much of the Grant credit your account used, as a share of the full credit, because credit you don't use is gone when the month ends. Compare yours with our Grant accounts' average of 80.9% in September 2026.
Line 3
Click-through rate against 5%
Note the whole account's click-through rate for the month next to Google's 5% mark, since two months in a row below it can lead to a temporary deactivation.
Line 4
Missed and short calls
Count the calls that rang out and the calls under 30 seconds, then compare them with 6% missed and 25% short from the accounts we pooled.
Line 5
Read three months side by side
Show this month next to the two before it and the same month last year, because a typical month moves almost a fifth on its own and the season moves it further.
Check your center's report
Answer four questions about the report your board sees each month. Your answers aren't saved or sent anywhere.
Does the report count calls, forms and chats on their own line, apart from other conversions?
Does it show how much of the monthly Grant credit your center put to work?
Does it show missed calls and how quickly someone called back?
Does your board compare at least three months before it changes the plan?
Your report already gives the board what it needs. Write a benchmark beside each line, so the board can compare every number with something outside your own center.
You're close. Add the first line you answered No to next month's report, because each missing line leaves the board guessing about part of the picture.
Start with strict contacts and missed calls. Both lines come from your front desk log, and you can set them up in about an hour before the next board meeting.
How we report for the centers we serve
We manage Google Ads for 25 pregnancy resource centers, and their accounts and sites supplied most of these benchmarks. We count calls, forms and chats on their own line and read the Grant and paid search side by side. Each month we also track how much of the Grant credit the account put to work. Our Grant plan is up to $750 every 4 weeks, plus a $1,500 setup paid once. You pay half of the Grant money we put to work for you each bill, and never more than $750. Every plan is on our pricing page.
If you'd like to see how your center's numbers compare, book a call with Miguel. He'll go through your searches, your Grant use and your call log with you, and show where each one sits against these benchmarks.
Questions people ask
What click-through rate does a pregnancy center's Google Ad Grant need?
Google asks every Grant account to hold a click-through rate of at least 5% each month, counted across the whole account. Its help page says an account that misses the mark two months in a row will be temporarily deactivated, so check the rate in every monthly report.
How much of the Google Ad Grant should a pregnancy center use?
As much as your searches allow, since Google decides how much of the Grant your searches can use. The 36 Grant accounts we ran for all of September 2026, pregnancy centers included, put an average of 80.9% of the monthly credit to work. For context, published estimates put the average Grant account near 3% of its credit.
Why do so few searches mention a pregnancy center?
Most women search for an answer to a question, like when to take a test. Only 2% of search ad clicks in the 39 center accounts we pooled came from searches with words like pregnancy center, pregnancy clinic or pregnancy help. Am-I-pregnant searches about symptoms, early signs and testing brought 30%.
How should a pregnancy center count leads from Google Ads?
Count calls, forms and chats only, and check them against your front desk log. Grant accounts often record smaller steps, like a visit to an important page, and those belong on a separate line so the board doesn't mistake them for women who reached out.
Is a big drop in clicks from one month to the next a problem?
Not on its own. Google search clicks to the center websites we track moved a median of 18% from one month to the next. On the pregnancy center, church and nonprofit ad accounts we run, after conversions fell by a fifth or more, the next month came in higher 63% of the time, so read three months together before you decide.
See how we run Google Ads for pregnancy centers
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