Earning a Google Ads certification is not only useful in today’s digital marketing landscape, its value extends into other areas within the digital marketing space.
While Google Ads is a worthwhile certification in its own right, by pairing it with other wide-ranging marketing skills through taking digital marketing courses, or with specific complementary skills by taking a course on search engine optimization (SEO) it becomes an even more powerful set of skills for marketers to have at their disposal. We are fortunate to live in a time when many different courses on today’s most in-demand skills are amazingly accessible to anyone looking to grow their career skills.
If you are looking to add Google Ads certification to your marketing toolkit, the process is fortunately quite straightforward. You’ll also have many resources available to you to prepare for certification, grow in your abilities as a marketer, and utilize those skills to advance your career.
Benefits of becoming Google Ads certified
From practical application to career enhancement, and even further Google certifications, there is no real downside to becoming Google Ads certified. The following are a few of the biggest reasons to earn your Google Ads certification.
Demonstrate your expertise
The first major advantage to earning your Google Ads certification is demonstrating your knowledge and skills as a marketer. This can be incredibly useful to you in your current job by demonstrating your value to your employer, or in the future as a boon to your résumé as you look to enhance your career.
Gain knowledge
The next major advantage to becoming Google Ads certified is growing your knowledge base. Whether it is to put to practical use for marketing campaigns in the immediate future, or to have in your marketing toolkit for use down the road, having the knowledge and skills required to sit for your Google Ads certification exam can be greatly beneficial.
Google Partners certification
One benefit you get for being Google Ads certified is fulfilling one of the three requirements toward Google Partners certification. According to Google, “Google Partners is a marketing program for advertising agencies or third-parties that manage Google Ads accounts on behalf of other brands or businesses. When you sign up for the Google Partners program, you’ll get access to a range of benefits, including Education & Insights, Access & Support, and Recognition & Rewards.”
Receiving Google Partner status is not only beneficial to many companies, but essential to perform marketing campaigns, and therefore receiving your Google Ads certification is essential to this as well.
How to get Google Ads certified
To get Google Ads certified and remain certified, there are five steps you need to take. Fortunately, Google Ads certifications do not cost any money, should only take a few hours per certification, and are supported in 22 languages.
Step 1: Create a Skillshop account
The first step toward getting Google Ads certified is to create a Skillshop account if you do not already have one. Skillshop is a Google training platform that you can use to grow your skills on Google’s tools and solutions. The Google Ads certifications are housed within Skillshop, so to take the necessary exams to receive your certification you must have a Skillshop account.
While you are there, make sure to also check out other useful Skillshop courses that you may find highly useful to you in your career or that you might merely be interested in personally, such as courses on Google Analytics, YouTube, and Applied Digital Skills.
Step 2: Choose a Google Ads certification
There are six different types of Google Ads certification currently available. Each of these six certifications covers different aspects of Google Ads and is paired with short training courses about the given Google Ads topic.
The six Google Ads certifications available are:
- Google Ads Search certification
- Google Ads Display certification
- Google Ads Video certification
- Shopping Ads certification
- Google Ads Apps certification
- Google Ads Measurement certification
Google Ads Search certification
The first type of Google Ads certification is the Google Ads Search certification, which Google summarizes as, “demonstrate your mastery of building and optimizing Google Search campaigns.”
Google Ads Display certification
The second type of Google Ads certification is the Google Ads Display certification, which Google summarizes as, “validate your expertise using Google Display to deliver results that get the most from your display advertising investment.”
Google Ads Video certification
The third type of Google Ads certification is the Google Ads Video certification, which Google summarizes as, “showcase your ability to get results from YouTube and Google Video advertising solutions.”
Shopping Ads certification
The fourth type of Google Ads certification is the Shopping Ads certification, which Google summarizes as, “validate your proficiency with using and optimizing Shopping ads.”
Google Ads Apps certification
The fifth type of Google Ads certification is the Google Ads Apps certification, which Google summarizes as, “demonstrate your mastery of creating Google App campaigns to deliver business impact.”
Google Ads Measurement certification
The sixth type of Google Ads certification is the Google Ads Measurement certification, which Google summarizes as, “demonstrate your ability to measure and optimize digital ad performance using Google’s measurement solutions.”
Step 3: Prepare for the Google Ads certification exam
Once you have chosen which Google Ads certification to pursue, it is time to start preparing for the exam. There are a couple of ways to go about doing this. The first method is by using the exam study courses provided by Google on the Skillshop page for each exam. These study courses are short refreshers on topics that will be covered in the exam and are ideally used by individuals with some knowledge of the ideas found in the Google Ads certification exams and take approximately between one to four hours to complete per exam.
If you would prefer a more in-depth way of expanding your knowledge, as well as additional practical strategic applications for those skills, there are courses available that will provide this for you. There are Google Ads courses available designed to prepare you for the Google Ads Search Certification, Google Ads Display Certification, and Google Ads Measurement Certification exams.
Step 4: Take and pass the Google Ads certification exam
Once you feel adequately prepared for the certification exam, it is time to take the test.
Here are some important details to know about the exams:
- A score of 80% or higher is required to pass the exam.
- You will have a 75-minute time limit to take the exam.
- If you do not pass the exam, you may take it one day later.
- You cannot pause the timer for any reason once it has started.
- If you leave the exam for any reason the timer automatically expires, and you will have to wait at least one day to retake it.
Once you have passed the exam with a score of 80% or higher, you are now Google Ads certified!
Step 5: Stay Google Ads certified
After receiving your Google ads certification upon passing the certification exam with a score of 80% or higher, your certification is valid for one year. To renew your certification, you will simply need to retake the certification exam and pass with a score of 80% or higher again.