How Websites Benefit from Google AdWords Certification
If you are an SEO specialist, then you have surely heard about Google AdWords. This is the certification Google offers as a professional accreditation. It is awarded to those individuals demonstrating their professional in the basic and advanced aspects of Google AdWords. The said certification is what allows SEO professionals to brag how Google sees them as online advertising professionals.
Before you are able to take the Google AdWords certification examination, you first have to sign up for the Google Partners. Getting an access to this examination allows you to gain access to the Google AdWords certification exam as well. You can get certified after that.
Once an SEO professional gains the said certification, it will become a strong proof for demonstrating one’s expertise. Prospective and current clients will see the professional as a certified online advertising professional and will give their trust easily.
How does the AdWords Certification works?
You will gain access to AdWords Certification once you have successfully signed up for Google Partners. You also have access to the study materials available for the exam through the said website. The Google AdWords Certification exam should be a free examination for you to take.
There are requirements that an SEO professional should fulfill to bag the AdWords certificate. The SEO professional will have to pass two of the AdWords certification examination to become an AdWords certified SEO professional. One of the exams that the SEO professional must pass is the AdWords Fundamentals exam.
The other one that a professional must pass can be any one of the following: Display Advertising, Shopping Advertising, Video Advertising, Search Advertising, and Mobile Advertising.
What are the Available AdWords Certification Examinations?
AdWords Fundamentals
This examination covers the basic and intermediate concepts. Example of these concepts include the perks of AdWords and web advertising. It will also cover the best practices for campaign management and optimization.
Display Advertising
This examination covers the advanced concepts as well the best practices for managing, creating, optimizing, and measuring any display campaigns.
Shopping Advertising
This examination covers the basic and advanced concepts of shopping campaigns. It will also include details regarding product data feed, creating Merchant Center account, as well as creating and managing any shopping campaign.
Video Advertising
This examination covers the basics and advanced concepts of video advertising. It will also include the best practices for managing, measuring, creating, and optimizing any video advertising campaigns across the web, particularly YouTube.
Search Advertising
This examination covers the advanced concepts as well as the best practices for optimizing, creating, measuring, and managing any search campaigns.
Mobile advertising
This examination covers the basic and advance concepts involved with mobile advertising. It will include ad forms, campaign optimization and measurement, as well as bidding and targeting.
What to Do With the Certification Status?
Once you have successfully gotten yourself certified, it is now possible to share the certification status with other people. You can either show them the personalized certificate or you can refer them to your Google Partners public profile page. Here’s how you can do that:
Via the Personalized Certificate
After you have been certified, you now have access to a personalized and printable certificate. You just have to access your Google Partners account. Once in the account, go to the “Overview” section and then click “My Profile”. Right below your profile picture, a list of the certifications you have passed and their expiration dates will show. Click on the certification name so you can print or view your personalized certificate.
Via the Google Partners Public Profile
For this option, you can only share a read-only page of your certification. Get the public profile’s URL and pick who has access to your public profile listing. To start with, go to your Google Partners account and visit the “Public Profile” section of the “My Profile” page. By default, your public profile is only visible to you. To edit the visibility, you can change the settings to “Public”.
You can see the following information on your Google Partners public profile page: name, agency’s name, photo, Google+ profile, and certifications you have passed.
How to Stay as an AdWords Certified SEO Specialist?
The passing score an SEO Specialist has will only be valid for a period of one year after the examination date. If you want to stay as an AdWords certified SEO specialist, then you will need to again have a valid passing score for the AdWords Fundamentals exam as well as one other advertising examination.
Here’s an example: Say, originally, you have passed the AdWords Fundamentals examination in January and the Video advertising exam in June. You will need to pass the AdWords Fundamentals exam by January of next year and the Video Advertising by that June to maintain the AdWords certification.
A Few Guidelines to Remember…
- Only refer to yourself as an AdWords certified specialist if you have personally passed the exam.
- Refer to yourself as “certified” only when the certification remains in effect.
- You are allowed to mention your certification on resumes, LinkedIn profiles, business cards, and other approved profiles as per the usage guidelines.
