{"id":8758,"date":"2017-06-22T16:06:55","date_gmt":"2017-06-22T16:06:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/directiveconsulting.com\/ca\/?p=8758"},"modified":"2024-05-23T07:42:35","modified_gmt":"2024-05-23T11:42:35","slug":"how-why-get-adwords-certified","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/directiveconsulting.com\/ca\/blog\/how-why-get-adwords-certified\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Bother Getting AdWords Certified + How To Do It"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whether you’re working at a<\/span> B2B PPC Agency<\/span><\/a> or are running the paid ads for your<\/span> in-house marketing<\/span><\/a> team, you’ve probably heard of AdWords<\/a> Certification. To be honest, when I first started working in the space, I assumed “AdWords Certified” meant “yeah, I know my way around Google AdWords.”<\/span><\/p>\n

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But it turns out things aren’t quite that easy. The AdWords test is a very real thing – and the certification is a real takeaway asset you can leverage to increase your sense of authority\/expertise. So, let’s take a look at why getting AdWords certified is worth you time (and how to do it).<\/span><\/p>\n

3 Reasons Why AdWords Certification is Worth Your Time<\/b><\/h2>\n

It’s important that you can distinguish your brand from the rest of the grey-hat and black-hat spammers in the digital marketing arena – especially in the B2B space. For the most part, the three main reasons to get AdWords certified follow this logic.<\/span><\/p>\n

After all, an AdWords certified badge on your social profiles and website is only going to strengthen your brand.<\/span><\/p>\n

#1 Free Brand Authority (Personal or Business)<\/b><\/h3>\n

Just like having<\/span> Moz, Unbounce, and Google Partners<\/span><\/a> badges on your site improves the credibility of your business, having the AdWords certified badge on your profile does the same.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Placing your AdWords Certified Badge at the top of your resume is a great way to let potential employers know you’re a pro. If you have a fairly robust PPC team in your agency, it may be worth plugging those badges onto your employee headshots.<\/span><\/p>\n

This way, when new potential clients view your teams they know you are all certified. Likewise, potential new employees will know ahead of time that they’ll be studying for the test during week 1 (if they don\u2019t come pre-certified). <\/span><\/p>\n

#2 Sense of Customer Security<\/b><\/h3>\n

Especially when dealing with the number of sub-par agencies that have developed over the past few years, it’s important you can make your clients feel comfortable. This means making them feel safe and secure in the right hands with a clear mastery of the platform. As well as being able to explain the tactics you outline in laymen terms.<\/span><\/p>\n

Einstein said it best:<\/span><\/p>\n

If you can’t explain it to a seven year old, you don’t understand it yourself.<\/span><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now, full mastery of AdWords comes with time and experience – your<\/span> certification doesn’t automatically make you a PPC guru<\/span><\/a>. But it will help put your clients a bit more at ease as you start the relationship.<\/span><\/p>\n

#3 Worthwhile Insights, Regardless of Position<\/b><\/h3>\n

Lastly, keep in mind that AdWords certification isn’t just for PPC Specialists. Especially if you are working at a PPC Agency, having a general understanding of how the platform works can benefit every employee. You’d be surprised at how a simple mis-used term or ignorance of a single metric formula can hurt you.<\/span><\/p>\n

Wordstream recognizes<\/span><\/a> the importance of ensuring every employee is up to speed:<\/span><\/p>\n

At WordStream we have all our sales and customer service specialists become certified, because we\u2019ve found that it does add validity to conversations with leads and customers. Often people feel more secure if they\u2019re working with a \u201ccertified professional.\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Just because you aren’t directly working on the paid campaigns doesn’t mean knowing how they work won’t help. As an search marketer who focuses primarily on content, I can attest to this.<\/span><\/p>\n

We are constantly accessing our AdWords data to get a more granular picture of which keywords will yield the highest ROI when targeted. And that’s only one way in which our organic search marketers rely on paid data. The list goes on far longer than this…<\/span><\/p>\n

Now that you know why AdWords Certification is worth your time, let’s take a look at the actual test.<\/span><\/p>\n

Breaking Down the AdWords Certification Test<\/b><\/h2>\n

Hate to break it to you. But the AdWords Certification test actually consists of two separate tests (at least). You won’t be fully certified until you pass the AdWords Fundamental as well as one additional test. Don’t worry, multiple tests won’t end up costing you. Where the AdWords test used to cost $100 you can now take it totally free!<\/span><\/p>\n

The additional tests you can chose from are as follows:<\/span><\/p>\n