About the Google Ads certification
This article explains the benefits of getting certified, how to get certified, and how to communicate your certification status with others.
Before you begin
If you don't have an Academy for Ads account, you need to do so to access the AdWords assessments that are required to become certified. Find out how to set up your Academy for Ads account.
Benefits
Any member of Google Partners can earn our Google Ads certification. Here are the benefits of getting certified:
- Demonstrate your expertise. Show current and prospective clients that you're a certified online advertising professional with a personalized certificate that you can print.
- Help your company earn the Google Partner or Premier Google Partner badge. To earn either badge, companies need at least one of their affiliated members to be Google Ads certified, in addition to other requirements. Learn more about the requirements to earn the Partner badge.
To be sure your users’ certifications are credited to your company’s badge and specialization status, please follow the steps below.
- Certified users must share their information from Academy for Ads
- Users certified under personal emails must add a company email in Academy for Ads for proper attribution.
- Certified users need admin or standard access to your company’s Google Ads manager account or sub-managers.
Here are the certification requirements:
- Partner badge: 1 user certified in Google Ads who has admin or standard access to your company’s Google Ads manager account or sub-managers.
- Premier Partner badge: 2 users certified in Google Ads who have admin or standard access to your company’s Google Ads manager account or sub-managers.
To become Google Ads certified, an individual needs to pass the Google Ads Fundamentals assessment and one of the additional advertising assessments that are available through Academy for Ads. The additional assessments are Search Advertising, Display Advertising, Mobile Advertising, Video Advertising, and Shopping Advertising.
How the Google Ads certification works
When you set up an Academy for Ads account, you'll get access to the free Google Ads certification assessments and related learning paths that you can use to study for the assessments.
To become Google Ads certified in a Google Ads product area, you need to pass the Google Ads Fundamentals assessment and one of the additional advertising product assessments that are available through Academy for Ads. The additional assessments are Search Advertising, Display Advertising, Mobile Advertising, Video Advertising, and Shopping Advertising.
Once you’ve passed the Google Ads Fundamentals assessment, and as long as it is valid (not expired), you’ll only need to pass the respective product assessment to earn that Google Ads product certification.
To earn the Google Ads Search certification you you’ll need to:
- Pass the Google Ads Fundamentals assessment
- Pass the Search Advertising assessment
To earn the Google Ads Display certification in addition, you’ll need to:
- Pass the Display Advertising assessment.
Note: You’ll always need to retake and pass the required assessments when they expire in order to keep your certification valid.
Available Google Ads certification assessments
| Assessment | Description |
| Google Ads Fundamentals | The Google Ads Fundamentals assessment covers basic and intermediate concepts, including the benefits of online advertising and Google Ads, and best practices for managing and optimizing Google Ads campaigns. |
| Search Advertising | The Search Advertising assessment covers basic and advanced concepts, including best practices for creating, managing, measuring, and optimizing search ad campaigns across the Search Network. |
| Display Advertising | The Display Advertising assessment covers advanced concepts and best practices for creating, managing, measuring, and optimizing Display campaigns. |
| Mobile Advertising | The Mobile Advertising assessment covers the basic and advanced concepts of mobile advertising, including ad formats, bidding and targeting, and campaign measurement and optimization. |
| Video Advertising | The Video Advertising assessment covers basic and advanced concepts, including best practices for creating, managing, measuring, and optimizing video advertising campaigns across YouTube and the web. |
| Shopping Advertising | The Shopping Advertising assessment covers basic and advanced concepts, including creating a Merchant Center account and product data feed, and creating and managing Shopping campaigns. |
Available languages
The Google Ads certification assessments are available in 19 languages.
Available languages: Czech, simplified Chinese, traditional Chinese, Dutch, English (UK), English (US), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Slovak, Spanish, Spanish (Latin America), Thai, Turkish, and Vietnamese
How to stay certified
Your Google Ads certification will remain valid until the product area assessment (for example, Search Advertising) expires. When the product area assessment expires, you'll need to retake both the Google Ads Fundamentals assessment and the expired product area assessment to keep your certification.
For example, if you pass the Search Advertising assessment in May, you'll need to retake and pass both the Google Ads Fundamentals assessment and the Search Advertising assessment when the Search Advertising assessment expires in May of the following year.
Guidelines for communicating your certification status
Your Google Ads certification demonstrate that you're a certified online advertising professional. Here's what you can say to current and prospective clients about this recognition:
- Your Google Ads certification recognizes that you're a certified online advertising professional.
- You received this accreditation after successfully passing the AdWords Fundamentals assessment and either the Search Advertising, Display Advertising, Mobile Advertising, Video Advertising, or Shopping Advertising assessment administered by Academy for Ads.
Example
Here's an example of what you can say about your certification status:
“Google has recognized me as a Google Ads certified professional, meaning that I’ve passed multiple assessments that assess my product expertise. I’m qualified to help you grow your business on the web using Google Ads.”
Here are some additional guidelines about communicating your certification:
- You may only refer to yourself as certified if you, personally, have passed the certification assessments. It's not enough for a co-worker to be certified or for your agency to be badged.
- You can refer to yourself as "certified" as long as your certification remains in effect. After the expiration date, you won't be able to refer to yourself as "certified" until you pass the assessments again.
- You're allowed to mention your certification on your resume, business cards, LinkedIn profile, and other social media profiles. Keep in mind that Google Partners logos can only be used in accordance with our usage guidelines.
Common questions about certifications
The difference between Google Ads certifications and the Partner badge
- Individuals get certified. Any member of Partners can earn a Google Ads certification. As a certified professional, you can demonstrate your achievement with a personalized certificate issued by Google.
- Agencies get badged and earn specializations. An agency that meets the requirements for Partner status will earn the Google Partner or Premier Google Partner badge and be allowed to promote itself as a "Google Partner." Note that an agency doesn't become a "Google Partner" simply by joining the program.
- Company specializations recognize agencies that accomplish the following:
- Earn the Google Partner badge or the Premier Google Partner badge
- Have at least one certified affiliated person in a Google Ads product area
- Demonstrate increased product performance and expertise in that product area, including:
- Search advertising
- Mobile advertising
- Video advertising
- Display advertising
- Shopping advertising
- Have a minimum of $10,000 90-day Google Ads spend in their certified product area
- Company specializations recognize agencies that accomplish the following:
* Nguồn: Google