Google Adwords Certification – Is It Worth It?
Today’s marketing era heavily relies on Return on Investment (ROI) advertising, traffic and brand awareness. Google Ads Certification, formerly Google Adwords Certification, certified you have the peak understanding and industry standard knowledge of Google’s advertising platform.
But people still find it a mystery as to how and why they should think about Google Ads Certification, or Google Adwords Certification. Countless YouTube videos, blogs and experts will say either or, but I would recommend it for anyone in the marketing industry.
Before we get into what Google, Google Ads/Adwords and more marketing factors, check out the official links to Google Ads Certifications on Skillshop, Google’s about support for their Google Ads, and 6 great ideas to use it with!
How Google Works?
To know how Google Ads works, it’s important to understand how Google works. It always starts with the user. When any user searches Google, companies have the opportunity to show their products, services and Google Ads through Google’s Search. Even after you leave Google, sites monetized through Google Ads will display an advertisement related to your search history.
You may have noticed Google’s search platform has gotten pretty good, advanced really, over the last decade. One of the biggest implementation overhauls they’ve successfully done is pursue relevant and true information to display to its users.
One of the biggest challenges for sites today is ranking on Google’s Search. Ranking for relevant keywords can make or break businesses and sites requiring consistent traffic and the right visitors. Unfortunately, this competition has toughened and often proven to lean towards older and branded sites for rankings, which leaves only Advertising through Google Ads or Google Adwords to tap into Google’s endless traffic.
What is Google Ad Words and How it Works?
With Google Ads, you don’t wait for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) of your website. You can show your website at the top of the search results with Google Search Ads, or formerly Google Adwords. It’s well researched that users tend to click the first few search results more than any other position. Google Ads place advertisements at the top and other high click and tested areas to maximize real user engagement.
Companies today rely heavily on Google and Google Search to perform, get sales and clients, and provide information to the public. Google’s place in the heart of companies won’t disappear anytime soon, and getting Google Ads certified can give you the knowledge these companies so desperately need.
For anyone serious about Digital Marketing, I always recommend trying out Semrush for free!
Bidding on Google Ad Words
Google Ads employs a bidding strategy for campaigns. When an individual or business advertising on Google Ads wants to secure keyword traffic, they often have to compete with others bidding at that moment for those same keywords. These bids aren’t split evenly and traffic goes as far as your money goes.
There is a numbers game to look at when you factor keyword bidding, keyword selection and campaign types. Often finding the balance for PPC or advertising is harder than it looks.
Let’s take a quick example:
Say you run your own brand site for Fashion Jewelry like Upsera, that converts customers well. If you receive 100 customers normally through branding, word of mouth and relevant sites and social media, these people are highly relevant. When someone searches something, and later clicks an advertisement (through search or website banners) they may not be so inclined.
CTR and CPC
So what does an average conversion look like? Well, some would say .5% (yup, half a percent) others would say 1 to 5%. Let’s take Jewelry E-Commerce store Upsera Jewelry for example. (These are imagined numbers of course.)
And let’s take .5% and 5% for a comparison; If Upsera Jewelry on average sells 2 pieces of jewelry per user, resulting in $60 gross revenue (average sales may differ with advertisements and PPC as well!), and Upsera spends $200 to reach 200 potential customers, $1 CPC, they would convert anywhere from 1 person to 10 people. So their expected ROI for a cost $200 at $1 CPC is $60 to $600 in revenue.
A CPC of $.50 would result in $120 to $1,200 in revenue, and so on. That means, if Upsera Jewelry converts 20 people out of 400, and for every $60 they profit with $10, they break even at $0 net.
Now is that worth it? Well, if factors like audience retention, up-selling and retargeting, and generally you have value in each and every customer that outweighs the costs then sure! Otherwise you have costs like advertising, manufacturing, personal and employed time, and so much more to weigh in final costs.
One thing that remains the same, the keyword difficulty decides the CPC, and is reliant on who is currently bidding for that keyword and how much volume does it have (how many people search for this keyword every month).
I definitely recommend trying out Semrush for free for Keyword Research and Competitor Research.
Automated Bidding
If you want to stay on a budget or have a specific budget for your ad campaign, you can set your campaign from manual bidding to automated bidding. In automated bidding, you don’t have to set the maximum CPC. Just put a specific budget of your ad and the system will automatically optimize the CPC and clicks for your ad accordingly.
Now Google’s history with optimizations and automation have been pretty good so far, so it’s probably a good idea to trust it on to simple task of bidding, but experiment with it’s usefulness. Nonetheless, it does definitely post a few features and benefits worth talking about.
The way it works is the system adjusts the maximum CPC depending upon conversions. The more conversions you get, the more likely system will increase the CPC and increase the clicks. It will be your default strategy according to your goal. Some of the available goals are mentioned below:
Increase the impressions: – With this goal you can increase the impressions of your site and the system will adjust the bid accordingly. In that case, your ad will be shown on the absolute top of the page of search results or any selected platform.
Increase site visits: – Adjusting this goal will allow the system to automatically adjust your bids to increase your clicks.
Increase CPA: Goal CPA dynamically sets Search or Display bids to ensure you get many conversions as necessary to the minimum cost-per-action (CPA) you created. Few conversions can cost you above or below the goal.
Conclusion:
Earning the Ad Words certification doesn’t mean you’ll get an Ad Words job instantly and not passing the certification doesn’t mean nobody will hire you. But you already knew that. If you’re wondering if you can get a job with just the certification, I’d say a portoflio would go a long way towards helping you with that.
Showing that you’ve hones your skills beyond the assessment with your own campaigns, for you or clients, will show you’ve got the capabilities to run real targeting scenarios.
Benefits of Google AdWords Certification as an individual
As an individual worker or job seeker, earning a Google AdWords (Google Ads) Certification is a great way to earn credibility, demonstrating, and proofing your skills. It is a great way to prove that you are an eligible advertising professional. It is the best certification for your resume if you are a PPC advertising agent/ professional. It greatly increases the chances of getting hired or getting you a potential client.
Google AdWords Certification Not only helps as an employee but also as a company, as your certificates greatly indicate the reputation and standard of your company. As a company, after fulfilling all the requirements, the company will get a badge that you can show on your website indicating that Google recognizes you as an advanced AdWords user, and your company is an expert in PPC advertising. It also allows you to advertise yourself as a Google Partner. It is a very great way to get more clients and helps you get their trust.
For anyone serious about Digital Marketing, I always recommend trying out Semrush for free!
Benefits of Google AdWords Certification as a Company
Selling your services with the label ‘Certified’ is always a plus to your resume. Businesses looking to hire trained advertisers often look for certifications, among other things, to see how well you’ve put yourself out there.
Showcasing your skills as a Certified Google Ads marketer, and convincing your clients of the benefits of Google Ads is key for anyone with Google Ads Certification. The Google Partner badge is the most common way of asserting this. Every client wants assurance that they aren’t wasting their money.
If you look for PPC advertising agencies, you find that almost all of them provide Google Ads Services because more than 80% of total internet users use Google. This isn’t limited to just Google Search, but the entire Google network; Google Search, Google News, Google Ads, YouTube, Gmail and so much more. Google is the highest earring platform from selling digital ads.
Another great thing about Google Ads Certification is if you own your own business or agency, this is the first step in getting Google Ads Partner certified and get your own Google Ads Certified Badge.
When your agency becomes a Google Partner, they will add your website in the list of verified Google Partners.
Is it worth Earning Google AdWords Certification?
Benefits of Google AdWords Certification as an individual
As an individual freelancer or job seeker, earning a Google AdWords (Google Ads) Certification is a great way to earn credibility, demonstrating ability, and prooving your skills. It is also a great way to prove that you are a real advertising professional. It greatly increases the chances of getting hired or getting you a potential client, certifying your ability to navigate the biggest advertising platform, and is generally the best certification right now for demonstrating your ability as a PPC or advertising expert.
Benefits of Google AdWords Certification as a Company
As a company, after fulfilling all the requirements, the company will get a badge that you can show on your website indicating that Google recognizes your company as an expert in PPC advertising. It also allows you to advertise yourself as a Google Partner, which clients trust.
Clients are always looking for experienced agencies they can trust. One of the greatest assets of the Google Partners Badge, being a Google Partner, is you are part of an exclusive list of partners that Google endorses. Clients will only find the Google Partner Badge or the Google Ads Certified Badge on verified Google partners, and know they can trust them with their certified areas.
The badge and Google’s online portal for finding Google Partners is free promotion from Google, but this goes beyond promotion. Agencies and businesses acquiring this badge boost sales and value with customers.
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