Is The Google Advertising Professionals Program Worth It?

[jordanmcclements]

I passed the exam in Jan 2008.

It is not particularly hard or expensive, and the free £50 advertising they give you for new clients really does make a difference when trying to persuade someone to give Adwords a try.

But I have to agree with Krisidious to a large extent...

It is very easy to waste money on an Adwords campaign even when you do know what you are doing (there are some niches where it is *extremely* hard to make a profit from Adwords)....

Also - it seems that when one client was unhappy with results, and I 'paused' their campaign before reaching £55 - Google still charged them an amount over and above the 'activiation fee'. So it has not been an unmitigated success...

Q. Does this program exist to help you build trust with ignorant clients? Or does it actually have value beyond that?

A. - Mostly the former. It reminds me a lot of the exams you used to have to take to become a CNE (Does anyone remember when Novell was a BIG name?) in that you are expected to regurgitate the corporate line, and it is no substitute for experience...

[seo4china]

So they give you £50 for EVERY new client?

[jordanmcclements]

You get £50 for the first five clients you take on and once 3 of them have spent £100, you get another set of £50 'vouchers'.

[mawells]

Haven't found the time to take the exam yet and I'm torn between taking it and becoming a Google Adwords "Professional" or staying unbiased by continuing to offer my clients other Internet programs in addition to Google. (While it's true that the quantity of clicks they get from Google is much higher than other programs like Yahoo and MSN - there is some quality that some of my clients get from other programs.) As a professional Internet Marketer, I'm not sure I can sell my soul to the devil by becoming certified for just Google.

Now that opens up a can of worms for certification at Yahoo and MSN. Not sure if they have programs, but I'll bet they (at least MSN) will charge a lot more than $50, if they do. No amount of "test taking" is going to makeup for the 10 years experience I have in Internet marketing - going all the way back to go.com.

[Webconomist]

kind of like the Good Housekeeping seal.

If you're serious about PPC, then take Yahoo!'s course as well. You need 2 or more for company approval with Google.

Also, look at it from your prospective customers POV; they see Google as viable, to your client it's important...and nothing is more important than the client. They pay your mortgage payments and your in business to make a profit. Leverage what you can.

[jordanmcclements]

Everyone, listen...

It costs $50 / £25 to take the test. If you have spent enough already on Adwords to qualify to take the test, then a couple of hours revision will let you pass the exam.

I don't think that anyone could honestly argue that this is not good value for money if you are thinking about getting more than one new Adwords client....

(Leaving aside the whole value for money / ethical debate)...

[hblackburn]

Just to chime in from an employer perspective. As Director of Internet Marketing I have hired Search professionals to work for my company and GAP certification was absolutely a requirement. It's not because I think you learn that much from it, but I want someone who takes the initiative to get the certs regardless. At least it shows they are committed to learning and improving themselves. And I have had very good luck in that each of the people I hired are very good at what they do.

[qh4dotcom]

I don't have any experience with the progarm but I have seen websites where the owners claim they are Google Advertising Professionals and it adds credibility to their websites. I even bought a product from one of their sites.

[SharewarePro]

Yes, it's worthwhile.

If you're selling AdWords services anyway!

[JamesBang]

I passed the exam a couple of years ago and it expires in a couple of weeks. I currently have quite a few clients that I manage PPC campaigns for and, if I let this expire, will I no longer be able to manage these PPC accounts from my expired account?