As you may be aware Google have recently changed their Certified Partner Accreditation scheme. Previously they ran a Google Adwords Professional (GAP) exam for individuals to pass then allocate to their company profile. The Legacy certification regulated that you needed to have passed one exam with the relevant scores and adhere to a few other criteria in order to display your Google AdWords Qualified Company accreditation logo.

This process has now changed and now all Google professionals must have passed the Adwords Fundamentals exam plus one of three advanced exams.

• The Google Advertising Fundamentals Exam covers the most basic aspects of AdWords and online advertising, including account management and the value of search advertising.
• The Search Advertising Advanced Exam covers intermediate-to-advanced best practices for managing AdWords campaigns.
• The Display Advertising Exam covers intermediate-to-advanced best practices for advertising on YouTube and the Google Content Network.
• The Reporting & Analysis Advanced Exam covers intermediate-to-advanced best practices for maximizing account performance using Google Analytics, Website Optimizer, the AdWords Report Center, and other analysis techniques.

Find out how the new criteria differs from the old legacy certification
https://adwords.google.com/support/select/professionals/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=176294

The exams apparently have been designed to assess the understanding of an individual rather than the regurgitation of information they have read. Essentially trying to establish whether an individual can actually manage and understand fully a Google AdWords account as well as have a strong knowledge of the available tools and how they can help provide advertisers with a good service.

Having worked in Search Marketing before Google AdWords even existed I have had to sit their GAP exams every 2 years in order to keep my profile as an individual up to date. Now having to sit at least 2 exams both consisting of 2 hours of multiple choice questions I can say was quite a painful process!

There have been several changes made to the exam process which have been an improvement including a simpler format, better review process as well as being given slightly more time to answer all the questions. However the pass rates are higher and the structure of the questions is extremely similar to the old exam. It didn’t seem to me to be any different in trying to assess those who run campaign to those who have just read the learning center training notes and help.

The second exam incorporated much of the first yet at a slightly more in depth level. Most of the challenge was to understand where they are trying to catch you out in the question rather than testing your knowledge. Anyway I soldiered through to complete my 4 hours in total of multiple choice questions with a sense of relief and ended with 2 exams an AdWords Qualified Individual certification, a pair of very sore eyes and the need for a stiff drink!

Overall I am pleased to see that Google are raising the bar for agencies and AdWords professionals and I feel the new certified partner scheme is beneficial for advertisers looking for a partner. However whether I agree with the process and exam questions through this whole process I will have to reserve judgment for now.