Inside Google Ads podcast: Episode 117 - Unofficial Certification
Are the Google Ads certifications actually worth anything in 2026?
Who should take them, who shouldn't, and are there any alternatives?
I created something that's become a bit of a minor sensation on LinkedIn over the last couple of weeks, so I had to take the opportunity in this episode to share it with you today.
Because of course, my goal, as always, is to help you become a Google Ads expert so you can drive profitable results from your Google Ads campaigns, for your own business, your employer's business or your client's business.
I'm your host, Jyll Saskin Gales. I spent six years working for big brands at Google, and now I work for you.
This is Inside Google Ads: Episode 117, Unofficial Certifications.
So first things first. What is the Google Ads Certification?
Google runs something called Skill Shop, and it's a place where you can go to take free training courses online in topics like Google Search Ads, Google Shopping Ads, Performance Max, et cetera. And then you can complete a free assessment, and if you get at least 80% of the questions right, you get a certificate.
So the pros of this are it's completely free, it's official from Google, and the main one is that if you want to become a Google Partner or maintain your Google Partner status, then you do need to earn a certain number of certifications to do so. That's why I redo five or six of the Google Ads certifications every single year. And every single time I do, I think what you probably think, which is why on earth am I subjecting myself to this?
The questions are embarrassingly out of date. I just redid them all in the last couple of weeks and it asks about features that have not been around since 2022 or 2021, like Local campaigns, Smart Shopping, Broad Match Modifier, and Similar segments.
I know, I know.
And then they just measure how well you read the training material. They don't actually help you or a potential employer understand if you know how to use Google Ads, or if you understand the strategy of how these different concepts work together.
So if you work at an agency or you're a freelancer and you need to maintain your Google partner status, then yes, go ahead and do the Google Ads certifications.
But if you're looking for real Google Ads training that's going to actually help you become a Google Ads practitioner, it’s not the right choice for you.
That doesn't mean you need a paid solution, by the way. There's no substitute for hands-on keyboard experience if you want to actually learn Google Ads, but some great resources to help you along the way for free are things like this podcast, available on YouTube and podcast apps, other great podcasts and YouTube channels. There's a very active Google Ads community on LinkedIn, which I would say is probably better for more intermediate to advanced practitioners. You might find that a little overwhelming if you're a beginner.
And then there's some great free communities you can join like PPC Chatand the Paid Search Association and PPC Live and perhaps even more local ones depending where you live.
It can be helpful to search for “PPC Communities,” since most people are more risk averse than I am and don't put the name “Google Ads” in the title of whatever course, community, podcast, et cetera, they offer.
I do also offer paid Google Ads courses, Google Ads for Beginners for Absolute Beginners, and thenInside Google Ads for Intermediate through Advanced Practitioners. But that's actually not what I wanted to share with you today.
A few weeks ago, I launched my own Jyll's Completely Unofficial Google Ads Certification.
To be extraordinarily clear, there is no association with Google. This is not supposed to replace the Google Ad certifications. This is completely unauthorized for entertainment purposes only.
Please, Google, don't come after me.
I created this for fun, but also because I've been hearing from you in my comments and our coaching calls for years and years and years, and experiencing it myself, that the Google Ads certifications don't really do what they're supposed to do.
And I just knew I could make something better, something that's going to actually assess how much you understand Google Ads and not just memorize concepts and whether or not you actually use Google Ads.
To be clear, I'm not trying to say that if you can pass my completely unofficial Google Ads certification that suddenly you're an expert, but I can say if you have no Google Ads experience, if you've only watched or read and never used Google Ads yourself, you will find it very difficult to earn Jyll's Completely Unofficial Google Ads Certification.
More than 100 people have already started the certification since I announced it. Dozens have been sharing their certificates online because yes, I do issue you Jyll's Completely Unofficial Google Ads Certificate at the end if you can pass the assessments. So I thought it would be fun to show you today what's involved in that assessment to help you decide if it's something you might want to do.
And my hope is that over time, potential employers might look at that and see it as perhaps a bit more helpful in assessing a candidate's capabilities than alternatives.
And that you will find it helpful to see what kind of topics or areas you might need to revise and check in on to improve your own expertise.
First things first, Jyll's Completely Unofficial Google Ads Certificationhas three separate assessments:
Bidding
Targeting
Creative & formats
Each one has 15 questions, and you need to get at least 12 of the 15 questions correct in each of the three assessments in order to pass.
I'm not going to tell you the answers to any of the questions here, OK? I don't want any cheating.
But I'm going to give you a sneak peek at what it looks like so you can decide if this might be something you want to take a stab at.
Here is the first question from the bidding assessment.
What is the primary goal of using the Maximize Conversions bidding strategy in a Google Search campaign?
A) To maximize the number of clicks within the target budget.
B) To ensure the ad appears in the top position on the search results page.
C) To get the most conversions possible within your budget.
D) To reach a specific return on ad spend target.
If you find yourself shouting the answer right now at your screen or your phone, that's a sign you should go to learn.jyll.ca/unofficial. That's learn.jyll.ca/unofficial or follow the link in the episode description.
I'm going to share two more questions with you here today. So let's take a look at targeting assessment.
An advertiser layers multiple affinity segments and multiple topic selections in a single Display ad group. What is the resulting relationship between these settings?
A) The audience targeting settings will override the content targeting settings.
B) The user must match all of the affinity segments and all of the topic selections.
C) The user will see the ad if they match any of the affinity segments or any of the topic selections.
D) The user must match at least one affinity segment and at least one topic selection.
If you're someone who has done the Google Ads Display certification, then you know right now we're in a whole different ballgame with the type of skills and assessment I'm looking for here.
All right, let's take a sneak peek at a creative and formats question.
What is one reason to choose a Video Views campaign over a Video Reach campaign?
A) To achieve the lowest possible CPM.
B) To maximize the number of people who watch the first two seconds of your ad.
C) To ensure your ad serves on YouTube shorts.
D) To enable the ability to build a retargeting list of video viewers.
If you think you know the answer, follow the link in the episode description in order to test your mettle with Jyll's Completely Unofficial Google Ads Certification.
To wrap us up for today, there are plenty of ways to learn Google Ads, both free and paid, depending what your goals are.
If earning or maintaining Google Partner status is important to you, then sure, ahead and do the real official Google Ad certifications.
But if not, it's probably not the best use of your time.
If you do want to test your skills in a way that's fun and completely not at all authorized by Google, then you should check out Jyll's Completely Unofficial Google Ads Certification atlearn.jyll.ca/unofficial.
And if you find there's a lot of gaps in your Google Ads knowledge that you're just not able to fill with free resources like my podcast or my YouTube channel that might be a sign to check out my signature membership program Inside Google Ads for more than a hundred up-to-date step-by-step tutorials, plus access to my exclusive AI JyllBot, who will answer all of your Google Ads questions 24/7/365.
Be sure to follow this podcast or subscribe on YouTube if you're not already because next week we are doing a deep dive on every single Google Ads asset, formerly known as extensions: sitelinks, snippets, callouts, and promos, we're covering it all and you don't want to miss it!
I’m Jyll Saskin Gales, and I'll see you next time Inside Google Ads.