Say goodbye to the AdWords Professionals program – GAPS who have not taken the new test will have a 6 month grace period to meet the requirements of the new Certification Program. To gain qualification, exam takers must pass both the Advertising Fundamentals exam and one advanced-level exam.
From Google:
The criteria to get certified with Google has changed. Current Google Advertising Professionals will have a 6 month grace period to meet the new criteria and terms and conditions in order to retain their certified status; during this grace period, you’ll keep their Google Public Profile page, and continue to show up in Google Partner Search results. The key things that you’ll need to do in this grace period are outlined below:
- Existing Google Advertising Professionals must have at least one person employed and linked to their MCC who is Individually Qualified (that is, has passing scores on two new exams – the Fundamentals exam and one of three new Advanced exams).
- Partners will need to link to an MCC that satisfies the new spend criteria.
- Partners can opt-in to the partner search engine and fill out their profile page. This determines how they appear and market themselves in the publicly searchable listing. During the grace period, if you’ve opted in, you’ll show up here with an old or a new certification, but by the end of the grace period, you’ll only be eligible if you meet the new criteria for certification.
- Once certified, you should remove our old logo from your marketing materials and website and replace with the new program certification badge.
During this transition period, you’ll see two different exam sections in your company account. These sections track exam passes on the old exam, as well as associated individuals who have passed our new exams on their way to becoming individually qualified. Only pass information on our new exams will appear on your My Exams page (the old exam information will appear in the legacy space on the Company page). You’ll also notice that your Google public profile page displays the old badge and certification status until you achieve the new Certified Partner status.
New Logo
A new logo has been designed for issue with certification which includes a ‘click to verify‘ message.
More can be learned at the Google Certification Program site.
To begin your training for the new exams Google has prepared material in the Help Center.
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Posted by: Kim Clinkunbroomer, GAP
Owner of Clinks Web Service, AdWordsPI in Chicago, Illinois
AdWords Training: AdWordsHour.com
Connect With Kim Online: Social Media/YouTube Channel/Websites
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