Becoming a Google Partner: The Diary Of A Digital Marketing Graduate

Digital Marketing Executive Nick Crane, writes his second article of the series covering his first month since becoming a Google Partner. Google Partner qualifications were established to demonstrate Digital Marketing (PPC, SEO and SEM) excellence. AdWords and Analytics are the two main groupings of certification, both including an assortment of modules.

After starting at Site Reach, the only advanced qualification to my name was my degree. Studying to become a Google Partner allowed me to specialise further into my chosen field and it was a great conversation starter with our clients.

The AdWords Fundamentals exam was the first I added to my repertoire. It covers the benefits of online advertising and best practices for optimising and managing PPC campaigns. I enjoyed learning about how to write adverts that appear at the top, side and bottom of the search results. Also, I learned about how to set up remarketing campaigns, you know the image adverts from the websites you’ve previously visited that follow you around the internet? The amount of clever features and statistics Digital Marketers have at their disposal is incredible.

The Search Advertising exam was the second I overcame. It covers advanced concepts for SEO and best practices for increasing a website’s Search Engine Results Page (SERP) rank. There was a large amount of studying required for this exam, I especially liked learning all of the different metrics search engines use to rank websites (of which there are many!).

After the month long bout of independent studying and revision, I am happy it paid off and that I passed both exams first time. Since certified, I have gained experience in numerous industries including the education, estate agency, retailing and travel sector. This variety in my role allows me to launch and refine campaigns for such diverse sectors.

Everyday coming to work there is an eagerness to check my AdWords and Analytics accounts to see which adverts have led to a tracked phone call or an e-commerce transaction and how much they have boosted our clients’ ROIs. After one of my campaigns converted and returned three and a half times what I spent, the Search Director at Site Reach treated my team and I to a work lunch at Wagamama’s (if you haven’t been I strongly recommend it – the food is fantastic and they even have free green tea on tap).

My next article will cover my experience attending Brighton SEO, a digital marketing conference.

Thank you for reading, if you would like to get in touch, it would be great to hear your thoughts!