Have you ever seen one of those cool looking Google Partner badges on a website and thought “that looks cool, I wonder what that means?”
Well Oviond is here to tell you all about what it means to become a Google Partner, and how to get the badge on your own website.
First of all, the Google Partner badge is a certification that displays an agency’s proficiency in Google Ads by showing that they spend above a monthly threshold on Ads for their clients and have a long history of using Google Ads for PPC advertising. This certification is shown using a Google Partner badge placed on the website tied to that agency, and it also shows the list of certifications completed by the agency and its users in the Google Academy.
Once the requirements to become a Google Partner have been met, an agency can choose whether they would like to use a dynamic or a static badge. The dynamic badge can be displayed on your website, while the static badge can be used on other marketing material.
Benefits
Okay, so the badge shows that you spend a lot of money on Google Ads… What are the real benefits?
Expertise
The certification is a sign of expertise, so any potential client that clicks onto your website and sees the Google Partner badge will know that your agency has a good amount of experience in using Google Ads, and are reliable and trustworthy when it comes to managing your PPC advertising budget to achieve sizable ROI.
This is even more so for websites that display the Google Premier Partner badge as this is a certification above the Google Partners badge, certifying the agency as an even bigger spender on Google Ads and confirming their expertise in the tool.
Although Google claims that the Partner badge is an indication of an agency’s proficiency in SEO and PPC, it is more an indication of their PPC expertise using Google Ads as the requirements to become a Partner refer specifically to spend and experience. However, because of the access to the Google Academy that Google Partners receive, becoming well versed and even experienced in SEO is easier than it has ever been before.
Certifications
The Google Partner badge allows you and the other employees connected to the Google Ads account to boost your knowledge on the Google platform by completing the certifications available in the Google Academy. These certifications are a great way to learn about specific topics ranging from Google Ads, to Video and Search.
Any certification completed by a user on the Google Ads account used by the agency will be shown on the Google Partner badge displayed on the agency website.
Google Contact
Companies that have achieved the Google Partner status have access to a personal contact at Google to provide support by reviewing client accounts with the aim at improving their effectiveness and efficiency.
This is an invaluable benefit as an expert at Google will know all the tips and tricks to allow your agency to reach its full potential on Google’s platform.
Requirements
Naturally, this incredible status is not handed out for free, so there are some necessary requirements before your agency can achieve Google’s super star status.
Performance
Your agency needs a history of at least 12 months using Google Ads and maintained Ads spend activity over that time. It is also important to note that Ads spend for a client needs to be conducted using your Google Ads account and not through their own personal client account. This is so Google can accurately track your agency’s performance in this area.
Google will review your Google Ads performance each year, so it is important to note that your Partner status may be revoked if you don’t continually meet the requirements.
Ad Spend
Your agency needs to be spending at least $10,000 USD every 90 days across all managed and connected Google Ads accounts.
Certification
The Google Ads certification for the Google Academy needs to be completed by at least one user of your agency’s Google Ads account.
How To Become A Google Partner
- Go to the Google Partners website click the “Join Now” button in the “Join Google Partners” tab
- Sign in to your Google Ads account
- Accept the terms of service
- Select the Google Ads manager account that is in use by your agency
- Fill in your agency’s name, its badged website and location and click “Save”
Now you will have access to all the Google Partner features for your Google Ads account, and you will be able to complete the wide range of Google Certifications in the Google Academy.
It is important to note that after completing the requirements to become a Google Partner, you may need to manually download the badge to add it to your website, or an additional domain listed in your company profile, by following these steps:
- Navigate to the “Partners Program” tab.
- Click the three dot menu on the “Badge Status” card, and then click “Get badge assets”.
- Click on either “Download snippet” to get the code snippet that can be used to add the badge to your website, or click “Google Partner Badge assets.zip” to download the static badge to use on other marketing material.
By default, the dynamic badge will be included on the websites connected to your Company details card once you have met the Google Partners requirements.
Not so difficult right!
Become Google Partner Certified
Now you have all the information you need to go and get that Google Partner badge!
While meeting the requirements to become a partner are quite steep for some agencies, particularly in meeting the minimum Ads spend threshold, the benefits are incredibly useful in not only obtaining client trust, but also in upskilling your company employees and obtaining insight into how to improve effectiveness on the Google platform. Google will be updating their requirements for becoming a Google Partner in 2021, so keep an eye out for our next entry on this topic on the Oviond blog.
