The Online Marketing team at Pin Digital are now qualified in Google AdWords and MSN adExcellence. For those of you who are unfamiliar with these programs, they are the Pay per Click platforms for Google and MSN (now Bing). Both platforms operate on an auction system whereby you bid on target keywords. Your bid will reflect (along with other quality factors) where in the Google and Bing search results you appear for that keyword. There is potentially a lot of traffic and revenue to be gained from running campaigns on Google and Bing.
Tracey and myself took the Google AdWords exams last year and we both passed first time. I recently also took the MSN adExcellence exam and passed with a score of 90.5% which I was pleased with as my experience of this system is much less than Google AdWords. Mainly because most of our clients only operate on Google, however a few do run campaigns on Bing so I do have a knowledge of the system. I've put together some advice and tips on what I think you need to focus on if you are looking to pass the Google AdWords Exam or the MSN adExcellence Exam.
Microsoft adExcellence Exam
There are 100 questions and you have an hour to do them so you do need to keep the pace going to get them all done. The pass rate is 80% and the exam costs $50 to take. The focus of many questions really seemed to be on Ad quality and the various guidelines that Ads must comply with in order to be shown. Most of this is common sense really. In relation to this there are a few questions about trademarks and how Microsoft handle complaints etc.
I was impressed with the tools Mircosoft provide to add variables into Ads dependant on the keyword being used, there were some questions on this as well so its worth looking at.
My Top Tips for Passing the MSN adExcellence Exam
- Make sure you are aware of what restrictions there are on advertising certain products such as firearms, wines, beer etc
- Learn the process for enforcing trademark complaints along with when you are allowed to use other company trademarks
- Get to know the user interface and where you get key reports from such as performance data and Ad performance
- Go through the MSN adExcellence Classroom presentations, they are pretty good and take a few hours to watch
Overall the exam was easier than the Google AdWords exam I'd previously taken but I'd still recommend at least going through some of the online presentations before taking the exam just to brush up on some of the basics which are easily forgotten in the day to day running of campaigns.
Google Advertising Professional Exam
It has been quite a while since I took this exam, I actually think I'm due for my resit in a few months! But I do remember the exam being tougher than the MSN adExcellence one. Fortunately the Google AdWords learning centre is excellent and is the best place to start revising for the exam. They have lessons available in either text form or you can watch and listen to an online movie. This learning centre is a little better than the MSN one and has a bit more consistency to it which I liked.
Although the exam is focused on Google AdWords, it is worth having a decent knowledge of Google Analytics as well. There is the odd question that links into this and there is a small section in the learning centre on Analytics. If you did want to go a bit deeper into Google Analytics then you could look at the Google Analytics exam which I also took a few months ago.
My Top Tips for Passing the Google Advertising Professional Exam
- Go through as much of the Google AdWords learning centre as possible, there is a lot of content there but its all very good info
- Learn the strict policies for which Ads are and are not allowed on Google
- Understand the various billing options and how they apply to clients
- Learn the different types of keyword matching and how each one should be applied
- Learn how to use the Google AdWords Editor
- Make sure you know the AdWords interface inside out
There are 80 questions and you have 90 minutes to complete the test so it isn't quite as rushed as the MSN adExcellence exam. There is also a cool feature to eliminate definite wrong answers (its multiple choice) so make sure you use that. The exam also costs $50 to take.
Summary
If you at all serious about running PPC campaigns, either for yourself or for a client website, then I'd highly recommend taking these exams. Not only does it give you some credibility but it also gives you the perfect chance to brush up your skills and learn about features you didn't before.