The Google Partners platform allows individuals to become certified, recognizes excelling companies and helps businesses find digital marketers. Since 2013, the platform has been slowly rolling out the Google AdWords and Analytics exams to digital marketers. The latest AdWords examination certification added was the mobile advertising certification in July.

WhyShouldYouTakeGooglePartnersCertificationExams?

The Google Partner certifications are proof of a digital marketer's competence in using AdWords and Analytics, which can be used on your CV and LinkedIn profile. The certifications are displayed on your Google Partners profile and can be added to your company to earn the Google Partners badge. You can also print off the certifications to display in your digital marketing portfolio.

WhatExamsAreAvailable?

There are currently six AdWords exams available on the Google Partners platform; these are AdWords fundamentals, search advertising, display advertising, video advertising, shopping advertising and mobile advertising. There is only one Google Analytics exam. The Google AdWords and Analytics tests basic to advanced knowledge of the Google products.

With a required passing score of 80%, the AdWords and Analytics exams are rather difficult to pass. Thankfully, digital marketers can retake an exam after 7 days. The amount of questions on the AdWords exams differ, however digital marketers are provided with 120 or 90 minutes and are valid for 12 months. Digital marketers are given 90 minutes to complete the 70 question exam Analytics exam. The questions are multiple choice. The exams are free to complete and available in 14 languages. The exams can't be paused and you can't flag or return to a previous question. These are the six tips on how to pass the exams.

PassingtheExams:6Tips

1.ReadGoogle'sexamstudyguides

Google provides AdWords exam study guides and Analytics study guide on the Google Partners platform. These are useful to read and write notes on to help you revise. There are PDF versions of the study guides available for every certification apart from the shopping advertising exam, which you can easily print off. If you are a visual learner, Google also provides videos to help you learn.

The best way to earn Google Partner certifications is to work through the Google Analytics Academy. It can help improve your skills using the courses of Digital Analytics Fundamentals, Google Analytics Platform Principles, E-commerce Analytics: From Data to Decisions, Mobile App Analytics Fundamentals and Google Tag Manager Fundamentals available.

2.UsetheAnalyticsorAdWordsplatforms

The obvious way to learn about the AdWords and Analytics platforms is to actually use them. For the AdWords exam, you should create, manage and improve a few AdWords campaigns. You should also learn about how to use Google Analytics, how it integrates with other products as well as how it works.

3.Practiceexam-stylequestions

You should practice answering exam style questions. Some PPC resources recommend simply taking the AdWords exam to practice the questions and find out what to learn. iPass offers a few free AdWords exam style questions, but the rest of it needs to be paid for. There are other AdWords practice tests available from Way to Exam and GyaniAkash. You can also practice questions on the Google Analytics test website.

4.Taketheexaminaquietplace

You should ensure you take the exam in a quiet place so you can concentrate.

5.Readthequestionsmorethanonce

It is a teacher tip, but you should always read every question more than once to ensure you understand what the question is asking. This will help you answer the question correctly.

6.Lookoutfortrickquestions

The exams have a few trick questions. There may be many good answers to the questions, but you should answer with the best answer available.

Do you have any additional tips for acing the Google Partners Certification exams? Let me know in the comments below.