Google Certified Partner is a program by Google for advertising agencies and digital marketing professionals. Upon a rigorous set of courses and examinations, a company or individual can earn a badge indicating that they are a Google Certified Partner.
So what does this mean for you? When you hire a Google Certified Partner, you know you’ll be working with a distinct group of professionals that are Google experts. They know how to take advantage of powerful tools such as Google Analytics, AdWords and Search Console to make decisions and run campaigns that deliver results based on hard data.
This data can then be used to increase the acuity of overall marketing efforts. It’s why every digital marketer obsesses over whether or not everything is being tracked correctly. Incorrect or incomplete data can lead to poor, misinformed decisions both online and off.
Google Certified Partners have the know-how to properly install Google Analytics and AdWords tracking, conversion and remarketing codes. And they are also able to confirm that the numbers being reported by these platforms are accurate.
Why You Should Hire One
Google Analytics is an intricate and ridiculously powerful tool for those who know how to use it or more importantly, interpret its data. The vast amount of the data it collects is nonsensical garble to someone who doesn’t have a deep understanding of what the different metrics mean and how they can translate into direct action.
Data is power. Unlike other marketing mediums, everything can be tracked in the digital realm. A Google Certified Partner company has the collective knowledge and expertise to make actionable decisions based off the data.
Ensuring everything is being tracked, and being able to report on the numbers is a good thing, especially when they’re all in the green. However, that isn’t enough. To a group of professionals that have undergone Google’s training, the data means much more than just good (or bad) news. It offers a deep glimpse into your audience and ultimately, the user.
And we all know it’s ALL about the user.
Bounce rate doesn’t just tell you how often people land on a page and then leave immediately; it also tells you that maybe the people reaching the page aren’t really looking for it. So how and why are they ending up there?
These are the kind of in-depth, critical thinking exercises Google Certified professionals excel at. Analytics can show you whether your organic traffic strategy is working and how visitors are behaving on your site once they get there. If you’re a local business offering only local services, and are attracting tons of traffic from an unrelated geographical area, then you were either in the news or something is afoul. Optimizing the user experience and streamlining the conversion funnel are all critical aspects of Google Certified professionals.
Why Accurate Data Interpretation Matters
Without these kinds of deep insights, it’s hard to know what’s working online and what’s not.
Running paid search campaigns on Google AdWords requires further insight into user intent and value propositions.
Choosing the right keywords is the most important part of a paid search campaign. Yet, more often than not, choosing incorrect keywords that don’t match up with the user’s intent could cost thousands in unwanted traffic that doesn’t convert.
A Google Certified professional has the skills to vet keywords depending on the user’s intent when searching them. With paid search, it’s difficult to know everything off the bat and new campaigns must be executed with an exploratory and analytical mindset.
As a campaign compiles data, the metrics can be analyzed to see what is working and what isn’t. This allows a campaign to become more optimized and effective over time, but only if the correct optimizations are made. Properly interpreting the data to make these optimizations is critical.
Do your ads have a low click-through rate? If that’s the case, your ads are probably being shown to people who aren’t interested, your ad copy might not be appealing or your ad may appear too far down the search results page. A Google Certified professional can look at the data and most likely tell you what is happening and what needs to be done to change the course of a campaign.
Conclusion
Not every campaign can be won, but even unsuccessful campaigns are a learning experience for a Google Certified professional. They can use the learning experience when planning future campaigns.
At the end of the day, the most important thing for any business is getting a positive ROI—and successfully gathering, interpreting and taking action based off hard data is critical to achieve it.
If your business is in the need for a Google Certified Partner, look no further than Optimum7. We are a Google Certified Partner with a team of dedicated experts to help you get the most out of your business.
