The world of digital marketing has experienced unprecedented growth in recent years, and this trend shows no signs of stopping. With the rise of online learning platforms, enrolling in a course and getting certifiedis now easier than ever. Google is at the forefront of many of the digital marketing tools used across industries. Although there are alternatives to popular Google tools, Google’s solutions are still the industry standard. Google offers courses and certifications for many of its own products. In this article, we answer the question “Are Google certifications worth it?” and provide links to the certifications that we think will help you in your career, especially in digital marketing!
There are many areas and sub-specialisations within digital marketing. The reality, which is no longer a hot take, is this: Studying digital marketing at a university or college will not fully prepare you for the job market. Even if you learn the basics, many prorgrams do not cover in detail the tools that are key to getting a job. Even if they do, given the nature of technology, your knowledge will become obsolete if you don’t make an effort to keep up with new developments, updates, and tools in your field. This is one of the reasons why Google offers several certifications in digital marketing and its many tools. These certifications will help you improve your skills and stand out in the job market. Read on to find out how and which courses and certifications we recommend. Our article breaks down as follows:
Table of Contents
Are Google certifications worth it?
We start by answering this burning question: Are Google certifications worth it? Our answer is YES. There are many job and career opportunities in digital marketing. It’s a very dynamic and ever-evolving field, and all paths within this career are very interesting and rewarding. As we mentioned earlier, there are several specializations within the field, all of which are in constant demand (we’ve written an article on the best digital marketing specializations that we recommend you read if you’re just starting out in digital marketing!) Given the popularity of its search engine and web browser alone, it’s no surprise that Google’s digital tools and platforms are an absolute standard in companies and teams, given its popularity as a search engine alone. As mentioned in the introduction, the company offers many tools that have been adopted for several key aspects of day-to-day digital marketing processes.
For traffic and engagement reporting, you’ve got Google Analytics 4. For Business Intelligence teams, Google Looker offers data exploration and reporting. If you want to monetize a website with ads, Google Ads will help you display ads across the internet and track their performance. These tools do require some time to master. If you don’t get training for them at work or you are looking to boost your CV and job prospects, Google offers many courses and certifications to get the hang of it and prove that you know how to use them. We confidently state once more that these certificates are worth it – and here are our reasons:
- These certificates are free: Both the courses and the tests towards a certificate are (almost always) free – and that’s great!
- Name recognition: Recruiters and employers instantly recognize “Google” if you add the certification to your C.V.
- High-demand skills: With a Google certification, you can easily stand out among candidates land the job you want, or even move horizontally towards another branch of digital marketing.
Now, we want to move on towards the the best Google Courses and Certificates that we recommend
The best Google Courses and Certificates
1. Google Digital Garage
Google Digital Garage is a comprehensive platform that offers free courses, including ten capsules dedicated to digital marketing courses. The first module, “Digital Marketing Basics,” will leave you with a solid understanding of digital marketing. It is spread over 26 modules, lasts around 40 hours to complete, and includes an official certification from Google and the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).
Other courses available include “Connect with Customers over Mobile”, “Understand Customers Needs and Online Behaviours, “Promote a Business with Online Advertising” and “Use Content to Promote a Business”. These other ones don’t include a certification, but they all very useful digital marketing courses either to gain knowledge in this area for your own business or to bring your knowledge within a workplace. You can still mention these courses during the interview process – name dropping Google is never a bad idea! Plus, if you are still getting started with digital marketing, these will lay the foundations for more advanced tools such as Google Analytics 4.
2. Google Marketing Platform
The Google Marketing Platform groups together a dozen courses for digital marketing. These include the following courses, all with several capsules within them to leave you ready for their respective certification: Display & Video 360, Search Ads 360, Campaign Manager 360, Google Creative Solutions (containing a single capsule called
Create Effective Ads for Google Marketing Platform Campaigns), Mobile Solutions, and Google Web Designer. We also recommend going over the Privacy Resource Hub, as it will help you with extremely crucial concepts around privacy settings and regulations, all of which have had tangible, if not paradigm shift-causing impacts in digital marketing in the past few years.
The certifications offered under the Google Marketing Platform are individual, so you can mix and match the courses above, or take only one if that is what you need. The Certification Exams you can take towards getting yourself Certified include: Search Ads 360 Certification Exam, Creative Certification Exam, Campaign manager 360 Certification Exam, and the Display & Video 360 Certification Exam. As you see, there is something for everyone here, and we promise that any of these certificates will make your job applications stand out!
3. Google Analytics Academy
Google Analytics Academy offers free courses on Google Analytics, including a specific course on Google Analytics 4 (GA4). Google Analytics is pivotal for any businesses with a webpage, be it informational and transactional. This tool allows business owners to understand several aspects around the traffic that arrives to their page, as well as the behavior of users within the site. In other words, Google Analytics offers a wealth of powerful analytics capabilities that can help improve the effectiveness of marketing efforts and spend. It goes without saying that knowing and understanding this tool is a highly sought-after skill.
GA4 is the latest version of Google Analytics, and this Google course covers topics such as tracking user engagement, reporting and goal setting. At the end of the course, you can take the Google Analytics Individual Qualification (GAIQ) exam, which certifies your knowledge of Google Analytics 4. Being able to say that you are certified in this platform will leave a great impression in your job interviews, especially given the fact that in 2023, Google Analytics 4 will become the absolute standard after the previous version of this tool, Google Universal Analytics stops processing any data on July 1st 2023.
4. Google Ads Courses and Certificates
Google Skillshop offers free courses on Google Ads (formerly known as Google AdWords). Google Ads is a crucial tool in a digital marketer’s toolkit – especially if they want to specialize on programmatic and display media. Understanding how to use it effectively allows you, as a professional, to help a business get higher online visibility, targeted marketing efforts, measurable results that can show how to better manage budgets and constantly improve marketing initiatives.
The Google Ads courses will help you understand how to create and optimize ad campaigns across several specific placements, such as search, display, video, shopping and apps. By completing these courses and passing the corresponding assessments you will be able to write exams to get a few different certifications within the larger Google Ads area. These include Google Ads Search Certification, Google Ads Display Certification, Google Ads Video Certification, Google Ads Shopping Certification and Google Ads Apps Certification. Digital Marketing is a broad field and no single individual can be expected to know everything – so don’t attempt to master every single course within Google Ads. An employer may only be looking for someone who knows Search Ads. In this case, knowing a bit of the other subcategories within Google Ads is useful, but not necessary.
Digital marketing is a fast-growing and in-demand field that offers excellent career prospects. Google is at the forefront of many of the tools that are industry standards, and therefore we answer the “Are Google certifications worth it?” with a roaring YES. By completing these online courses and obtaining a certificate you can expand your knowledge, develop your skills, and improve your career prospects in the world of digital marketing.
We need to reiterate that Digital Marketing is a broad field and no single individual can be expected to know everything. It is not that we only included four courses in this list – each one is an entire field in itself, and you can then see which field interests you to specialize in for your career. You may just be starting in digital marketing, you may already be specialized in one aspect of this work field and want to move horizontally to another one, or you may be a manager who wants to get a good grasp of what the teams below you are doing. All of these courses can help you with whatever your situation is – and remember, the “Google” name is always an asset on your CV!
If you are looking for a job right now, we invite you to check out our 10+ tips to make a creative CV that’s attractive to recruiters, as well as our 8 Tips to optimize your LinkedIn profile and grow your network.
Frequently Asked Questions about Google Certificates
Are Google certifications worth it?
Digital marketing is an ever-expanding sector with high demand and abundant career opportunities. With Google leading the pack in terms of widely recognized industry tools, our response to the question “Are Google certifications worth it?” is an unequivocal YES. By taking these online courses and getting a certificate, you are broadening your understanding of tools that are industry standards, honing your skills, and enhancing your career potential within the digital marketing landscape backed by an extremely legitimate and recognized company.
Where can I find Google certificates?
Google’s Courses and Certificates may be a bit tricky to find. There is the “Google Digital Garage”, which includes courses that lead to certificates such as “Fundamentals of Digital Marketing”. Then there’s Google Skillshop, which offers other courses that lead to certificates for tools such as Google Analytics and Google Ads. Sometimes the courses offered in these two pages overlap, so we recommend going over both – or simply Googling the exact domain in which you want to find a course and finding the exact landing page.
Does Google offer free certificates?
Yes, several of the certificates offered by Google, as well as the courses that prepare you towards completion of the exam that issues these certificates, are free. This applies to all of the certificates listed in this article – but not to other certificates such as the Google Professional Certificates, which are hosted on third party platforms like Coursera and that do come at a price.