Thank you for the great question! There are many advantages to becoming certified. In addition to being recognized by Google as a marketer who knows their best practices standards, you also get brought to the forefront of prospective clients eyes as well. People can see you are certified when looking for PPC Account Managers in Google's database, which makes you a more attractive choice for them. Additionally, should you ever decide to start your own marketing business, becoming certified is necessary to become a Google Partner, which essentially will do the same as above, but for your company. It doesn't have any real "reward" other than recognition and knowing that YOU know what Google wants from you and knowing that you won't get blacklisted by Google like 1,000s of marketers do for violating their best practice standards with your ads or landing pages.

If nothing else, getting certified is for you. It gives you the extra confidence. Gives you the extra exposure. I was hired in May straight out of college as an SEM Specialist, even though I had no PPC experience to speak of. The first thing they had on my agenda was to get certified and get the company to become a Google Partner. Most ad agency want someone who is certified when hiring. And best of all- it's free. The training and certification tests are all free.

I hope this has helped some. If there's any confusion or you have any questions I didn't really answer let me know, I'm happy to explain further. I'm actually leaving work right now so this reply is admittedly rushed.

Best,
Dev

Thanks for explaining. It makes more sense now.

In one sense I can see where this could be beneficial to one's future career. But, in another sense, I can't help but think that Google thrives off the need to somehow be "in control" of everyone's online marketing endeavors. Their position as the "big brother" (always watching) of SEO is (to me) is a little disconcerting. Their ability to make or break someones success appears to be based solely on towing their line. Almost like the government, they'll wag their finger in disapproval and make an invisible judgment call with no advanced warning. I don't believe in government control, or the way Google appears to be positioning themselves as the "government" of online success.

Please don't mistake my rant for disrespect with regards to your achievement. I'm sure I'd be proud of attaining this level as well. It's just the driving force behind it that makes me think - "okay, NOW what must I do to stay in your good graces"?

Oh, don't worry- your rant does not fall on deaf ears!! As someone who essentially is at Google's mercy for his career, I completely understand the sour taste toward Google and their Big Brother status. In fact, they just recently approved a "forget me" process that allows users to submit a request to Google to erase past entries that they were penalized for, or that they just don't want online... Talk about changing history, eh?

It's one of those unfortunate obligations of online marketing. Over 90% of searches are done through Google, we cannot change that. Getting certified really just teaches you the ins & outs of AdWords so you know all the different tools & features, when they should be implemented, etc. It really just means you are recognized by Google as a Paid Advertising Professional, which as you said- who is Google to determine such a thing... Well, nobody really. Except for the above figure, where they handle over 90% of the webs searches..

Believe me, I wish the web was a more level playing field but unfortunately Google has monopolized it more or less AND has ties with the government to boot. Anytime you search, they know... Scary isn't it?

"Anytime you search, they know... Scary isn't it?"

Yes, it is! And thanks for understanding :-)

Hi Ken, no problem! I hope it helps!

I am sure It will help many Deven.