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I recently passed my Google Advertising Fundamentals Exam and this, along with a few other mandatory requirements, gains me status as a Qualified Individual in the Google Advertising Professionals Program.

I was fascinated with the whole process of qualifying this year - I'd taken the test a couple of years ago and it expired, so I was curious to see what was new for this year's exam and how much I did (or did not) know.

First I'll list the requirements needed to become an Adwords Qualified Individual (not to be confused with a qualified company, by the way).

1. Sign up for the program and be in good standing
2. Manage at least one Adwords account in a "My Client Center" (MCC)
3. Build/manage at least $1000 in ad spend over a 90 day period
4. Link your MCC account to your Google Advertising Professionals program account
5. Pass the Google Advertising Fundamentals Exam

I've abbreviated some of these in the interest of your sanity. You can read the requirements, in full, on the Adwords Help site.

I've listed all the requirements because I think some of them are really just technical mandates that don't require any actual skill to set up. The two important requirements are numbers 3 and 5. I think it's extremely important to actually manage an account over 90 days or more. The requirement of managing $1000 over 90 days may even be too low to develop significant expertise (in my opinion).

It's really difficult to learn the system and leverage the many different options that Adwords offers if you're managing an account that's averaging below $500/month. I came across a few blog posts and tutorials on how to cram for the Adwords exam, but no amount of reading and memorizing can replace hands on experience.

What is the Google Advertising Fundamentals Exam?

Google requires all qualified Adwords specialists to take a 120 question exam which they've recently renamed to the "Fundementals Exam." I think this means that there will likely be a more advanced exam down the road, but right now all they are offering is this one exam. All questions must be completed within 2 hours.

After taking the test, I felt that "fundamentals" was a misnomer because there were a lot of questions that, in my opinion, went way beyond the fundamentals of Adwords. Without getting too specific (woudln't want to give anything away), the test had many questions about some basic principals of online advertising (e.g., what does CPM mean?) but there were also many in-depth questions about the inner workings of Adwords including how Google serves ads geographically and across languages, which I feel is a pretty complex feature.

For more info on what you can expect from the Fundamentals Exam, visit the Adwords Learning center which provides exhaustive tutorials and lessons to help you study. This is also a great resource for new advertisers who want to gain an understanding of Adwords' capabilities.

Does it Matter?

It took me a few hours to re-certify myself and it cost $50 for the privilege. In the grand scheme of things, does it really matter that I can display the Adwords Qualified Individual badge on my Web site? Yes, I believe it does. At the very least it demonstrates a fundamental knowledge of Adwords and ensures that those of us who take the test and pass it are up-to-date with all the latest Adwords bells and whistles. In order to pass the test, we need to 85% or above - no more slacking off with a passing grade of 75%, people!

I will say this - while certifications, badges and fancy logos can seem impressive and are definitely a good way to screen PPC agencies and consultants, nothing takes the place of experience. Always ask a prospective PPC manager how many campaigns they manage on a monthly basis, what the level of spend is that they manage and how they stay up to date with the latest trends and changes in the industry.

Also remember that PPC is more than just Google. Yeah, really! Other engines such as Yahoo and Bing are part of the industry too (whether we like it or not) and other venues such as eBay and Amazon.com are beginning to offer their own PPC products. These are search engines in their own right and shouldn't be ignored even if they don't offer up a fancy badge of glorified certification.