Short answer: A Google Ads certification is a professional accreditation that Google gives to individuals who pass an assessment on Skillshop. Google asks for a score of 80% or more within 75 minutes, and the certification stays valid for one year. It belongs to a person: companies earn the Google Partner badge through a separate program.
What a Google Ads certification is
Google describes its Ads certifications as professional accreditations for individuals who demonstrate proficiency in basic and advanced aspects of Google Ads. You find them on the Skillshop Google Ads Certification page, and you need a Skillshop account to take the assessments.
Google lists two benefits. You get a personalized certificate you can print, to show clients that you’re a certified online advertising professional. And your certification can help your company become a Google Partner or Premier Partner.
The certifications are available in 22 languages, among them Spanish and Spanish (Latin America).
How to get certified
Google recommends on-the-job experience with Google Ads before you start. It also expects you to know online advertising concepts and best practices, and to have managed different types of campaigns. Skillshop has courses to prepare. If you’re learning on your own account, our article on Google Ads for small business covers the first steps.
To pass, you need a score of 80% or more on the certification assessment, and you have 75 minutes to take it. If you don’t pass, you can retake it one day later.
A timer starts when you begin, and you can’t pause it. If you leave the assessment, for example by closing your browser, or your computer shuts down, the timer expires at once and you have to wait one day.
In our view, start the assessment when you have a quiet stretch with nothing else scheduled.
How long a certification lasts
Your Google Ads certification stays valid until the certification for that product area expires, after one year. To renew it, you retake and pass the assessment in the same product area.
Google also limits the word itself: after the expiration date, you can’t refer to yourself as certified until you pass the assessments again.
Certification and the Google Partner badge
Individuals earn Google Ads certifications. Companies become a Google Partner or Premier Partner through the Google Partners program, and Google notes that joining the program doesn’t make a company a Partner.
Google checks the Partner requirements every day, in three categories: performance, spend and certifications. Each applies to the company’s Google Partners registered Ads manager account:
- Performance: a minimum optimization score of 70%.
- Spend: $10,000.00 (USD) in ad spend over 90 days, across the accounts it manages.
- Certifications: at least 50% of the company’s account strategists certified in Google Ads, capped at 100 users. Each product area that spends $500.00 (USD) or more in 90 days needs at least one certification.
For that requirement, Google counts the Google Ads Search, Display, Video, Shopping ads and Apps certifications. The Google Ads Professional certifications don’t count toward the Partner badge. Google also asks each person to link their Skillshop account to their Google Ads account, so their certifications are counted.
To become a Premier Partner, a company has to meet the Partner requirements and be in the top 3% of participating companies in its country, determined each year. Google notes that Premier Partner status may not be available in all countries.
Our guide to Google Ads manager accounts explains how those accounts link to yours, and our guide to optimization score covers what that score measures.
What a certification tells you when you hire someone
Google’s guidelines say a person may only call themselves certified if they passed the certification assessments personally. It’s not enough for a co-worker to be certified, or for their agency to have the badge.
A certified person can mention it on a resume, on business cards and on social media profiles. Google also notes that Google Partners logos can only be used under its usage guidelines.
In our view, ask who on the team is certified, in which product area and until when, and judge the work by what your own account shows.
Our guide to hiring a Google Ads expert lists the questions to ask before you sign. If someone calls claiming to be from Google, our Google Ads support guide helps you spot a fake call.
Your certification, step by step
- Create a Skillshop account.
- Choose the product area that matches your campaigns, such as Search, and take its courses if you need them.
- Start the assessment when you have 75 minutes free, since the timer can’t be paused.
- Score 80% or more, or retake the assessment one day later.
- Put the expiration date in your calendar, with a reminder a few weeks before.
Steps 1 to 4 come from Google Ads Help. Step 5 is our advice.
Before you trust a certification claim
- The person who runs your account passed the assessment personally.
- The certification covers the product area of your campaigns.
- It is less than a year old.
- A Google Partner badge is read as a company status, not as the certification of a person.
- Nobody claims a Partner status the company doesn’t show.
- You judge the results in your own account, not on a certificate.
RememberA Google Ads certification belongs to a person who passed an assessment, and it lasts one year. The Google Partner badge belongs to a company that meets Google’s performance, spend and certification requirements.
Through our Google Ads service, we build and run your Google Search campaigns in English and Spanish. The Google Ads account is in your name and Google bills your card. We never pay for your clicks, resell them or add a margin.
Questions about Google Ads certification
How do I get Google Ads certified?
Create a Skillshop account, then take the assessment for a product area on the Skillshop Google Ads Certification page. Google asks for a score of 80% or more, and you have 75 minutes to finish.
How long does a Google Ads certification last?
One year. Google says you renew it by retaking and passing the assessment in the same product area. After the expiration date, you can’t call yourself certified until you pass again.
What happens if I fail the assessment?
You can retake it one day later. Google adds that the timer can’t be paused: if you close the browser or your computer shuts down, the time runs out and you wait one day to try again.
Is a Google Ads certification the same as being a Google Partner?
No. Certifications belong to individuals, and the Google Partner badge belongs to companies that meet the program’s performance, spend and certification requirements. Google notes that joining the program doesn’t make a company a Partner.
Which certifications count toward Google Partner status?
Google lists Google Ads Search, Display, Video, Shopping ads and Apps. It also notes that the Google Ads Professional certifications don’t count toward the Partner badge.
Sources
We read these pages on November 7, 2026. Google Ads Help: About Google Ads certifications and How to become a Google Partner or Premier Partner. From our own site: the page of our Google Ads service, the guides on manager accounts, optimization score, hiring an expert and support, and the article on first steps for a small business.