If you search online for digital marketing assistance, you will see quite a few companies that claim to be “Google Partners.”
Sounds valuable, doesn’t it. Maybe they have a better chance of getting rankings for your company’s website? Maybe Google shares their secrets with their Partners? Hardly.
There was a time years ago when 1st Click Consulting did the training and took the tests to be a Google Partner. We have not kept up this credential because we found it to be pretty valueless to us and to our clients.
What is a Google Partner? First of all, the designation has nothing to do with search engine rankings. A Google Partner is strictly someone who has a level of expertise in establishing and managing Google Ads accounts.
Back when 1st Click Consulting was a Google Partner, Google was simply interested in making sure that there were professionals who could help business succeed with Google Ads. I suspect they also saw a benefit in having marketing experts promote their advertising product to clients. That was many years ago.
However, this month I read an article in a professional publication that I subscribe to that suggested that in the near future being a Google Partner may be detrimental to clients. Google has announced that with its updated Google Partner program, a digital marketing company must accept all of Google’s optimization recommendations for the advertising accounts in order to keep their Google Partner designation. This takes all control away from the digital marketing expert and gives it to Google’s computer analysis.
Let me give you a few examples of how that could be detrimental to a client. One of the things that Google makes recommendations about is the keywords that an account should bid on. However, sometimes their recommendations are inappropriate. They may make sense to a computer, but not to a human user. A “backyard court” is not the same as a “court house.” A “sled” is not the same as a “sleigh.” There are many different kinds of “consultants” and “general contractors,” so those terms alone are likely to drive the wrong clients to a website.
Keyword issues like these are probably the easiest to understand. But, there are far more technical issues in Google’s recommendations, as well. Overall, most of the recommendations from Google that I do not accept for my clients would be good for Google—but not for the client. Generally, these recommendations would result in far more clicks (revenue for Google) from website visitors that are not good prospects for the client. That increased cost without commensurate good leads would make Google richer and my clients poorer.
So, bottom line, not every “certification” provides value for clients. Choose your digital marketing consultant carefully.