What a Google Partner is

Being a Google Partner means the agency has several people certified at least in Ads — there are other certifications Google grants as well. Joining the Google Partners programme brings access to training, support and resources for setting clients up to succeed and for helping the agency grow and stand out in its field. The badge is not a prize awarded once, though. It is a standing that has to be held, alongside our clients, by producing and maintaining a certain quality of advertising — and with it a certain depth of knowledge, more money saved, better performance than the competition, and direct access to Google's own resources. For a marketing company the badge matters because it gives a prospective client reason to trust, and because it is a strong sign of work done well and done consistently. Here is what that looks like in practice.

So what does being a Google Partner actually mean?

First, it helps to understand Google Ads, one of the main forms of pay-per-click advertising in digital marketing: paid ads that appear on Google, among other places. They hardly need defending as a way of bringing leads and conversions to a business. A company that specialises in Google Ads can become a Google Partner. There are five kinds of ad and therefore five certifications, all of which Manáry holds, plus one more relating to Ads measurement. To become a partner you have to be a specialist in at least one of these:

- Search — ads that put your brand in front of prospective customers so they notice it, weigh up what you offer and act. The search engine serves the results from the terms the person typed and the ones related to your business.

- Display — ads that reach people while they browse, check Gmail or use their phones and apps.

- Video — ads that reach new audiences through video campaigns on YouTube, websites, phones and apps.

- Shopping — selling products directly through Google to people searching at home, on the move or in a shop.

- Apps — app campaigns promote your iOS or Android app on Google Search, YouTube, Google Play and elsewhere.

Knowing which kind of ad and which kind of campaign your company needs is fundamental to any digital marketing plan. Working with a Google Partner tends to produce the better outcome, because those companies have passed Google Ads product certification and keep up with what changes. 

Five advantages of working with a Google Partner

1) Genuine expertise in house

When you put money into PPC you want the company that will get the most from it, so the spend works as hard as it can inside the best campaign available. A company experienced in Google Ads knows a good deal more than the standard vocabulary.

2) Current knowledge of PPC

A partner agency is one that stays current, because Google requires its partners to keep learning what has changed. They have to sit recertification exams to prove they are well versed in the latest changes, and they receive training so that what reaches the client is right, straight from the source.

3) They practise what they preach

One of the most important things to look for in a company is whether it does what it recommends. If a firm offers SEO or PPC, you want to see it using those methods to win its own customers. Partners are required to practise and test new methods to keep up with the changes, which means constantly building ads and trying different keywords to see which work — learning by experiment how to make each campaign better than the last.

4) Support that actually arrives

A Google Premier Partner, one of the tiers, has a dedicated agency team at Google. Say a running campaign is hit by malware: solving that alone can cost time and money and take days to put right. With the partnership there is a direct line, and the business saves both.

5) Access to features in beta

Google tests a number of features before releasing them publicly. Working with a partner agency gets you to those features before launch, which is an advantage over competitors who cannot reach them. 

What Manáry brings to your growth

As above, the certification exams are renewed yearly and every partner agency, Manáry included, has to pass with at least 80%. With a partner you can be confident the campaigns are built to be as profitable as they can be, around what the client needs and where they want to get to. Beyond the Google specialisation, our process includes:

- Briefing meeting — we analyse your company, because understanding where you stand in the market matters: your particular advantages, your weak points, your openings, your competition. Then we set the goal, the audience (demographics, age, gender), the market, where the campaign should point, the hours to target and the amount to invest.

- Keyword research — our Google specialist works out which terms matter to your business, and how and when they appear in search. That also lets us project the cost per click and see which terms are searched for most and least.

From there the team sets the bids, the daily budgets required and the terms worth buying, to get the best result for the money. We review the results weekly and give clients everything we see, in reports presented at monthly meetings. Want to work with a Google Partner agency? Fill in the form below, or use the WhatsApp button.