I took up the Google Adwords Fundamentals exam a week ago and although this wasn’t a part of my job description, I had to, as I was filling in for an SEO/PPC position in the company. This was a completely new experience for me as I was more into the Software development process rather than SEO or SEM. I found the test quite easy, apart for a few trick questions that seemed to have more than one correct answer. However, for newbies to this field, I strongly recommend that they take the following steps prior to the Exam.
• Study: Study the #804000;">Learning center with particular attention to these: -
o E-Learnings
o Useful Links
o Bolded and Bulleted Text
o Videos like this one.
• Exercise: I wouldn’t say it is recommended, but NECESSARY, to create an account and actually run a campaign and view results so that you can get a knack of the interface. This helps in knowing where you can access various functions on pages. Also, use the set of instructions from the learning center to help you. They are normally in yellow boxes.
• Brainstorm: Notice that there are questions to consider in the learning center (like in the image above), try answering them. You could also use these helpful flashcards to check if you have answered correctly and get familiar with terms.
o If you have time to spare get a load of information from the internet to find ways to optimize your campaign(s) or get a better understanding of adwords and business needs like this one. There are some informative blogs as well that keep you posted on the exams and new features like Dylan's Blog and Google's own adwords blog.
o Spend some time to view actual results for your campaign so that you can plan your strategy, and ask yourself questions, for e.g. if an ad is not showing or has very low Quality score what would you do? Plenty of help in adwords support. Check out these as well: -
> Here is the Google help centre section on achieving higher CTR's:
http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/topic.py?hl=en&topic=21933
> Here is the Google help centre section on improving campaign performance:
http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/topic.py?hl=en&topic=15245
o Here’s a very useful link to understand Ad Rank and Quality Score
o You don’t actually find sample questions or quizzes on the internet for free, so you could use trial versions just to get an idea of what the questions may look like. I found a quiz that seemed a little outdated but helpful, check it out.
o Tools: Make sure you understand the tools, their purpose and where they can be accessed.
• Study the Implicit stuff too: There are some things on the learning center that are not explicitly mentioned as part of the fundamentals material, but are implicit requirements for the course (like Chapter 7: Billing and Payments) and a few stuff from other advanced courses like the following. Make sure you study them as well: -
o Display Network Basics
o Google Analytics
o My Client Center
o Advertising Policies
• Revise: If you plan to take notes, make sure that they are very specific. The test is is for 180 minutes and 113 questions so you have plenty of time to review the answers. Some stuff you could note down are formula for calculating Ad Rank, QS etc. If you are pretty thorough on the subject then you may not need them, however, for people to take the test on short notice, this could be helpful. The more important chapters to emphasize are: -
o Chapter 3: AdWords Ad Formats
o Chapter 4: AdWords Targeting and Placements
o Chapter 13: Optimizing Performance
o Chapter 15: Selling and Representing AdWords
Most of the questions were from Chapter 13 & 15.
Exam Tips: Mark the questions you need to review so that you can review them later on. You don’t have a deadline for the exam to worry about so just give the test whenever you feel confident enough to. Make sure you have read the entire question and all the possible answers before selecting the correct one. Lastly, Best of Luck!
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