In short, Google Partners are online marketing companies trusted by Google.

Before we get into what a Google Partner can do, let’s start with what they can’t do…

Google Partners CAN’T manipulate your keyword rankings with Google (yes, some people believe they can).

Google Partners CAN’T be your “in” at Google for random questions, queries or favours you’d like them to do for you or your website.

Google Partners are NOT necessarily Search Engine Optimization (SEO) experts (although some are) and may not be able to help you improve your organic search rankings.

What Google Partners CAN Do…

Google Partners can help grow your business with PPC (Pay Per Click) marketing.

That’s pretty much it.

They can do this because…

Partners are in the know.  They stay up to date on the latest Google tools and products by passing Google-administered certification exams every 12 months.

Partners have proven experience.  To obtain Google Partner status an agency needs to maintain a $10K in Google AdWords spend per month, which is hard to achieve without experience and a proven track record.

Partners must follow best practices.  Google Partners are audited by Google for following proper guidelines and best practices, helping to ensure trust and credibility.

Partners are constantly learning.   Google helps its Partners stay ahead of the curve by supplying tutorials, product releases, workshops, and even events for agencies to take advantage of.

When it comes to your PPC campaigns, Partners can help:

• Formulate a strategy to meet your online marketing goals (e.g. leads, sales, downloads, etc.)
• Conduct competitive and keyword research
• Recommend various types of ads to use, such as text, display, video
• Target your prospects with options such as geo-location, time of day, device type, and contextual and user behaviour targeting
• Structure and build your AdWords campaigns and write high converting ads
• Optimize your campaigns and budget for lowest cost per acquisition (or highest ROI)
• Provide monthly reporting that highlights things like highest converting keywords, ads, location-source, and over all return on ad spend

How to Find and Engage a Google Partner

You can search for an agency with the Google Partner Finder.

There you can find an agency that fits your online advertising needs such as location, industry, and budget.

From there you can contact the agency or agencies of your choice.

Here’s some things you can ask for:

• Cost of keywords and phrases relevant to your business
• Any competitive intelligence or PPC info on your competitors
• What the agency would recommend as a monthly PPC budget (if you don’t have one in mind)
• Referrals and/or testimonials of existing PPC customers
• What the agency’s pricing and contract structures look like

Remember, like anything in business you often get what you pay for.  Those with lower pricing might not have the expertise or full breadth of offerings as a higher priced agency (such as the inclusion of landing pages, split testing, call tracking etc.), so with pricing you’re not always measuring apples with apples.

And of course, if you’re looking for help, we here at Sensei Marketing are certified Google Partners, so give us a shout anytime 🙂