Question

What's everyone's thoughts on the new Google Partner Badge requirements?  
https://support.google.com/google-a...;rd=1

Answer 1

They want to force you to adopt more of what they want you to adopt. They call it optimization score. Which is 99% automation. My expectations are that if you don't apply the suggestions to automate (for example bidding) you will be at risk of losing your badge. They have had thousands of reps trying to push it but it's probably not going fast enough. Google is becoming the Devil itself!  

Comments

@forepaw exactly my thoughts. I don’t agree with many of the optimisation suggestions. They’re either not appropriate or effective for my clients. I like to have control over all campaigns

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Is becoming the devil? LOL

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@brenn7 Don't be evil ;-)

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@forepaw yeah, that went out the window a long time ago. Greed = Evil as far as I am concerned. You can't be a public company and not be greedy. The entire objective is to increase earnings every 3 months - at any measure.  

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OMG you're really turn an mosquito into an elephant. one thing is said about recommendations and you'll thinking evill. It is true Google is pushing all these smart solutions that in most cases do not profit our wallets. They will look at the performance and not only whether all reccomendations are applied.  

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@behaviorism yes my statement is quite harsh but it doesn't come from just this announcement. In a call just a few days ago a Google rep asked me why I wasn't applying auto bidding. I stated the obvious. She then said. Well I see that you are a Premier Partner and you have to know that there will be some changes to the requirements. One of them is in what level you apply our recommendations. Ok we'll still have to see what will happen in reality but having seen closely what happened over the last 12 years I am not so relaxed about it. Will it take some time? Of course. I didn't say they were stupid. But more evil little by little for sure.  

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@forepaw yes the moves they make is not in the advantage of the advertiser. I also hear they call end customers and push them to apply reccomendations if they agency does not. I have warn all my customers for calls from Google Ads and told them not to follow up the demands of Ads Support. But look at the bright site. Google pushing automation gives us experts competitive advantage, cause we do better. I have several clients who had their smart campaign running and I started mine alongside, mine outperformed the smartcampaigs (or cpa ROAS etc). And if in the end holding on to the premier badge means bad ROI then you'll have a good story to tell and you can announce that you refuse to hold on to the badge :-) #googleads #certifiedpartner #adwords

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@behaviorism yes it will also open up opportunities for sure. Certainly the only thing we can do about is is focusing on our own strength. If they decide to take my premier badge I can publish a nice story about it ;-)

Answer 2

$20 000?  that will never be possible in my country!  

Comments

@mesosphere It is very unreasonable to DOUBLE the required spend. I think for agencies that work with small/medium businesses it could be hard to reach these targets

Answer 3

I think it is a good thing that google is making it harder to earn the badge. Helps separate the good from the bad

Comments

I don't think it necessarily filters the good from the bad. In fact it's all about following Googles recommendations and maximising spend. No skill in that. It should be about minimising spend and increasing conversions.  

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Maximum ROI.  

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@ad I thought its what this is all about. Maximizing ROI

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Minimising spend and increasing conversion does not make Google money. Google has to come out on top or they will remove the middle man(us) and automate the whole damn thing

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@novice if they wouldn’t come out on top it would be a bad business strategy.  

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@harslet for google. Not for your client

Answer 4

So if I DON'T implement the optimization tips to up your optimization score I risk not being a partner. If I DO implement their optimization tips then I'll lose clients instead of gaining them because the tips/recommendations make no sense. Which also means losing the partner badge  

Comments

You can decline suggestions and this wont count on your optimization score

Answer 5

There’s no way to verify partners anymore so what’s the point? People throw the badge on their site when they’re not even partners.  

Comments

@kehoe48 Hi Tom. I’m an Ultra Partner! Never heard of one? Well that’s cause I made it in Photoshop. I can make you one too for $19. 95. but wait there’s more! For $29. 95 I’ll show you how to become a partner without spending $20K  

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@periwinkle for real man lol. A guy in one of my other groups has a premier badge on his site knowing damn well he doesn't spend premier money lol.  

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@kehoe48 it’s like the guys that buy a BMW 3 series and stick the M3 badge on it.  

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@periwinkle lol you are going to hell!  

Answer 6

The moment they went public, their "do no evil" mantra went out the window. This is an illustration of greed. They're basically asking your clients to blindly trust their "machine". The reality is there will be a lot of losers in the process of collecting this data. If you have a small business client with a small budget, machine learning is not going to work. Hey Google: Remember when you said the purpose of Google Partners network was to allow small business owners to find local experts? Remember when you touted the program as a means to help those smaller businesses who don't need a full time campaign manager? These small business owners need a consultant that understand their business, not a machine to blindly trust and to their throw money at. If you think about it. It pretty much comes down to who will throw the most money at the machine. Which company is more desperate than the others? All in an effort to boost quarterly earnings to appease shareholders. As a public company, that's Google's only objective - increase earnings every three months. There is no longer need for Google Partners or agencies managing accounts. Welcome to the machine  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lt-...9zQSE

Comments

Hi Kevin, do you know when Google went public?  

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@ad 2004

Answer 7

Another question here - we are currently Premier Partners, but from what I gather, we will lose our status in June, then IF we qualify for the regular badge, we will get it, and THEN SOMEHOW if we are in the top 3% (what does that even mean, what is the metric here?! ) we will become Premier Partners again in a year. anyone understands this better than me? "To be eligible for the Premier Partner status in 2020, companies will need to first earn the new Partner badge. The Google Partners programme will then grant Premier status to the top 3% of the participating companies each calendar year. "

Answer 8

The 50% of users needing certification is ridiculous.  

Comments

@taunton21531 which is like okay they put like every person that has access or created the account under my qualification and said they need to be certified - uhm those are not employees - so what do I have to do cut those ties in the accounts? Or is it a minimum of 5 period if so then I’m done!  

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@stereoscopic Exactly. It’s ridiculous. I mean; we have our accountant, account managers etc who have access for various purposes, no way are they going to become certified. Really is a bit of a joke.  

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@taunton21531 it pulled up my actual clients in my list of people who need to be certified. Not my employees, the people who hired me to run their accounts.  

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@polyp oh Jesus I didn’t even check that  

Answer 9

I like it about as much as I like the reps that spam the crap out ya and your clients - not at all!  

Answer 10

I was hoping these new benefits meant bringing back rebate. And actually rewarding us for bringing in so much revenue. Of course, that didn’t and won’t happen. But I do feel it should. If Microsoft ads ever gained enough traction, it would force google to be more generous with stuff like rebates. Especially as they don’t pay much tax  

Answer 11

Check out the new requirements @bickel914  

Comments

@paradies cutting out the agency in the Long run

Answer 12

Not really surprising to see them trying to push more automation. Premier Partner badge in the future will just mean the agency that has it doesn't actually do much managing their accounts  

Answer 13

The 50% of users needing certification is ridiculous. For every Ads account we have separate gmail account. And there is no way to edit this. Any thoughts of this? They are not our employees but they still need acces for it.  

Comments

I don't think read only access users count

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Ist bout the users that are added to the MCC level

Answer 14

I’m not getting the 50% of users - can anyone explain? Checking our status we would not meet partner status any longer on this basis and I don’t quite get it

Answer 15

They have been pushing their automated bidding and recommendations to the customers and agencies already but we've been ignoring it because it makes no sense. You can either suck it up and join the club or go without. I'm assuming if enough agencies ditch the program, they might revert

Answer 16

We are no longer focused on our partner status.  

Answer 17

Achieving partner status was an anti climax

Answer 18

I’ve been running google ads for over 15 years. Currently handing over £1. 3m worth if ads a year. Not once (and I had to check this) not once have I been asked when quoting or pitching for my google badge / qualification details.  

Comments

Same, not once in 10 years

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Same, not once in 15 years

Answer 19

Why they are forcing for automation? My accounts is good with manual bidding

Comments

That's why they are pushing automation.  

Answer 20

I love the partner program. I have enough points for a bike!  

Comments

@whidah I got one of those  last July  

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@stereoscopic Hahaha really? How do you like it?  

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@whidah it’s pretty impressive it’s got a good build to it and I love the fact it folds down so you can put it into the trunk. I have yet to ride it though lol  been more of a show thing than anything else lol

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I didn't realize it folds down! That's pretty snazzy  

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@whidah yup it’s a foldable bike

Answer 21

I dunno why everyone cares about the badges I have never on 20 yrs have a client ask me, so. U got a google badge heh no one cares