Google Ads Specialist Certification
Plan, build and optimise Search, Performance Max, Shopping, YouTube and Demand Gen campaigns
Key facts
- Level: Associate
- Field: Digital Marketing
- Estimated study time: about 23 hours
- Credential price: $113
- Exam: 70 questions · 100 minutes · pass mark 72%
About the Google Ads Specialist certification
Google Ads Specialist is Hootix's practitioner credential for marketers and freelancers who manage Google Ads budgets for their own business or for clients. The exam follows the real workflow of an account manager: account foundations and conversion tracking (access levels, billing, the Google tag, Tag Manager, GA4 import, enhanced conversions, consent mode and value tracking); keyword strategy (match types, negative keywords, the search terms report, account structure); responsive search ads, assets and landing pages; and bidding and budgets with Smart Bidding, portfolio strategies, seasonality adjustments and data exclusions. You are also tested on Performance Max and Shopping with Merchant Center product data, asset groups and audience signals; YouTube, Demand Gen and Display formats and audiences; optimisation, experiments and reporting — recommendations judged critically, auction insights, Google Ads Editor; and account health and policy, including advertiser verification and manager accounts. The course includes five hands-on labs that need no ad spend: a keyword plan, a complete Search campaign built offline in Google Ads Editor, ad and asset writing with a scoring checklist, a Merchant Center product feed in Google Sheets, and an optimisation plan from a sample campaign report.
What you will learn
The official Google Ads Specialist study course covers:
- Account Foundations and Conversion Tracking — Set up a Google Ads account the way agencies do — access, billing and settings — then build reliable measurement with conversion actions, enhanced co…
- Keyword Strategy — Control which searches trigger your ads: match types and close variants, negative keywords and lists, a weekly search terms workflow, account structu…
- Search Ads, Assets and Landing Pages — Write responsive search ads that pass review and earn clicks, add every relevant asset within its limits, and make sure landing pages turn those clic…
- Bidding and Budgets — Choose and configure Smart Bidding, Target impression share and portfolio strategies using Google's 2026 strategy names, steer bidding through sales…
- Performance Max and Shopping — Set up Merchant Center with product data that gets approved, choose between Standard Shopping and Performance Max, and build, steer and report on Per…
- YouTube, Demand Gen and Display — Plan and build video, Demand Gen and Display advertising on Google's visual surfaces: choose the right YouTube format and subtype, set up Demand Gen…
- Optimisation, Experiments and Reporting — Turn account data into decisions: judge optimisation score and recommendations critically, prove changes with experiments, read auction insights, bui…
- Account Health, Policy and Career — Keep client accounts healthy and compliant with Policy manager, appeals, advertiser verification and suspension rules, then build your professional p…
- Hands-on Labs — Real Google Ads Work — Five connected labs in free, real tools — Keyword Planner or Google Trends, Google Sheets, Google Ads Editor and Merchant Center — that take one stor…
Frequently asked questions
- Is the Google Ads Specialist certificate verifiable?
- Yes. Every issued Hootix Academy certificate carries a unique credential code that anyone can verify online.
- How is the Google Ads Specialist exam structured?
- It is a 100-minute ID-verified multiple-choice exam of 70 questions; you need 72% to pass.
- Do I need to buy the course to take the exam?
- Each certification is sold three ways: the exam on its own, the online course on its own, or both together as a Course + exam bundle (the bundle price is the course price plus the exam price).
- How long does the Google Ads Specialist course take?
- About 23 hours of self-paced study.