The Google Partners programme is an initiative for advertising agencies who manage Google Ads accounts on behalf of their clients. The programme is made up of three tiers, all of which have a set of minimum requirements that must be met in order to qualify for the relative status.
The highest level an advertiser can achieve within the Google Partners programme is Google Premier Partner Status.
To put these tiers in perspective…
There are over 7000 UK based Google Partners in the UK, whereas there are only 120 UK based Google Premier Partners.
Although the standard Partner badge acknowledges that Google sees your agency to be of a high standard, to recognise those leading companies who are achieving above and beyond, Google offers the Premier Partner badge.
The first step to becoming a Google Premier Partner is to join the free Google Partners programme. From here, you’re able to qualify for the standard, Google Partner badge and make those key steps and improvements to achieve Google Premier Partner status.
To be awarded the Google Premier Partner badge, agencies have to meet and maintain an extensive set of requirements. The table below outlines what agencies need to do to be considered for Google Premier Partner status:
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To achieve Google Premier Partner status, agencies must demonstrate Google Ads expertise in addition to meeting spend requirements, company excellence, agency and client revenue growth, whilst sustaining and expanding their client base.
The criteria may be tough, however, the hard work that is put in to qualify for this tier does not go unrewarded. Achieving Google Premier Partner status gives agencies exclusive access to a number of benefits that ultimately improve their service offering and operations as a business.
The benefits of being a Google Premier Partner can be split into four key categories:
Education:
Keeping up to date with the constantly evolving PPC industry is challenging; however, being part of the Partner Programme makes it somewhat easier as Google are so passionate about educating their partner agencies.
Being a Google Premier Partner means that not only are you the first to hear about product updates and new releases, but you have access to executive training with the Google experts themselves.
This, in addition to regular product training and communication means Google Premier Partner agencies are always up to date with new opportunities, and more importantly, able to keep their clients accounts ahead of the curve.
Support:
As a Google Premier Partner, you get exclusive access to advanced technical support. As an advertiser, if you have ever had to ring Google Ads support, you will hopefully have been given the solutions to your problems. However, Google is very much aware that the questions posed to them by a Premier Partner Agency tend to need a higher level of support. Ultimately, this means only Google’s most knowledgeable representatives are put forward to deal with such queries, meaning we get answers to our questions faster.
It’s worth noting that there’s a very noticeable difference between the tiers in this category. Not only do Google Premier Partners have access to phone and email support, but they have a dedicated account manager. It’s no secret that Google Ads can be complicated sometimes, and so getting answers to questions and solutions to problems has to be a quick process. As an agency, we appreciate the huge impact Google Ads can have on your business, which is why we believe not having this support from Google isn’t a risk worth taking.
Growth:
Once you’ve met the requirements and become a Google Premier Partner, the work doesn’t stop there. Although there may not be another tier to aim for, Google believe there is always room for improvement and therefore encourage their Premier partners to push boundaries and aim for greater results.
With such high expectations it’s only fair that Google offer growth support and guidance to their leading agencies. Not only to Google Premier Partners receive the support in terms of service excellence, but they have access to new business strategy consulting and sales training.
Google are also keen to embrace partnerships with their Premier agencies, offering in-house and external training event support. It’s this support and recognition from Google that sets Premier partners head and shoulders above the rest.
Rewards:
As much as Google like to make their agencies work, it’s not all work and no play! Being part of the Google Premier Partner programme means you get exclusive access to promotional offers and in-house agency competitions.
These incentives put together by Google are a great way of motivating the team to achieve the best results within their clients accounts or encouraging them to try out new features and updates.
In addition, as a Google Premier Partner you have the absolute privilege of being able to attend the annual partner summit.
There are hundreds of reasons why you should be working with a Google Premier Partner. Obviously we can’t fit every single one of them in this article, but we’ve done our best to summarise the main reasons here:
Google Certified Account Managers Looking After your Account
One of the benefits of working with a Premier partner is the exclusive access to education and support. As a result, when you do choose to work with a Google Premier Partner, you can trust that your account is being looked after by a true Google Ads expert.
Stay Ahead Of The Curve
Nobody wants to just keep up with their competition. Keeping up to date with changing trends is only half the battle; working with a Google Premier Partner will catapult you one step ahead of the curve. If you are lucky enough to work with an agency with access to the latest betas, tools, and updates, before they are even released, then you can almost guarantee that your ads are as competitive as they can be.
Save Time and Money
As a business owner, you need to keep a close eye on both time and money. Spreading yourself too thin means inefficient results, and by the same token, wasting money on something that isn’t working is equally a waste of resources. By trusting a Google Premier Partner to look after the performance of your Google Ads, you can rest assured that you are getting the best results possible. If your return on investment is strong, money is one less thing to worry about, and equally, if your agency is doing what they should be, you’ll save time by not having to chase them or Google.
So, you know what a Google Premier Partner is, you know what it takes to be one and why it’s so great to work with one. The only question left is how you find one.
The easiest way to see whether a potential PPC agency is a Google Premier Partner is to take a look at their website and see if you can spot the badge anywhere.
Most agencies will have their Google Premier Partner badge displayed somewhere on the site, whether that be the home page, in the footer or maybe on their services page.
We briefly mentioned earlier that there are now only 120 Google Premier Partners in the UK; however, there are some sneaky agencies out there who pretend to be a premier partner when they are in fact, just a partner. Don’t worry though, you can double check how valid their claims are by just clicking on their badge.
If the badge on their site doesn’t click through to their profile on the official Premier Partner site, then the chances are it’s not valid.
You might also be able to find out whether an agency is a Google Premier Partner by taking a look at what they’ve been up to recently. Have a scroll through their social media pages or check out their news or blog pages on their site; Have they been shortlisted for any Google awards? Have they attended any Google Partner conferences and events? Activity like this is something to be celebrated, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if they’ve shared it on social media.
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