Are the questions in the Google AdWords Professional exam suitable for the UK market?

I’ve just passed my re-accreditation as a Google AdWords Accredited Professional (GAP) with a robust score of 89.5%.

I know it sounds petty, but as I was answering my 110 questions in 90 minutes, I was getting more and more annoyed with the references to selling houses in San Francisco, allusions to zip codes and area codes, and prices in dollars and cents.  Just as ex-smokers are the most intolerant, my  shiny new UK citizenship leads me to object to the American bias, Obama’s Nobel prize not withstanding.

Be sure to scroll to the bottom of this message where you can see a specific example where the AdWords Anglo/American relations went well and truly off the rails.

However, let’s start with particular  AdWords issues of significant importance to businesses in the UK that are not addressed in the UK exam.

Here’s a few I would suggest, and I welcome your proposals for additional exam questions;  put them in the comments below and we’ll get them over to the AdWords team.

1.   How is VAT charged on UK AdWords Accounts?

Be careful you are not being charged VAT at the Irish rate of 21%

2.  How effective is the use of Geo-targeting in the UK in light of the way IP addresses are handled by UK Internet Service providers?

Not very accurate for small businesses in the UK.

3.  How effective is mobile Geo-targeting?

Not very precise at this stage

4.  What is a Google AdWords reseller, and who are they in the UK?

There are 5 authorised UK resellers at the moment, and 1 in Ireland.

5.  What impact does “enhanced broad match” have on your ads displaying?

You ads may be displaying when you don’t want them to.

Along the same lines, are the exam questions tailored for British professionals?

I have taken the liberty of copying one of the questions from the Google AdWords exam. It asks “what is the typical spending level of advertisers paying in Pounds Sterling who qualify for the invoicing payment option?” The multiple choice answers, inexplicably, are offered in dollars.

So the first step is to convert the correct answer, £1500 per month, into US dollars.  Hmm, quick calculation… 1.6 dollars to the pound, that’s rougly $1000.  Oops, no it’s not, it’s the other way around.  I always do that.  £1500 pounds is about US$2400.

Oh dear, I’m given the choice of either US$500 or US$4000.  Which would you go for?

I did double check on the Invoicing section on the AdWords help and the answer is right there for us to see:

So, as you are looking for a company to handle your Adwords account, do make sure they are Google AdWords accredited, and that they can demonstrate their entry on the Google Advertising Professionals website.

And then double check that they are able to answer the extra questions that means they understand the UK market!

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