Due to a bug, AdWords Partners are told their Search Ad specializations have expired

The bug is also affecting company specialization data in Partner accounts.

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Many agencies with Google Partner status received an email from Google late yesterday telling them, “You’ve lost your Search Ads specialization,” and that they will need to retake their exams.

A bug has apparently triggered the emails after a change was made yesterday that affected Partners in many markets. Steve Seeley tweeted a screen shot of the email yesterday and cautioned others to “not flip out if you got emails like this last night or this morning. It is a bug. Our entire status is blank.”

When Partners log in to their Partner account to see their performance, the Company Specialization scores and spend fields are empty.

Italy-based digital marketer Gianpaolo Lorusso tells us it’s likely a global bug, and it is definitely affecting the US, Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Spain.

We’ve reached out to Google for comment and will update when we hear back. Update:  A Google spokesperson told Search Engine Land, “Due to a bug, we sent an inaccurate email to a number of agencies about their Partner status. We’re asking them to disregard these notices. We’re working to fix the issue and will let our partners know when it’s resolved.”

Update 10/30: The issue has been resolved. Advertisers have begun to receive notices that they have earned their specializations.


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.


About the author

Ginny Marvin
Contributor
Ginny Marvin was Third Door Media’s former Editor-in-Chief (October 2018 to December 2020), running the day-to-day editorial operations across all publications and overseeing paid media coverage. Ginny Marvin wrote about paid digital advertising and analytics news and trends for Search Engine Land, MarTech and MarTech Today. With more than 15 years of marketing experience, Ginny has held both in-house and agency management positions. She can be found on Twitter as @ginnymarvin.

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