Search Engine Land
  • SEO
    • > All SEO
    • > What Is SEO?
    • > SEO Periodic Table
    • > Google: SEO
    • > Bing SEO
    • > Google Algorithm Updates
  • PPC
    • > All PPC
    • > What is PPC?
    • > Google Ads
    • > Microsoft Ads
    • > The Periodic Tables of PPC
  • Focuses
    • > Local
    • > Commerce
    • > Shopify SEO Guide
    • > Content
    • > Email Marketing Periodic Table
    • > Social Media Marketing
    • > Analytics
    • > Search Engine Land Awards
    • > All Focuses
  • SMX
  • Webinars
  • Intelligence Reports
  • White Papers
  • About
    • > About Search Engine Land
    • > Newsletter
    • > Third Door Media
    • > Advertise

Processing...Please wait.

Search Engine Land » Channel » PPC » Advertisers have until February 2022 to adjust to Google’s new Partner Program requirements

Advertisers have until February 2022 to adjust to Google’s new Partner Program requirements

The changes are based on Partner feedback around badge criteria and more clarity regarding Program benefits

Carolyn Lyden on February 23, 2021 at 2:30 pm

In an email to Google Partner Program members around the world, Google announced changes to the Program structure and badge criteria. The changes were initially slated to take place June 2020, but due to the pandemic will now go into effect beginning in February 2022. This means Partners will have a year to meet the new Program requirements.

New requirements. Google said that Partners requested two major changes to the requirements in consideration of the current economic situation and to make badge criteria more transparent:

  1. Partners can either dismiss or apply recommendations to achieve a 70% optimization score. While the optimization score requirement was slated to take effect in June, it previously only allowed for application of recommendations. However the Google team took search marketers’ feedback regarding the ability to dismiss recommendations for clients where it may not have made sense to accept. “We know that our Partners know their clients and accounts best,” a Google spokesperson told us.
  2. The spend threshold will remain at a 90-day spend of $10,000 US across all of a partner’s managed accounts. Before the pandemic, the Partner badge requirements were set to increase to $20,000 every 90 days. However, the Partners team listened to ad managers’ feedback and kept the requirement at $10,000.

Partners also told Google that not every Ads manager on teams should be eligible for certification. In response, advertisers will be able to tell Google the number of account strategists in their companies, and “at least 50% of the account strategists you’ve identified will need to be certified in Google Ads” to meet the new requirements. For instructions on how to see the certification status of individual users, see the bottom of this help page.

More clarity for advertisers. Along with the changes to requirements, the email said Google wants to provide more clarity around program benefits. To do this, the company is developing new benefits in three main categories to support Partners in the move toward the new requirements:

  • Education & Insights
  • Access & Support
  • Recognition & Rewards

“The new Google Partners program is exciting for our Search team as it shifts the criteria toward overall account health and employee education by an increased focus on optimization score and account strategist certifications.” said Donny Nordmann, Director, Search at Rise Interactive.

Why we care. Google’s delay of the Partner Program requirement changes was a smart move to help the search community during unprecedented times. With many agencies and search marketers being affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting changes in the business landscape, Google took feedback to improve the changes they planned to make to the Program. 

Google has also noted that the advanced notifications means advertisers have a full year to meet the Partner Program requirements. Any Partners holding a Partner or Premier Partner badge, will be able to retain their badge status until then: “To recognize the efforts of the large number of partners who are already meeting our new badge criteria, we’ll start extending the new Partner badge in June 2021. The new Premier Partner badge will be available to the top 3% of partners when the new program launches in February 2022,” said the email announcement.


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


New on Search Engine Land

    New mobile Google ad experiment puts favicon in-line with display URL

    Google launches video health tools to help publisher monetization

    SEO pioneer and expert Bill Slawski passes away

    New Yelp feature: Request a Call

    Google Ads issue with access to video pages frontend

About The Author

Carolyn Lyden
Carolyn Lyden served as the Director of Search Content for Search Engine Land and SMX. With expertise in SEO, content marketing, local search, and analytics, she focuses on making marketers' jobs easier with important news and educational content.

Related Topics

Google AdsPPC

Get the daily newsletter search marketers rely on.

Processing...Please wait.

See terms.

ATTEND OUR EVENTS

Learn actionable search marketing tactics that can help you drive more traffic, leads, and revenue.

March 8-9, 2022: Master Classes (virtual)

June 14-15, 2022: SMX Advanced (virtual)

November 15-16, 2022: SMX Next (virtual)

Learn More About Our SMX Events

Discover time-saving technologies and actionable tactics that can help you overcome crucial marketing challenges.

Start Discovering Now: Spring (virtual)

September 28-29, 2022: Fall (virtual)

Learn More About Our MarTech Events

Webinars

Take a Crawl, Walk, Run Approach to Multi-Channel ABM

Content Comes First: Transform Your Operations With DAM

Dominate Your Competition with Google Auction Insights and Search Intelligence

See More Webinars

Intelligence Reports

Enterprise SEO Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Identity Resolution Platforms

Email Marketing Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Sales Enablement Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Digital Experience Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Call Analytics Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

See More Intelligence Reports

White Papers

Reputation Management For Healthcare Organizations

Unlock the App Marketing Potential of QR Codes

Realising the power of virtual events for demand generation

The Progressive Marketer’s Ultimate Events Strategy 2022 Worksheet

CMO Guide: How to Plan Smart and Pivot Fast

See More Whitepapers

Receive daily search news and analysis.

Processing...Please wait.

Topics

  • SEO
  • PPC

Our Events

  • Search Marketing Expo - SMX
  • MarTech

About

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Marketing Opportunities
  • Staff

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters
  • RSS
  • Youtube

© 2022 Third Door Media, Inc. All rights reserved.