Welcome to the Search Advertising exam refresher guide - the perfect way to prepare for your exam. We’ll cover everything from how search works, how to organize campaigns, ad formats, and how to monitor and optimize performance. This handy resource is a shortened version of the full Search Advertising study guide, which is available on our Partners Help Center. You’ll also find additional information and plenty of helpful links throughout.
Remember that your Search Advertising exam covers basic and advanced concepts including search fundamentals, bidding and targeting strategies, performance and monitoring reporting, and more. You can expect 98 questions, there’s a 120 minute time limit and an 80% passing score. You’ll need to pass both AdWords Fundamentals and Search Advertising exams (or one of the other AdWords exams like Video, Display, Shopping or Mobile Advertising) to become AdWords certified.
Here’s what we’ll cover in this refresher guide:
Module 1 Search Fundamentals Review
1.1 Organizing campaigns and ads in your account
1.2 Using keyword matching options
1.3 Using broad match
1.4 Using broad match modifier
1.5 Account, campaign and ad group performance
1.6 Understanding ad position and Ad Rank
1.7 Actual cost-per-click (CPC)
Module 2 Ad Formats
2.1 Ad Formats
2.1.1 Text ad
2.1.2 What makes up a text ad
2.1.3 Tips for creating successful text ads
2.1.4 About Shopping campaigns and Product Listing Ads
2.1.5 Using Dynamic Search Ads
2.2 Ad Extensions
2.2.1 Enhance your ad with extensions
2.2.2 Show local business info with location extensions
2.2.3 About Google my business
2.2.4 Add phone numbers to your ads
2.2.5 Understanding your seller ratings
2.2.6 Display additional sitelinks below your ad text
Module 3 Ad & Site Quality
3.1 Check and understand Quality Score
3.2 Understanding landing page experience
3.3 Create an effective mobile site
3.4 About invalid traffic
Module 4 AdWords Tools
4.1 Overview of AdWords Tools
4.2 See your account history
4.3 Keyword Tools
4.3.1 Add negative keywords to your campaign
4.4 Targeting Tools
4.4.1 Target ads to geographic locations
4.4.2 How ads are matched to geographic locations
4.4.3 Excluding IP addresses
4.5 Bidding and Budgets Tools
4.5.1 Enhanced cost-per-click (ECPC)
4.5.2 About Conversion Optimizer
4.5.3 Set up Conversion Optimizer
4.5.4 Troubleshooting for Conversion Optimizer
4.5.5 Using automatic bidding
4.5.6 Cost-per-acquisition (CPA) bidding
4.5.7 Finding your first ads
4.6 About AdWords Editor
Module 5 Performance Monitoring and Reporting
5.1 Introduction to AdWords Reporting
5.1.1 Introduction to AdWords Reports
5.1.2 Explore your data on the Campaigns tab
5.1.3 Customize your performance data
5.1.4 Use columns to find specific performance data
5.1.5 Create, save and schedule reports
5.1.6 Find, edit or remove reports
5.2 Interpreting AdWords Reports
5.2.1 Evaluate ad performance on the search network
5.2.2 Attribution reports and conversion data
5.2.3 Measure keyword performance on the Search Network
5.2.4 Measuring reach and frequency
5.2.5 Measuring geographic performance
5.2.6 Measuring and comparing performance by periods of time
5.3 Additional Performance Insights
5.3.1 Using Auction insights to compare performance
5.3.2 Using the Home tab to track your performance
5.3.3 Using labels in AdWords
5.3.4 Use segments to view performance data
5.3.5 Understanding the Search terms report
5.3.6 Measure ad extensions performance
Module 6 Optimizing Performance
6.1 The Opportunities tab
6.2 Campaign Experiments
6.2.1 About campaign experiments
6.2.2 Set up experiments
6.2.3 Monitoring your experiments
6.3 Using custom ad scheduling
6.4 Using keyword insertion
6.5 Get ideas to improve your account
Module 7 Performance, Profitability and Growth
7.1 Budget Growth
7.1.1 Understand budget impact on profit
7.1.2 Scaling budget by performance
7.1.3 Growing a profitable campaign
7.1.4 Growth in practice
7.1.5 Improve performance when daily budget is depleted
7.2 Bidding for Performance
7.2.1 Learn the basics of performance-based bidding
7.2.2 Selecting metrics to maximize profit
7.3 Profitability and Lifetime Value
7.3.1 Achieving profitability
7.3.2 How to estimate conversion value
Module 8 AdWords API
8.1 AdWords Application Programming Interface (API)
8.2 Benefits and languages
Module 1 Search Fundamentals Review
1.1 Organizing campaigns and ads in your account
Understanding the relationship between the layers of your account will help you to organize your ads, keywords and ad groups into effective campaigns that target the right audience.
How AdWords is organized
AdWords is organized into three layers:
1. Account
2. Campaign
3. Ad group
Why you should organize your ads into ad groups and campaigns
To show ads that are relevant to the searches of people you're trying to reach, bundle related ads together with related keywords into an ad group. That way, all of your related ads can be shown to customers searching for similar things. A collection of ad groups forms a campaign - the master control for your ad groups where you can choose:
How much you're willing to spend on clicks or conversions
Networks and geographical locations
Other top-level settings that affect clusters of ad groups
1.2 Using keyword matching options
Keyword match types help control which searches can trigger your ad. For example, you could use broad match to show your ad to a wide audience, or you could use exact match to hone in on specific groups of customers.
About keyword match types
Learn about the different keyword match types (broad, phrase, exact, and negative) and how selecting the right ones for your keywords can help you reach your AdWords goals.
How keyword match types work
Broad match: These may show if a search term contains your keyword terms in any order and possibly along with other terms.
Broad match modifier: Your ads can only show when someone's search contains those modified terms, or close variations of the modified terms, in any order.
Phrase match: Your ad can show when someone searches for your exact keyword, or your exact keyword with additional words before or after it.
Exact match: Your ads can appear only when someone searches for your exact keyword, without any other terms in the search.
Negative match: Your ad won't show if a search term contains the keyword term that you define with a minus sign (-) prefix.
Close keyword variations
We'll show your ads for close variations of your phrase and exact match keywords to maximize your potential to show your ads on relevant searches.
How to choose the right keyword match types
When choosing the appropriate match type for a keyword, we typically recommend using a ‘broad-to-narrow’ strategy. Monitor your keywords' performance over time and make your keyword match types more specific if you find that your ad is showing up for too many irrelevant variations of your keywords.
Once your broad matches have gathered impressions and clicks, review the search terms report to monitor which keyword variations triggered your ads.
1.3 Using broad match
Broad match is the default match type that all your keywords are assigned if you don't specify another match type (exact match, phrase match or negative match).
How broad match can help you
You can set any or all of your search-targeted keywords to broad match to help you spend less time building keyword lists, and spend your money on keywords that work.
When other options might be more helpful
Your Quality Score helps determine where your ad shows, and broad match keywords may contribute to a low Quality Score if your keywords appear relevant for too many search terms.
You'll generally achieve a higher click through rate (CTR) with exact and phrase match.
If you've several keywords set to broad match and would like to see the actual search queries that triggered your ads, this information can be found in the "Details" drop-down menu on the Keywords tab.
Use broad match modifier for more control over broad match
Adding modified broad match keywords can increase campaign clicks and conversions, while providing more precise control than broad match. Modified broad match lets you specify that certain broad match keyword terms, or their close variants, must appear to trigger your ad. Close variants include misspellings, singular/plural forms, abbreviations and acronyms, and stemmings (such as "floor" and "flooring").
1.4 Using broad match modifier
You can add a modifier to your broad match keywords to specify that certain words must be included in someone's search term to trigger your ads. Since broad match modifier allows you to target searches that include at least one of your keywords, it can help increase how relevant your traffic is to your ads and improve your clickthrough (CTR) and conversion rates.
How broad match modifiers impact traffic and clicks
Modifiers add more specificity to your broad match keywords and therefore narrow their reach. So, while using a broad match modifier can increase the relevance of your keywords, it in turn can decrease your expected traffic.
Best practices for additional relevant clicks:
Leave existing broad match keywords active
Compare new and existing keywords based on performance by adding new modified broad match keywords to existing campaigns
If you've primarily used:
Broad match keywords - consider adjusting your bids as you add more relevant modified broad match keywords. A higher cost-per-click (CPC) bid may increase your click volume and conversions.
Exact and phrase match - adding modified broad match keywords may help you to reach more customers while retaining control over which search terms match your keywords.
1.5 Account, campaign, and ad group performance
AdWords is organized into three layers (levels): account, campaigns, and ad groups. Customize your view of your performance data to make it as broad or specific as you want.
Your account is associated with a unique email address, password, and billing information. For reporting purposes, though, it's helpful to think of your account as a collection of campaigns. If you want to see performance data for your entire account, click All campaigns in the side panel of your AdWords account.
Your campaign data
An individual campaign has its own budget and settings that determine where your ads appear, and is made up of a collection of ad groups. Each of your campaigns is listed in the side panel of your AdWords account, and they also appear when you click the Campaigns tab in the middle of your screen.
Your ad group data
Your ad group contains a set of similar ads and the words and phrases, known as keywords, that you want to trigger your ads to show. When you click on a campaign, AdWords will show you a view of the campaign's performance broken down by its individual ad groups. You can also see ad group data by clicking the Ad groups tab in the middle of your screen.
1.6 Understanding ad position and Ad Rank
Ad position is the order in which your ad shows up on a page. Ads can appear on the top of a search results page, on the side of the page, or on the bottom of the page.
How ad position is determined
Ad position is determined by your Ad Rank in the auction. Your Ad Rank is a score that's based on your bid and the components of Quality Score. The quality components of Ad Rank are a measurement of the quality of your ad text and landing page in the context of what a user is searching for.
We also incorporate the expected impact from your extensions and other ad formats when computing your Ad Rank. When doing so, we consider such factors as the relevance, clickthrough rates, and the prominence of the extensions or formats on the search results page. So even if your competition has higher bids than yours, you can still win a higher position at a lower price by using highly relevant keywords, ads and extensions.
How ads cycle through the search result pages
The ad with the highest Ad Rank appears in the first eligible position on the search results page. The ad with the second-highest Ad Rank appears beneath it, and so on down the page.
All high-ranking ads are eligible to show in the top positions, provided they exceed a certain Ad Rank threshold. These are "Top" placement ads. "Other" placement ads are located at the side or bottom of the page.
1.7 Actual cost-per-click (CPC)
Actual cost-per-click (CPC) is often less than your maximum cost-perclick (CPC) because with the AdWords auction, the most you'll pay is what's minimally required to hold your ad position and any ad formats shown with your ad, such as sitelinks.
How it works
We combine the components of Quality Score (expected clickthrough rate, ad relevance, and landing page experience), the max. CPC bid, and the expected impact of extensions and other ad formats to determine Ad Rank. Ad Rank is then used to determine where the ad appears and what types of extensions and other ad formats will show with the ad (or whether the ad or ad format will appear at all).
For ads on the Search Network, the minimum Ad Rank required for ads above search results is generally greater than the minimum Ad Rank required for ads beside search results. As a result, the actual CPC when you appear above search results could be higher than the actual CPC if you appear beside search results, even if no other advertisers are immediately below you. Although you may pay more per click, top ads usually have higher click through rates and may allow you to show certain ad extensions and other features available only in top ad positions. As always, you’re never charged more than your max. CPC bid.
Module 2 Ad Formats
2.1 Ad Formats
2.1.1 Text Ad
A text ad includes a link to your website and a description or promotion of your product or service.
Text ads include a title that's also a clickable link to your web page, one or two lines of text, and your website address shown in green
These ads can appear on Google search results pages and across the Google Network
Text ads often appear with language that labels them as advertisements so that viewers understand that the links are paid promotions
2.1.2 What makes up a text ad
Text ads, the simplest version of the online ads AdWords offers, have three parts:
Headline
Display URL
Description
2.1.3 Tips for creating successful text ads
Successful text ads are specific, relevant, attractive and empowering.
They should::
Highlight what makes you unique
Include prices, promotions and exclusives
Empower customers to take action
Include at least one of your keywords
Match your ad to your landing page
Appeal to customers on mobile
Experiment
2.1.4 About Shopping Campaigns and Product Listing Ads
If you're a retailer, you can use Shopping campaigns to promote your online and local inventory, boost traffic to your website or local shop and find better qualified leads. With Shopping campaigns, we create ads on Google and around the web where potential customers can see what you're selling. We call these placements Product Listing Ads, because they're more than a text ad – they show users a photo of your product, plus a title, price, shop name and more.
Benefits of Product Listing Ads
More traffic
Better qualified lead
Easy retail-centric campaign management
Broader presence
Powerful reporting and competitive data
How Shopping campaigns and Product Listing Ads work
Product Listing Ads use your existing Merchant Center product feed - not keywords - to decide how and where to show your ads.
You manage your Product Listing Ads in AdWords using Shopping campaigns, a simple and flexible way to organize and promote your Google Merchant Center product inventory within AdWords.
Where your Ads appear
Here's where you might see your Product Listing Ads across the web:
Google Shopping (in select countries)
Google Search, next to search results and separatefrom text ads
Google Search Partner websites (if your campaign is set to include search partners)
Your Product Listing Ads can appear at the same time as text ads, because we want to give shoppers access to the full variety of products that match their search. This means that shoppers can find the best match before clicking through to make a purchase, which might help you close the sale.
Cost
We charge for clicks on your Product Listings Ads on a cost-per-click (CPC) basis. So we only charge for clicks that lead directly to a merchant's website. This includes clicks on Local Product Listing Ads that link to merchant websites hosted by Google. You're not charged for clicks on Product Listing Ads that lead to pages within the Google Shopping website.
2.1.5 Using Dynamic Search Ads
Unlike most text ads, which are targeted to queries directly by keywords, Dynamic Search Ads appear based on the content of your website. This means you don't have to maintain lists of keywords or landing pages.
When Dynamic Search Ads may not be ideal for your business
Dynamic Search Ads may not be the best campaign type for websites with rapidly changing content, as content updates won't be detected immediately.
Why use Dynamic Search Ads
Here are some of the benefits of using Dynamic Search Ads:
Save time
Frequent, automatic updates to your ads
Show relevant, dynamically generated headlines with your ads
Control your campaign
Capture additional traffic
How Dynamic Search Ads work
Instead of keywords, we use content from your website domain to target your ads to searches. To do this, we use Google's organic search index of your website to determine which searches might be relevant to the products and services offered on your website.
Choose which landing pages to scan
You can choose whether your entire website or just specific pages are used to target your ads. The default way to set up Dynamic Search Ads is to use category targets generated from your website.
More advanced options for dynamic search targets include:
Pages with titles containing certain words
Pages with URLs containing certain strings of text
Pages containing certain words
We'll show your ad for relevant searches with dynamically generated text
When Google finds searches that are a match for your dynamic ad targets, it generates your ad's headline and landing page URL. This URL will link to the most appropriate page in your website.
Dynamic Search Ads and Ad Rank
Although Dynamic Search Ads change the way that ads are targeted for searches, they won't impact the way that ads are ranked, the performance of your keyword-based ads or the amount of control that you've over your account.
2.2 Ad Extensions
2.2.1 Enhance your ad with extensions
Ad extensions create more reasons to click on your ad
Ad extensions can help you achieve improved ad visibility and better return on investment (ROI). Ad extensions are an ad format that show extra information (“extending” from your text ads) about your business. Some can be added manually and others are automated. Ad extensions appear with ads on the Search Network, and depending on the extension, might also appear with ads on the Display Network.
Examples of AdWords ad extensions, a video»
How ad extensions work
AdWords shows one or more extensions with your ad when it calculates that the extension will improve your campaign performance, and when your Ad Rank is high enough for it to appear.
Automated extensions: AdWords creates and displays the automated extensions formats (seller ratings, consumer ratings, social extensions and previous visits) when it predicts that they’ll improve your ad’s performance.
What ad extensions cost
There's no cost to add extensions to your campaign, but you're charged as usual for clicks on your ad, as well as for certain interactions that extensions provide.
2.2.2 Show local business info with location extensions
What location extensions do
Location extensions show your business address, phone number and a map marker with your ad text
On mobile, they include a link with directions to your business
Clicks on ads with location extensions cost a standard costper-click
How you benefit
Location extensions encourage people to visit you in person
You can add multiple addresses by linking your account to Google My Business
On average, ads with location extensions see a 10% boost in clickthrough rate
You can target your ads around your business addresses
Where and how your local business info can appear
Location extensions can show your business information in various formats on the Google Search Network, Google Search Network Partner Sites, Google Maps and on mobile devices.
How to set up location extensions
AdWords uses Google My Business to manage your business addresses.
Google My Business is a free service that helps customers to find you online
It makes all your business addresses available for any campaign or ad group on the Search, Display or Search with Display Select networks
You use filters to control which addresses show up with your ads at the account, campaign and ad group level
Adding or updating addresses in Google My Business automatically updates validated addresses used for ads
Filtering options also let you choose whether a given campaign or ad group will show location extensions on all devices, desktop and tablet devices or mobile phones only
Fix a problem with location extensions
Location extensions aren’t running? You may have set up filters incorrectly, or your addresses may not be syncing with Google My Business.
Learn more about showing local business info with location extensions»
2.2.3 About Google My Business
Using the Google My Business dashboard, you can:
Maintain up-to-date business information on Google
Build loyal customers using a Google+ page
Track engagement with insights for Google+ pages and posts
See information on your related Google Analytics account and YouTube channels
Create and track the performance of AdWords Express campaigns.
Businesses with a physical location or that service geographic areas get additional benefits.
Once you've verified your business on Google My Business, you’ll be able to:
Help get your business found on Google
Read and respond to reviews
Get customer insights
Get started adding your business information to Google»
2.2.4 Add phone numbers to your ads
What phone numbers can do
Encourage calls to your business by displaying your phone number on your ad
Show a clickable call button in your ad (on high-end mobile devices)
Cost the same as a headline click (a standard cost-per-click CPC)
For call-only campaigns, ads will only appear on devices capable of making calls.
How you benefit
Adding phone numbers to your ads makes it easy for people to call you on the go
You can share these numbers across ads within an ad group or entire campaign
Clicks on call-only ads exclusively drive calls to your business
You can set numbers to appear only when your business can take calls
You can count calls as conversions. Find out more about call conversions
Call extensions can typically increase clickthrough rates by 6-8%
Create a call-only campaign
Call-only campaigns allow you to focus on getting more people to click-to-call you straight from your ads. With these campaigns, you’ll be able to use CPC bidding based on the value of a call to your business. You'll also be able to add your existing phone information to your new ads.
Important: Currently, call-only campaigns are available for ads targeting the Search Network.
How call-only ads work
Ads created in call-only campaigns are fine tuned to show only on mobile devices that are capable of making calls. Clicks on these ads will only generate calls – they won’t link to a website.
2.2.5 Understanding your seller ratings
Seller ratings are an automated extension that let people know which advertisers are highly rated for quality service.
How seller ratings work
Seller ratings show a combination of information and reviews next to your AdWords ads. These reviews and ratings primarily reflect customers' overall consumer experience with these businesses, not their response to particular products.
We match these reviews to your ad by pairing the domain of the display URL to the advertiser's domain from the review source on Google. There's no cost to add seller ratings to your campaign, but you'll be charged as usual for clicks on your ad.
2.2.6 Display additional sitelinks below your ad text
The sitelinks ad extension shows links to specific pages on your website beneath the text of your ads (and in addition to the main landing page), helping customers to reach what they're looking for on your site with just one click. Sitelinks appear in ads at the top and b