Google Ads is not just one of the oldest online advertising platforms, but it has also been the inspiration for many others - Facebook Ads, LinkedIn Ads, Yandex Ads,
Amazon Ads, and many more. Understanding and being able to manage the vast jungle of settings in Ads gives you an incredible lever. You will not just be able to
handle advertising budgets efficiently, but to turn them into a sustainable source of long-term revenue.

Through creating your own account and campaigns during the course, you will not just get to put the theory straight into practice, but also get a closer understanding
of the application of the herein taught principles and strategies.

Once you’re done with the course, you’re all set to take the Google Ads certification and don’t just end it with some more ECTS points but an actual valuation of your
skills which is known in the entire marketing industry.

Upon completing this learning experience, you’re able to structure an Ads
account, set up all kinds of campaigns, know the KPIs you should look out for, manage and optimize ads efficiently, and how to apply a certain budget.

After completing this course, you will be able to
1. structure an Ads account
2. set up search, display, app, YouTube, and Shopping campaigns
3. acquire advanced knowledge about mobile campaigns, remarketing, and optimization of campaigns
4. know how to manage and optimize Google ads efficiently
5. use the basics of Google Analytics and Merchant Center to further enhance the ROI of your advertising efforts.

Ads is an incredibly complex platform with many opportunities when mastered successfully. However, to get there it takes quite some practice and awareness of the
many different options. It’s not impossible to take that journey when approaching it all in a structured way:

1. Account structure: What makes an efficient account? What campaign types help you drive what business goal? This is a big part of the 90% of an iceberg
that you don’t see, but a crucial factor in creating a sustainable basis for longterm growth.

2. Targeted Ads: Learn and test techniques to create compelling ads through organized ad groups and campaigns. Discover what makes an efficient Call-To-Action and various advanced tips and tricks to help you convert more people.

3. Keywords: Learn the proper methods to find the best keywords that will drive the most traffic to your website while also keeping cost per click down to maximize
your profit. We will use the Google Keyword Planner, discover the various settings which are the key to success with attracting the right people to your homepage.

4. Ad Extensions: Discover the easiest way to outperform your competitors and get even better leads to your homepage. Add phone numbers, locations, prices, simple snippets of information, or much more to your ad to make it bigger, stand out more, and increase the Click-Through-Rate.

5. Metrics/KPIs: When do you actually know that a campaign is working? What are some competitive metrics that you can use to compare your company with others in the industry?

6. Remarketing: Only 2% of your website visitors convert on their first visit. What are you going to do to get the remaining 98% back? You don’t want to miss out on all that revenue, do you?

7. Google Analytics: Get to know the basics behind data analysis with one of the most powerful and free tools out there.

At the end of this course, you’ll be well prepared to take the Google Ads Certificate exam, and got a worldwide recognized certification in your hands.

Weights for each grading component used to compute your final grade:

• 20% of the final grade is based on in-class participation
• 15% of the final grade is based on your pre-class assignment
• 40% of the final grade is based on 2 in-class exams, whereas there will be 1 smaller exam (each 15%) and the final exam (25%), which will simulate parts of the Google Ads certification exam.
• 25% of the final grade is based on the group project

Class structure: You will pre-read/watch content about the topics, then we’ll discuss them in class and discover the new knowledge through hands-on learning. The lecture
will be led according to the flipped classroom principle.

Bonus Task (not mandatory):
In addition, you will receive a maximum of 5% by successfully passing the official Google Ads Certification exam within 2 weeks after the last class.

The transformation of your grade on the 100% scale looks like this:
• 1: 100% - 90%
• 2: 89% - 80%
• 3: 79% - 70%
• 4: 69% - 60%
• 5: Below 60%

Please note that to ensure an equal contribution of group members for the group assignment, a peer assessment will be conducted among group members, which enters into the computation of the individual grades for your group work. This means that the members of a group are required to assess other students regarding their relative contribution.

I am happy to answer your questions during class. I will also try to be available in the classroom after each class or during the breaks of each class.
Please do not expect that I answer long emails with numerous questions to topics of the class! It is usually much more productive to meet and discuss your questions in person.

Task: When working in an agency or big company, it is absolutely common to work as a team on a bigger account. As a team, you will utilize the skills of each person. Therefore, you will see the different elements which are involved when creating successful campaigns. Your task is to research, prepare an account structure, and create complete campaigns (min. 1 campaign/person) for a company of your choice.

The company will be chosen within your group and cannot be the same you're using for your practice campaigns during class.

You will submit a 2-page strategy playbook (PDF) outlining a rough Google Ads strategy and eventual additional campaigns for the company. Additionally, you will also present your done campaigns in a 5-min video (screensharing your account and showcasing your campaigns), which you record at your own convenience! How many people present the campaigns in the video is up to you. E.g. you can either have everybody present their campaign separately (but you must submit it as one video highlighting a coherent strategy!) or have one person explain all campaigns. Note that an app campaign or smart campaign will only count as half of a campaign due to its much reduced setup time.

Note:

• Exceeding the page or minute length will result in an automatic 5% deduction of your group project grade.
• Use apps like Grammarly to make sure that the text in your strategy playbook reflects proper English grammar.
• Only one person from your group needs to submit the playbook and the video, which will count for every team member.
• You can submit the video as a link to vimeo, YouTube, Dropbox, Drive, etc. and include it e.g. at the end of your strategy playbook.
• Make sure that the video link is accessible for the 'public' by the time you submit it. If I cannot access your video link after the submission deadline, the video will count as not submitted.
• It is your responsibility to make sure that the audio works well and the video is in a decent quality before you submit it.
• Each group has one appointment opportunity with the professor to ask any outstanding questions and get feedback on its strategy.

The group project has 4 sub-tasks to help you complete it in time:

Part I: Group discussion in class - what are you going to advertise? Why? What do you hope to get out of the ads?

Part II: Group discussion in class - what are you going to test? What is the account structure? What campaigns are you going to use?

Part III: Draft ads - set them up in an actual account.

Final: Submit a video explaining your account structure and campaign setup.

Deadline: 5.6.2020

Bonus Task: Google Ads Certification

Task: By completing this exam successfully, you will leave the course with a certification that is highly valuable in the professional world. Furthermore, it is an addon to your education and a well-sought-after proof of skill in the marketing world. Make sure that you’ve got stable internet connection as any internet interruption could mean that your exam ends early and you need to start all over.

You will receive 5% for this task if you complete the steps below before the deadline. This task is not mandatory, but represents and additional opportunity to get a
valuable certificate outside of class and add a few bonus points to your grade.

Steps:
1. Go here to access the certificate and additional preparation material:

https://skillshop.exceedlms.com/student/path/18128-google-ads-search-certification (you have to be logged in with a Google account in order to access this page).

2. Click on "Google Ads Search Assessment" to access the exam. Schedule ~1.5h to get it done.

3. Once you have passed, upload a full screenshot of the result (date & time must be visible on your laptop screen) here.

Deadline: 19.6.2020