Google offers several free and paid certification courses through its own learning platforms and third-party providers. Their goal is to help people build job-ready skills to start a career in the tech industry.
In this post, you’ll learn the best Google certifications worth pursuing. We’ve examined all Google certifications and will help you decide which ones can open up new career opportunities.
Things to Know About Google Certifications
They are 100% online certificates meaning you can complete the courses online without attending a classroom in person.
Google courses are designed and built by experts working at Google. Some certifications are delivered by Google online training platforms (Google Skillshop, Google Digital Garage, Grow with Google), and others by external e-learning providers.
Google offers both free and paid certifications (see Google Certifications List).
Google certifications are grouped into three main categories.
Google Career Certifications – These are professional certifications related to IT support, Data Analytics, Project Management, UX Design, and Android Development. Google career certifications are paid for and delivered by Coursera.
Google Digital Marketing Certifications – These are free and paid certifications delivered by Google Digital Garage and Coursera. These courses cover various topics, including online marketing, social media marketing, cloud training, SEO, email marketing, machine learning courses, and more.
Google Product Certifications – These are free training courses (with certifications) related to Google products. The most popular are Google Ads certifications and Google Analytics. Courses and certifications are delivered by Google Skillshop.
14 Top Google Certifications For 2023
These are the top free and paid Google certification courses worth pursuing.
- Google Digital Marketing Certification (Free)
- Google Ads Search Certification (Free)
- Google Shopping Ads Certification (Free)
- Google Analytics Individual Certification (Free)
- Google Ads Display Certification (Free)
- Google IT Support Professional Certificate (Paid)
- Google Data Analytics Certificate (Paid)
- Google Project Management Certificate (Paid)
- Google UX Design Certificate (Paid)
- Google IT Automation with Python Professional Certificate (Paid)
- Google Digital Marketing and eCommerce Certificate (Paid)
- Google Advanced Data Analytics Certificate (Paid)
- Google Business Intelligence Certificate (Paid)
- Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate (Paid)
1. Google Digital Marketing Certification (Free)
One of the most popular Google courses is the Fundamentals of Digital Marketing. This is considered by many experts as one of the best digital marketing courses.
It’s a free course that includes 26 modules created by Google trainers. Upon completion of the lessons, you can take an exam and earn a digital marketing certificate.
The certificate is accredited by the Open University and IABE Europe, and it’s the official Google Digital Marketing Certification.
Why take this certification?
You should consider studying for this certification if you want to pursue a career in digital marketing.
By taking this course, you’ll build the necessary skills to work with various digital marketing channels, including:
- Content Marketing
- eCommerce Marketing
- Email Marketing
- Display Advertising
- Mobile Marketing
- Online Marketing Strategy
It’s a certification course aimed at beginners, and the total time investment is 40 hours. To get certified, you must complete all 26 modules and pass the Google Garage exam (40 questions, multiple-choice).
Jobs you can do with the Google digital marketing certification:
The average salary for Digital marketing professionals in the US is between $52K – $100K per year (depending on experience and job position).
2. Google Ads Search Certification (Free)
Google Ads (formerly Google Adwords) is the most popular PPC platform and one of Google’s major income sources.
To educate marketers on taking advantage of all Google Ads features, they created several Google Ads certification courses delivered by Google Skillshop for free.
One of the Google Ads courses worth pursuing is the Google Ads Search Certification.
Why take this certification?
- Acquire the necessary knowledge and skills to run search ads campaigns on Google.
- It’s a requirement if you want to become an official Google Ads Partner.
- It’s one of the most recognized certifications in the marketing industry.
To become Google ads certified, you must pass a 50-question multiple-choice exam with a score of 80% and above. Exams are taken via Google Skillshop, and they are free.
To prepare for the exams, you can use the study guide and resources provided by Skillshop or register for a third-party Google Ads course.
Jobs you can do with the Google Ads Search Certification:
- Google Ads Specialist
- PPC Specialist
- PPC Manager
- SEM Specialist
The average salary of a Google Ads specialist is $71k per year.
3. Google Shopping Ads Certification (Free)
If you want to start a career in eCommerce or acquire the skills needed to promote your own products on Google, you should definitely consider the Shopping Ads Certification.
Why take this certification?
The shopping ads certification will teach you how to design, set up and optimize Google Shopping campaigns.
You’ll learn how to add your product catalog to the Google merchant center to get your products to appear in Google search and use them in different types of campaigns, including shopping and retargeting campaigns.
Jobs you can do with the Google Shopping Ads Certification:
- PPC Specialist
- eCommerce Specialist
- PPC Expert
The average salary of an eCommerce specialist is $58K per year.
4. Google Analytics Individual Certification (Free)
One of the hands-on skills all digital marketing professionals should have is using Google Analytics.
Google Analytics is the most popular website analytics platform, and getting the Google Analytics Certification shows your competency in using the tool.
Why take this certification?
By enrolling in this free Google certification, you’ll learn both basic and advanced Google Analytics concepts. By the end of the course, you’ll be able to use different reports to analyze and interpret how users find and interact with a website.
The total time investment needed for this course is 2 hours. To get certified, you must pass the Google Analytics exams (70 multiple-choice questions) with an 80% or higher score.
Jobs you can do with the Google Analytics Certification:
- Google Analytics Professional
- Google Analytics Specialist
- Junior Data Analyst
5. Google Ads Display Certification (Free)
Another Google certification worth considering is the Google Ads Display Certification. It’s a free certification offered by Google Skillshop.
Why take this certification?
Google display ads are great for brand awareness and retargeting, and this course will teach you how to maximize the ROI from your paid campaigns.
The total time investment is about 2 hours. To get certified you need to pass the Google Ads Display assessment with a score of 80% and above.
Jobs you can do with the Google Ads Display Certification:
- Google Ads Specialist
- Google Display Specialist
- PPC Manager
- SEM Specialist
6. Google IT Support Professional Certificate (Paid)
If you want to get a job in the IT support industry, pursuing the Google IT Support Professional Certificate is your best bet.
According to Google, there are more than 340K job openings in the field of IT, and this online certificate will help you build the necessary skills to work as an IT support professional.
Why take this certification?
- The Google IT Support certificate is the most popular Google career certificate on Coursera.
- It opens up new career opportunities.
- It’s perfect for beginners with no prior experience in IT support.
- It’s one of the professions you can do from home.
- The need for IT support specialists is high in demand and constantly increasing.
- It’s the first step toward obtaining a more specialized certification and earning a higher salary.
- You can get college credits and exceptions from other courses.
The cost for getting this Google career certificate is $49 per month, and the estimated duration is 6 months (allocating 10 hours per week).
To get certified, you need to complete 5 courses:
- Technical Support Fundamentals
- The Bits and Bytes of Computer Networking
- Operating Systems and You: Becoming a Power User
- System Administration and IT Infrastructure Services
- IT Security: Defense against the digital dark arts
Jobs you can do with a Google IT support certificate:
Once you become Google IT support certified, you can apply for several jobs, including help desk technician, systems analyst, support specialist, database administrator, IT technician, and computer user specialist.
The average annual salary for entry-level IT support professionals is around $50K.
Review
Read our Google IT Support Professional Certificate Review to learn more about this certification.
7. Google Data Analytics Certificate (Paid)
Data analytics is one of the hottest topics in the marketing industry. With the growth of data coming from various resources, you need professionals to gather, interpret and analyze the data to make informed business decisions.
This professional career certificate from Google will help you build the necessary skills to get an entry-level marketing job as a Data Analyst.
Why take this certification?
- According to Google, there are more than 300K job openings in the US looking for data analysts
- Build job-ready skills
- Understand how to use data to solve problems
- It’s an online course (no need to attend a class in person)
To get certified, you need to complete 8 courses:
- Foundations: Data, Data, Everywhere
- Ask Questions to Make Data-Driven Decisions
- Prepare Data for Exploration
- Process Data from Dirty to Clean
- Analyze Data to Answer Questions
- Share Data Through the Art of Visualization
- Data Analysis with R Programming
- Google Data Analytics Capstone: Complete a Case Study
The cost for getting this Google career certificate is $49 per month and the estimated duration is 6 months (allocating 10 hours per week).
Jobs you can do with a Google Data Analytics certificate:
- Data Analyst
- Junior Database Administrator
- Junior data scientist
- Finance Analyst
- Operations Analyst
- Business performance analyst
- Marketing analyst
The average annual salary for Data Analytics certified professionals is $68K.
Review
Read our Google Data Analytics Certification Review to learn more about this certification.
8. Google Project Management Certificate (Paid)
Having project management skills is a requirement if you want to pursue a management position in a company, become a digital marketing consultant, or start your own business.
Any task you perform online, whether a development project, executing an SEO campaign, running a digital marketing project, or a social media marketing strategy, is like a small project.
Knowing how to plan, organize and monitor the project on time and within budget is key to running profitable projects.
Why take this certification?
- Become a certified Google Project Management and get one of the 475K available jobs.
- Learn how to run successful IT and digital marketing projects
- Learn how to use project management tools
- Get credits (100 hours) toward becoming a PMI-certified project management
To become certified, you need to complete 6 courses:
- Foundations of Project Management
- Project Initiation: Starting a Successful Project
- Project Planning: Putting It All Together
- Project Execution: Running the Project
- Agile Project Management
- Applying Project Management in the Real World
The cost for getting this Google career certificate is $49 per month, and the estimated duration is 6 months (allocating 10 hours per week).
Jobs you can do with a Google Project Management certificate:
- Project manager
- Junior Project manager
- Project Coordinator
- Project Assistant
- Program Manager
- Scrum master
- Project Administrator
- Technical project manager
The average annual salary for entry-level project management professionals is $59K per year.
Review
Read our Google Project Management Certificate Review to learn more about this certification.
9. Google UX Design Certificate (Paid)
User experience is a key factor for the success of any physical or digital product, including websites and mobile apps. The Google UX Design certificate will help you build the skills needed to design interfaces that offer a great experience to users.
To become a certified UX designer, you need to complete 7 courses.
- Foundations of User Experience (UX) Design
- Start the UX Design Process: Empathize, Define, and Ideate
- Build Wireframes and Low-Fidelity Prototypes
- Conduct UX Research and Test Early Concepts
- Create High-Fidelity Designs and Prototypes in Figma
- Responsive Web Design in Adobe XD
- Design a User Experience for Social Good & Prepare for Jobs
The cost for getting this Google career certificate is $49 per month, and the estimated duration is 6 months (allocating 10 hours per week).
Why take this certification?
No prior experience is needed to follow this course, but it’s not for everyone. If you feel you don’t have the creativity and vision to design web or mobile interfaces, you better choose a different career path.
This is a great course for people who like and have the talent to work with design tools and concepts.
Jobs you can do with a Google UX Design certificate:
- UX designer
- UI designer
- Web designer
- Product designer
The average annual salary for UX designers is $59K.
Review
Read our Google UX Design Certificate Review to learn more about this certification.
10. Google IT Automation with Python Professional Certificate (Paid)
Python is the most in-demand programming language for the web. Python courses are popular on all online learning platforms, and the need for Python programmers is constantly increasing.
This Google career course teaches you how to use Python to create programs/scripts for automating common administrative tasks.
The cost of getting this Google career certificate is $49 per month, and the estimated duration is 4 months (allocating 10 hours per week).
Why take this certification?
This is a specialized professional certification, and although no prior coding experience is required, it’s for people who want to learn to program. If you find programming too confusing, choosing a different career path is better.
If, on the other hand, you want to start exploring the exciting world of computer programming and become a Python expert, this course is a great starting point.
There are more than 530K job postings related to Python (in the US alone), and you’ll have no difficulty finding a job.
Jobs you can do with a Google Python Professional certificate:
- Python programmer
- Web developer
- IT Support Specialist
- IT Automation specialist
- Junior System administrator
The average annual salary for good Python programmers is around $115K annually in the United States.
Review
Read our Google IT Automation With Python Certificate Review to learn more about this certification.
11. Google Digital Marketing and eCommerce Certificate (Paid)
Besides the Fundamentals of Digital Marketing, Google has recently released a new professional certificate combining Digital Marketing and eCommerce together, the Google Digital Marketing & eCommerce Professional Certificate.
This certificate includes seven courses designed by Google Marketing experts and delivered via Coursera. Unlike the Fundamentals certificate, which is free, this is a paid certification. The cost to register for the course and get certified is $49 per month, and the estimated duration is 6 months (the expected total cost is $234).
Through the lessons, you’ll learn how to use digital marketing to reach your target audience. The certificate covers concepts related to search engine optimization, social media marketing, email marketing, and display advertising.
A portion of the courses (2/7) is allocated exclusively to eCommerce marketing. In particular, you’ll learn how to design an online store (using Shopify), add product information and optimize it for online sales.
Why take this certification?
You should take this certification if you want to start a career as a digital marketing professional with a focus on eCommerce marketing. Compared to the Fundamentals Certification, which includes 40 hours of content, this certificate includes 152 hours of content, and the lessons are more comprehensive and practical.
In addition, as part of the practical assignments, you’ll get a chance to work with popular digital marketing tools like MailChimp, Canva, Shopify, and Hubspot.
Jobs you can do with a Google Digital Marketing & eCommerce Certificate:
- Digital Marketing Coordinator
- Marketing Specialist
- SEO Specialist
- Search Engine Analyst
- Media Planner
- E-commerce Associate
- Email Marketing Expert
The average salary of a junior e-commerce specialist in the US is around $51K per year.
Review
Read our Google Digital Marketing & eCommerce Certificate Review to learn more about this certification.
12. Google Advanced Data Analytics Certificate (Paid)
The Google Advanced Data Analytics Certificate is the next step for Google Data Analytics Certificate graduates. Unlike the Data Analytics certificate aimed at beginners, the Advanced certificate is for people with experience in the data analytics industry.
The certificate includes seven courses covering topics related to statistical analysis, regression models, and machine learning and takes an average of 6 months to complete.
Why take this certification?
You should take this certification if you want to pursue senior data analytics positions.
It’s not a certification for inexperienced professionals but builds on your data analytics skills and experience to take your career to the next level.
The certificate can be taken entirely online, and it’s self-faced, making learning more convenient for most professionals with a job.
Upon completion of the certificate, you’ll have a number of projects to enrich your portfolio and skills related to advanced data analytics concepts like:
- How to teach computer systems to discover patterns in data with machine learning.
- How to perform data analytic tasks in Python
- How to use popular data analytics tools like Tableau to visualize data.
Jobs you can do with a Google Advanced Data Analytics Certificate:
- Senior data analyst
- Junior data scientist
- Data science analyst
- Data scientist
The average annual salary for Senior Data Analytics certified professionals is $118K in the US.
Review
Read our Google Advanced Data Analytics Certificate Review to learn more about this certification.
13. Google Business Intelligence Certificate (Paid)
The Google Business Intelligence Certificate is the first career certificate exclusively on Business Intelligence. It’s an advanced certificate for professionals already working in the industry.
The certification includes three courses and takes less than 2 months to complete. The courses cover topics related to data models and pipelines, interactive dashboards, and reporting.
Why take this certification?
You should take this certification if you’re already working in a related data analytics position and want to expand your skills with practical, hands-on projects featuring BigQuery, SQL, and Tableau.
Although Google recommends having a data analytics certificate before taking this certification, this is not a strict requirement. As long as you have working experience with data manipulation and tools, we’ll be able to follow the lessons without problems.
As part of the end-of-course project of course 3, you’ll complete an interactive Business Intelligence dashboard which is a great addition to your portfolio when applying for senior-level positions.
Jobs you can do with a Google Business Intelligence Certificate:
- Business Intelligence Analyst
- Business Intelligence Engineer
- Business Intelligence Developer
The average annual salary for BI certified professionals is $96K in the US.
Review
Read our Google Business Intelligence Certificate Review to learn more about this certification.
14. Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate (Paid)
The Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate is an entry-level certification for entering the Cybersecurity industry.
If you want to build skills in an in-demand industry and secure a job as a cybersecurity analyst, this is one of the best certifications you can pursue.
The certification includes eight courses and takes less than 5 months to complete. The courses cover topics related to data security, network security, cyber attacks, cybersecurity tools, and processes, automating cybersecurity tasks with Python, and more.
Why take this certification?
You should take this certification if you want to learn how businesses can protect their data and other online assets from hackers.
The courses cover both the theory and practical aspects of data security. You’ll learn how to identify attacks, how to communicate this to stakeholders, and what you can do to protect and prevent cyber attacks from happening.
Similar to other Google certifications, during the course, you’ll have a chance to work on a number of projects that you can use as case studies for your portfolio.
There are also lessons on how to find entry-level jobs, create a resume, and best prepare for an interview.
Jobs you can do with a Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate:
- Cybersecurity Analyst
- Security Analyst
- Security Operations Center Analyst (SOC)
- Information Security Analyst
- IT Security Analyst
- Cyber Defense Analyst
The average annual salary for Cybersecurity certified professionals is $100K in the US.
Review
Read our Google Cybersecurity Certificate Review to learn more about this certification.
Google Certifications List
The table below shows the cost of the most popular Google certifications.
| Certification | Cost | Provider |
|---|---|---|
| Google Digital Marketing Certification | Free | Google Digital Garage |
| Google Ads Search Certification | Free | Google Skillshop |
| Google Shopping Ads Certification | Free | Google Skillshop |
| Google Analytics Individual Certification | Free | Google Skillshop |
| Google Ads Display Certification | Free | Google Skillshop |
| Google IT Support Professional Certificate | Paid ($49/mo) | Coursera |
| Google Data Analytics Certificate | Paid ($49/mo) | Coursera |
| Google Project Management Certificate | Paid ($49/mo) | Coursera |
| Google UX Design Certificate | Paid ($49/mo) | Coursera |
| Google IT Automation with Python Certificate | Paid ($49/mo) | Coursera |
| Google Digital Marketing and eCommerce Certificate | Paid ($49/mo) | Coursera |
| Google Advanced Data Analytics Certificate | Paid ($49/mo) | Coursera |
| Google Business Intelligence Certificate | Paid ($49/mo) | Coursera |
| Google Cybersecurity Professoinal Certificate | Paid ($49/mo) | Coursera |
Are Google Certifications Worth It?
Google certifications are certainly worth it. All professional and career Google certifications are prepared by Google experts and are carefully designed to help students build job-ready skills.
The certifications are accredited by Universities, professional institutions, and employers, and they can help you secure a job in the IT or digital marketing industry.
Most certifications are free, and the paid certifications are reasonably priced.
Google Certifications Video Review
Watch this video for a visual walkthrough of the best Google certifications.
Google Certification Alternatives
There are a number of professional certifications that are considered alternatives to Google certifications and can help you learn new skills and secure an entry-level job in various industries. The most popular are the Meta Certifications, Microsoft Professional Certifications, Google Cloud Certifications, and Coursera Certifications.
What is your learning experience with Google courses? Do they worth it? Let me know in the comments below.
Hello friend!
Thank you so much for informing me about various Google certification courses. Your post is outstanding and very informative for me. I loved your entire post and will definitely share your post with my friends.
Thank you so much once again.
Hi James
Thanks for your nice comment.
All the best
Alex
Thank You Alex,
Nice list of the best Google certificates. It made it clear about what to learn next.
Hi Parul
Thanks for commenting.
Alex
Great review of the confusing Google programs!
Hi Hamdi El-Sissi
Glad I could help you understand how Google certifications work.
All the best
Alex
Hi Alex,
Thanks for the great post. Loved it. Feeling overwhelmed with all these choices for a post (Bank) retirement career. Where should I start? Digital Marketing? I’ve been in Relationship Management for 2.5 decades..
Thanks again…cheers!!
Hi Arif
Digital Marketing is a great choice for starting a new career. You can start with the free digital marketing certificate from Google and then pursue a more advanced certification.
All the best
Alex