Apple Search Ads Certification Now Available

This month Apple released certification for Apple Search Ads (ASA) advanced. This is great news as it demonstrates Apple’s commitment to its ad product. Certification exams are nothing new in the ad tech world. Google and Facebook have offered them for years.

I recently took (and yes, passed) the ASA advanced certification. The process was quick, painless and informative. I’ll even go so far as saying that I enjoyed it. Anything quick and easy wins brownie points in my book. However, on a practical level it was great. The training walks you through literally every key feature and tab in ASA advanced. With so many features at your disposal with ASA, it’s great to have a program that keeps you honest and refreshes you on what you might have forgotten.

There’s two parts to the certification. The first part, is the training. You go through a series of 8 lessons covering the following topics:

1. Promote your app.

2. Choose keywords.

3. Structure your account.

4. Manage your budget.

5. Showcase your creative.

6. Create campaigns.

7. Manage campaigns.

8. Maximize insights.

Each lesson is takes about 10 minutes to complete. There are interactive exercises and questions at the end to sharpen your knowledge. There’s no time limit on the lessons and you can continue where you left off.

Upon completing the exercises, you take a 50-question multiple-choice exam. Score an 80% (get 40 right) and you pass. You even get a nice certificate of achievement. If you get below an 80% you have to resubmit incorrect answers. You can also retake the exam. There’s no limit on retakes. Thanks Apple!

I must say that ASA’s exam was far less onerous than others. Budget 4 hours and you’ll be done with time to spare.