Google Ads Search Certification Exam — Questions and Answers

Question 1: You can win a higher ad position in the auction with a lower cost-per-click (CPC) bid by:

creating relevant ads and keywords, but not using ad extensions
creating high-quality ads and landing page/ creating relevant keywords and ads, and using ad extensions (Correct answer)
creating ads that include terms or phrases people are searching for
creating ads that link to a generic landing page

Correct answer: creating high-quality ads and landing page/ creating relevant keywords and ads, and using ad extensions

Ad position is determined by Ad Rank, which considers your bid, Quality Score, and the expected impact of ad extensions. By creating highly relevant keywords, compelling ad copy, an excellent landing page experience (all contributing to a higher Quality Score), and utilizing ad extensions, you can achieve a higher Ad Rank and thus a better ad position, even with a lower CPC bid.

Question 2: What targeting option allows you to show YouTube ads on specific YouTube channels or videos?

Keyword targeting
Demographic targeting
Topic targeting
Placement targeting (Correct answer)

Correct answer: Placement targeting

Placement targeting lets you specify individual YouTube channels, videos, apps, or websites on the Display Network where you want your video ads to appear.

Question 3: Which YouTube ad format is specifically designed for the mobile vertical video experience?

TrueView In-Stream
YouTube Shorts ads (Correct answer)
Bumper ads
Masthead ads

Correct answer: YouTube Shorts ads

YouTube Shorts ads are short vertical video ads designed specifically for the YouTube Shorts feed, targeting mobile-first viewers watching short-form vertical content.

Question 4: What is 'Brand Lift' measurement in YouTube advertising?

A Google survey-based study measuring ad recall, brand awareness, and consideration lift (Correct answer)
A tool measuring the difference in search volume before and after a campaign
A metric measuring the increase in YouTube channel subscribers after a campaign
The percentage increase in website traffic attributed to video ads

Correct answer: A Google survey-based study measuring ad recall, brand awareness, and consideration lift

Brand Lift studies use surveys served to control and exposed groups to measure upper-funnel metrics like ad recall, brand awareness, and purchase consideration lifted by video ads.

Question 5: Which type of ad extension shows your business address and phone number alongside your ad?

Callout extension
Location extension (Correct answer)
Sitelink extension
Structured snippet

Correct answer: Location extension

Location extensions display your business address, a map marker, and phone number to help nearby customers find and contact you.

Question 6: Which metric measures the percentage of clicks that result in a conversion?

Click-through rate (CTR)
Cost per click (CPC)
Return on ad spend (ROAS)
Conversion rate (Correct answer)

Correct answer: Conversion rate

Conversion rate is the percentage of ad clicks that result in a conversion, calculated as conversions divided by clicks multiplied by 100.

Question 7: What type of ad does a Google Shopping campaign display?

Banner ads on the Google Display Network
Text-only ads with keyword-based targeting
Product Listing Ads showing product image, title, price, and store name (Correct answer)
Video ads on YouTube

Correct answer: Product Listing Ads showing product image, title, price, and store name

Shopping campaigns display Product Listing Ads (PLAs) that include a product image, title, price, and store name, appearing in Google Search and the Shopping tab.

Question 8: What is the standard leaderboard display ad size in Google Ads?

160x600
300x250
728x90 (Correct answer)
320x50

Correct answer: 728x90

The 728x90 leaderboard is one of the most common and high-performing display ad sizes, typically placed at the top or bottom of web pages.

Question 9: What is the maximum membership duration that can be set for a Google Ads remarketing list?

365 days
540 days (Correct answer)
180 days
90 days

Correct answer: 540 days

Google Ads allows a maximum remarketing list membership duration of 540 days, after which users are automatically removed from the list if they do not revisit.

Question 10: On the Display Network, your ad is eligible to show on a webpage if your:

ad text matches that webpage’s content
website matches that webpage’s content
keywords match that webpage’s content (Correct answer)
landing page matches that webpage’s content

Correct answer: keywords match that webpage’s content

On the Display Network, Google uses contextual targeting to determine ad eligibility. This means Google analyzes the content of a webpage and, if your keywords are relevant to that content, your ad becomes eligible to show. This ensures your ads are displayed alongside content that aligns with your target audience's interests.

Question 11: What is a 'Showcase Shopping ad'?

An ad that showcases customer reviews alongside the product listing
A Shopping ad exclusively for luxury or premium products
A Shopping ad format that groups related products under a brand or category header image (Correct answer)
A standard Shopping ad with an enhanced product description

Correct answer: A Shopping ad format that groups related products under a brand or category header image

Showcase Shopping ads display a curated set of products alongside a lifestyle image and brand header, designed for broader discovery-stage searches rather than specific product queries.

Question 12: What is the primary goal of keyword match types in Google Search campaigns?

To determine ad position on the page
To define the ad schedule
To control which searches trigger your ads (Correct answer)
To set the maximum bid per keyword

Correct answer: To control which searches trigger your ads

Keyword match types control which user search queries can trigger your ads to appear.

Question 13: How do cost-per-click (CPC) ads compete with cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM) ads on the Display Network?

CPC and CPM bids only compete against bids of the same type
Ads using CPC bids are not allowed to compete on the Display Network
CPM bids are effectively converted to CPC bids
CPC bids are effectively converted to CPM bids (Correct answer)

Correct answer: CPC bids are effectively converted to CPM bids

On the Google Display Network, all bids (including CPC, CPM, and CPV) are converted into an 'effective CPM' for the auction. This allows different bidding strategies to compete fairly against each other. The system estimates the number of clicks a CPC ad might receive and calculates an equivalent CPM value to determine its competitive strength.

Question 14: Donna sells t-shirts featuring vintage album covers. She wants people searching for unusual t-shirts to find her website, but she also thinks people interested in music might make a purchase. What campaign type would you recommend?

“Search Network only – All features”
“Display Network only – Remarketing”
“Search Network with Display Select – All features” (Correct answer)
“Display Network only – All features”

Correct answer: “Search Network with Display Select – All features”

The 'Search Network with Display Select' campaign type allows ads to appear on both the Google Search Network (for users actively searching for t-shirts) and the Google Display Network (reaching users interested in music on relevant websites). This combined approach maximizes reach by targeting both active searchers and passive browsers with relevant interests.

Question 15: What is a Responsive Search Ad (RSA) in Google Ads?

An ad that responds to competitor bids in real time
An ad that automatically resizes for mobile screens
An ad format where you provide multiple headlines and descriptions that Google tests in combination (Correct answer)
An ad that uses dynamic keyword insertion

Correct answer: An ad format where you provide multiple headlines and descriptions that Google tests in combination

A Responsive Search Ad lets you input up to 15 headlines and 4 descriptions, and Google's machine learning tests combinations to find the best-performing ones.

Question 16: While teaching a new account manager how to build a Search campaign, you tell her that she should group similar keywords together in an ad group because it will allow her to:

create a different ad for each keyword
only create one ad that’s relevant to all keywords
create multiple ads for each keyword
create ads that are relevant to all keywords (Correct answer)

Correct answer: create ads that are relevant to all keywords

Grouping similar keywords together in an ad group allows you to create highly relevant ad copy that speaks directly to the intent behind those keywords. This ensures that your ads are closely matched to what users are searching for, which improves ad relevance, Quality Score, and overall campaign performance.

Question 17: What is CPV (Cost Per View) in YouTube advertising?

A bidding method where you set a maximum spend per video uploaded
The total cost divided by the number of video impressions
The amount you pay when a viewer watches or interacts with your video ad (Correct answer)
The cost of producing a video ad divided by expected views

Correct answer: The amount you pay when a viewer watches or interacts with your video ad

Cost Per View (CPV) is the bidding model used for TrueView ads where you set the maximum amount you're willing to pay each time a viewer watches or engages with your ad.

Question 18: What is a callout extension used for in Google Search Ads?

To highlight specific offers or benefits with short descriptive text (Correct answer)
To display customer phone numbers in ads
To add a direct link to a specific page on your website
To show your business rating and reviews

Correct answer: To highlight specific offers or benefits with short descriptive text

Callout extensions add short snippets of text (up to 25 characters) to your ad that highlight unique offerings like 'Free Shipping' or '24/7 Support'.

Question 19: Your client noticed that his ad was disapproved for editorial reasons. Why is it important for him to understand and abide by Google’s advertising policies

AdWords policies can help ensure ads are useful, varied, relevant, and safe for web users (Correct answer)
AdWords policies can help keep ad costs low and affordable for advertisers
AdWords policies can keep disapproved ads and websites out of organic search results
AdWords policies can help web user distinguish between ads and search results

Correct answer: AdWords policies can help ensure ads are useful, varied, relevant, and safe for web users

Google's advertising policies are crucial for maintaining a positive and trustworthy experience for all web users. They ensure that ads are relevant, useful, and safe, preventing misleading or harmful content from appearing. Adhering to these policies helps build user trust and contributes to a healthy advertising ecosystem.

Question 20: What is the 'GTIN' attribute in a Google Shopping product feed?

Global Trade Item Number, a globally unique product identifier like a barcode (Correct answer)
Google's internal category taxonomy identifier
Google Traffic Identification Number for ad tracking
A custom label assigned by the advertiser

Correct answer: Global Trade Item Number, a globally unique product identifier like a barcode

GTIN (Global Trade Item Number) is a globally unique product identifier such as a UPC or EAN barcode number; providing it improves Shopping ad performance and eligibility.

Question 21: What is 'contextual targeting' on the Google Display Network?

Targeting users based on their purchase history
Showing ads based on a user's demographic profile
Showing ads on pages whose content matches your selected keywords or topics (Correct answer)
Targeting users who have previously visited your website

Correct answer: Showing ads on pages whose content matches your selected keywords or topics

Contextual targeting matches your ads to relevant web pages by analyzing keyword and topic relevance of the page content against your campaign settings.

Question 22: Which Search campaign bidding strategy is best suited when you want to achieve a specific cost per conversion?

Maximize Clicks
Manual CPC
Target Impression Share
Target CPA (Correct answer)

Correct answer: Target CPA

Target CPA (Cost Per Acquisition) bidding automatically sets bids to help you get as many conversions as possible at your specified target cost per acquisition.

Question 23: How does 'target frequency' work in Google Video campaigns?

It lets advertisers set a weekly frequency goal for how often to show ads to the same user (Correct answer)
It determines how often new audiences are added to the campaign targeting
It sets the maximum number of ad variations shown per campaign
It controls the refresh rate of video creative across ad groups

Correct answer: It lets advertisers set a weekly frequency goal for how often to show ads to the same user

Target frequency campaigns optimize delivery to show your video ad to each unique user a specified number of times per week, ideal for sustained brand awareness.

Question 24: What is 'audience sequencing' in YouTube advertising?

Targeting audiences at different stages of the funnel simultaneously
Automatically rotating multiple ad formats in order of performance
Scheduling ads to run in sequence throughout the day
Showing a series of video ads to the same audience in a deliberate order to tell a story (Correct answer)

Correct answer: Showing a series of video ads to the same audience in a deliberate order to tell a story

Video ad sequencing lets you show viewers a series of ads in a specific order, allowing you to build a narrative or guide viewers through the customer journey step-by-step.

Question 25: What is the purpose of ad scheduling (dayparting) in Google Search campaigns?

To schedule when your ads receive budget increases
To automatically pause underperforming ads each day
To control what times and days your ads are shown (Correct answer)
To rotate ads evenly across the day

Correct answer: To control what times and days your ads are shown

Ad scheduling allows you to choose specific days and hours when your ads will be shown, enabling you to focus spend on times when your audience is most active.

Question 26: which ad extension would you use for an advertiser who has a chain of restaurants?

Seller ratings
Location extensions (Correct answer)
Previous visits extensions
Sitelink extensions

Correct answer: Location extensions

For an advertiser with a chain of restaurants, location extensions are ideal because they display the business's address, phone number, and a map marker directly in the ad. This helps potential customers find the nearest restaurant location, get directions, or call them, which is highly valuable for a physical business like a restaurant chain seeking local customers.

Question 27: What is the 'Google product category' attribute in a Merchant Center feed?

A required field using Google's taxonomy to classify your products (Correct answer)
The URL path of the product category page on your website
A merchant-defined grouping for internal reporting only
A custom label you create to segment products for bidding

Correct answer: A required field using Google's taxonomy to classify your products

The Google product category attribute maps your products to Google's standardized taxonomy, helping Google understand and appropriately match your products to relevant searches.

Question 28: What is a Responsive Display Ad (RDA)?

A display ad that resizes only for mobile devices
A display ad that responds to user behavior in real time
An ad that adjusts its message based on the user's search history
An ad format where you upload assets and Google automatically creates and tests ad combinations (Correct answer)

Correct answer: An ad format where you upload assets and Google automatically creates and tests ad combinations

Responsive Display Ads accept images, headlines, logos, and descriptions, then Google's machine learning automatically creates and optimizes combinations to fit available ad spaces.

Question 29: When are you charged for a skippable TrueView In-Stream ad?

When a viewer completes 50% of the ad
When a viewer watches at least 30 seconds or the full ad (if shorter), or clicks (Correct answer)
Every time the ad begins playing
When a viewer watches at least 5 seconds without skipping

Correct answer: When a viewer watches at least 30 seconds or the full ad (if shorter), or clicks

With TrueView In-Stream ads, you're charged when a viewer watches 30 seconds (or the complete ad if shorter than 30 seconds) or interacts with the ad — skippers cost you nothing.

Question 30: Which Display Network targeting option targets users based on their long-term interests and habits?

Custom intent audiences
Affinity audiences (Correct answer)
In-market audiences
Similar audiences

Correct answer: Affinity audiences

Affinity audiences target users based on their established interests and lifestyle habits, similar to how TV advertising targets by viewer demographics.

Question 31: Which metric is most relevant for evaluating brand awareness campaigns on the Display Network?

Impressions and reach (Correct answer)
Return on ad spend
Conversion rate
Cost per acquisition

Correct answer: Impressions and reach

For brand awareness campaigns, impressions and reach are the key metrics because the goal is to maximize how many people see your brand, not to drive immediate conversions.

Question 32: When reviewing your client’s Search Network campaign, you notice that the ads in one of the ad groups have a low average position. Which flexible bid strategy should you use to help improve the position of these ads?

Maximize clicks
Target search page location (Correct answer)
Target return on ad spend (ROAS)

Correct answer: Target search page location

If ads have a low average position, the 'Target search page location' flexible bid strategy is designed to help improve their visibility. This strategy automatically adjusts bids to help your ads appear either on the first page of search results or at the very top. It's specifically focused on achieving a desired ad position rather than just maximizing clicks or conversions.

Question 33: How long is a Google Ads certification valid before it must be renewed?

2 years
It never expires
1 year (Correct answer)
6 months

Correct answer: 1 year

Google Ads certifications are valid for one year and must be renewed by retaking the assessment.

Question 34: What is the function of Dynamic Search Ads (DSAs)?

To automatically generate ads and target searches based on your website content (Correct answer)
To create ads that change based on the time of day
To insert search terms directly into ad copy
To automatically generate bids based on competitor activity

Correct answer: To automatically generate ads and target searches based on your website content

Dynamic Search Ads use your website content to automatically target relevant searches and generate ad headlines, filling gaps in keyword-based campaigns.

Question 35: What is Smart Display campaign in Google Ads?

A display campaign managed manually with full advertiser control
An automated campaign that uses machine learning to optimize targeting, bidding, and creative (Correct answer)
A campaign restricted to responsive ad formats only
A campaign that only runs on Google's own display properties

Correct answer: An automated campaign that uses machine learning to optimize targeting, bidding, and creative

Smart Display campaigns automate targeting, bidding, and ad creation using machine learning to maximize conversions across the Google Display Network.

Question 36: Which report in Google Merchant Center shows why products are not showing in Shopping ads?

Best sellers report
Performance report
Price competitiveness report
Diagnostics report (Correct answer)

Correct answer: Diagnostics report

The Diagnostics report in Google Merchant Center identifies products with errors, warnings, and policy violations that are causing them to be disapproved or limited.

Question 37: What are custom labels in a Google Shopping feed?

Labels automatically applied by Google based on price competitiveness
Advertiser-defined attributes that allow grouping products for bidding and reporting in Shopping campaigns (Correct answer)
Required fields that replace the product title in Shopping ads
Google-assigned categories for product classification

Correct answer: Advertiser-defined attributes that allow grouping products for bidding and reporting in Shopping campaigns

Custom labels (0–4) are optional feed attributes you define to segment products within your Shopping campaigns, enabling differentiated bidding by sale status, margin, or seasonality.

Question 38: What is a bumper ad in YouTube advertising?

An ad that bumps your brand to the top of YouTube search results
A non-skippable video ad of up to 6 seconds charged on a CPM basis (Correct answer)
An interactive overlay ad shown at the start of a video
A skippable 30-second ad shown between YouTube videos

Correct answer: A non-skippable video ad of up to 6 seconds charged on a CPM basis

Bumper ads are 6-second non-skippable video ads sold on a CPM basis, designed to deliver a brief, memorable brand message.

Question 39: Which of the following methods can be used to collect remarketing data in Google Ads?

Only the Google Ads conversion tracking tag
Only server-side API calls to the Google Ads API
Only a custom third-party JavaScript library
The Google Ads global site tag or a linked Google Analytics account (Correct answer)

Correct answer: The Google Ads global site tag or a linked Google Analytics account

Remarketing audiences can be built using the Google Ads global site tag placed on your site, or by linking a Google Analytics account and importing audiences from there.

Question 40: Which bidding strategy automatically sets bids to maximize the number of clicks within your budget?

Enhanced CPC
Maximize Clicks (Correct answer)
Target CPA
Target ROAS

Correct answer: Maximize Clicks

Maximize Clicks is an automated bidding strategy that sets bids to get as many clicks as possible within your specified budget.

Question 41: What does 'impression share' measure in Google Search campaigns?

The ratio of clicks to impressions
The percentage of ad impressions received out of the total eligible impressions (Correct answer)
The number of times your ad was shown per day
The share of your budget spent on impressions

Correct answer: The percentage of ad impressions received out of the total eligible impressions

Impression share is the percentage of impressions your ads received compared to the total number they were eligible to receive.

Question 42: Which of these metrics is especially important to clients who are running a branding campaign?

Phone call conversions
Average cost-per-click (avg. CPC)
Clickthrough rate (CTR)
Impressions (Correct answer)

Correct answer: Impressions

Branding campaigns primarily aim to increase brand awareness and visibility among a target audience. Impressions are the most direct metric for measuring how many times an ad was shown, indicating the reach and exposure of the brand message. While other metrics are important for performance, impressions are key for gauging brand visibility.

Question 43: What metric measures the percentage of your video that an average viewer watches?

Average view duration percentage
View-through rate (VTR)
Quartile reporting
Video completion rate (Correct answer)

Correct answer: Video completion rate

Video completion rate measures the percentage of viewers who watched your video ad all the way to the end, indicating how engaging and well-targeted the ad is.

Question 44: What is 'Target ROAS' bidding in Google Shopping campaigns?

A manual bidding approach where you set a return threshold per product group
An automated bidding strategy that optimizes bids to achieve a specific return on ad spend (Correct answer)
A strategy that sets bids to maximize the number of product page visits
A strategy that prioritizes impression share over revenue

Correct answer: An automated bidding strategy that optimizes bids to achieve a specific return on ad spend

Target ROAS bidding automatically sets bids to maximize conversion value while achieving your target return on ad spend ratio.

Question 45: What is a Merchant Center product disapproval?

A penalty applied when your Shopping ads receive low click-through rates
A quality score drop for poorly optimized product titles
When Google rejects a product from serving in Shopping ads due to policy violations or data errors (Correct answer)
A temporary pause applied to products with insufficient bid amounts

Correct answer: When Google rejects a product from serving in Shopping ads due to policy violations or data errors

Product disapprovals occur when a product in your Merchant Center feed violates Google's policies (e.g., prohibited content) or contains data quality issues, preventing it from serving.

Question 46: What is the 'product title' attribute in a Google Merchant Center product feed?

The descriptive name of your product that appears in Shopping ads (Correct answer)
The category assigned to the product by Google
The internal SKU name used in your inventory system
The URL of the product page on your website

Correct answer: The descriptive name of your product that appears in Shopping ads

The product title is a required feed attribute that serves as the headline of your Shopping ad; optimizing it with relevant keywords improves match quality.

Question 47: What are negative keywords used for in a Google Search campaign?

To exclude certain ad placements
To mark competitors' brand terms
To lower your bid on less relevant searches
To prevent your ads from showing on irrelevant searches (Correct answer)

Correct answer: To prevent your ads from showing on irrelevant searches

Negative keywords prevent your ads from being triggered by searches that are not relevant to your business, improving campaign efficiency.

Question 48: Advertising on TV, print, and radio typically requires a predetermined budget. What key differences enable some online advertising campaigns to invest with more flexibility without a predetermined budget in mind?

Online campaigns generate clicks, whereas other channels generate exposure
AdWords budgets can only be set once annually and require a fixed commitment
Budgets cannot be applied to online campaigns due to constant changes in traffic
Online campaigns are highly measurable and can often automate a positive ROI. It can be strategic to capture all traffic without a predetermined budget as long as ROI is positive (Correct answer)

Correct answer: Online campaigns are highly measurable and can often automate a positive ROI. It can be strategic to capture all traffic without a predetermined budget as long as ROI is positive

Online advertising, particularly with platforms like Google Ads, offers unparalleled measurability and real-time optimization capabilities. If an advertiser can consistently achieve a positive return on investment (ROI) for every dollar spent, it becomes strategically advantageous to scale spending to capture all available profitable traffic, rather than being constrained by a fixed budget.

Question 49: What is 'placement exclusion' in a Google Display campaign?

Removing underperforming ad creatives from rotation
Excluding certain keywords from triggering display ads
Preventing your ads from showing to specific demographic groups
Blocking specific websites or apps from showing your ads (Correct answer)

Correct answer: Blocking specific websites or apps from showing your ads

Placement exclusions allow you to prevent your ads from appearing on specific websites, apps, YouTube channels, or pages that are not relevant or appropriate.

Question 50: Laura runs an online store with a large inventory of children’s toys and games. Which ad format would you use for Laura’s campaign to reach people interested in purchasing children’s games?

App promotion ads
Shopping Ad/Product Listing Ad (Correct answer)
Sitelink extensions
Image ads

Correct answer: Shopping Ad/Product Listing Ad

For an online store with a large inventory of specific products like children's toys and games, Shopping Ads (also known as Product Listing Ads) are the ideal ad format. These ads display product images, prices, and merchant names directly in search results, making them highly effective for driving product-specific purchases and attracting interested shoppers.

Google Ads Search Certification Exam

The Google Ads Search Certification exam validates your ability to build and optimize Google Search campaigns, covering keyword targeting, bidding strategies, ad formats, extensions, and performance measurement.

Questions

75 min

Time Limit

80%

To Pass

Checking for saved progress...

Exam Rules

You can skip questions and return to them later
Flag questions for review before submitting
No feedback shown until you submit the entire exam
Unanswered questions count as wrong — answer everything
10 pretest questions are mixed in and don't affect your score
Timer auto-submits when time runs out
Your progress is auto-saved every 30 seconds

These practice questions were written with AI tools. They are not real exam questions. Exam facts are checked against the official sources listed below. Not reviewed by a subject-matter expert. Editorial policy

Sources & references

Exam facts on this page (fees, format, dates, passing scores) are checked against these official sources; the date is our last check. Editorial policy

support.google.com — Eligibility, passing score, renewal, time limit, score validity, test delivery, retake policy · verified Nov 2026