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Best Courses Guides

9 Best Google Ads (Adwords) Courses for 2024

Master the leading PPC platform and drive traffic and leads to your website.

Google Ads (formerly AdWords) is the most popular Pay-per-click (PPC) platform, allowing you to create ads that appear on Google Search, Maps, Shopping, YouTube, and more. However, Google is not alone in the ad selling business; for instance, Meta and Tiktok offer fierce competition.

Knowing how to use Google Ads is essential to drive traffic and leads to your website. In this Best Courses Guide (BCG), we’ve selected the best online courses from the Class Central catalog with over 100 Google Ads courses, including offerings from popular course providers such as Google Skillshop, Udemy, LinkedIn Learning, and Skillshare.

We’ve also compiled BCGs on other digital marketing topics: SEO, Content Marketing, Instagram Marketing, Email Marketing, Social Media Marketing, and Designing with Canva.

Click on the shortcuts for more details:

Our Top Picks

Course Workload
Best Google Ads Course for Beginners (Isaac Rudansky) 24-25 hours
Also Great: Google Ads for Beginners (Joshua George) 4-5 hours
LinkedIn Learning’s Best Google Ads Course for Beginners (Brad Batesole) 2-3 hours
Google Ads Search Free Certification (Google Skillshop) 4 hours
HubSpot Academy’s Free Google Ads Course (Jorie Munroe) 2 hours
Best YouTube Tutorials (Surfside PPC) 41 hours
Best Google Ads Crash Course (Skillshare) 1-2 hours
Google Ads and Facebook Ads Course (ClickMinded) 5-6 hours
Best Google Ads Advanced Course (LinkedIn Learning) 1-2 hours

Course Ranking Statistics

Here are some aggregate stats about the ranking:

  • Over 7.7K people follow the Google Ads topic on Class Central.
  • 3 courses are free and 6 courses are paid.
  • 5 courses have in total over 399,600 enrollments, the other 4 courses don’t provide this data.

Best Google Ads Course for Beginners (Isaac Rudansky)

Ultimate Google Ads Training 2021 is a comprehensive course taught by Isaac Rudansky, a certified Google Adwords Pro. You’ll learn how to drive traffic to your website, create campaigns, track conversions, and more.

No experience required. You will only need a website, landing page, or Facebook page to send traffic to.

“Wow! This course provides such value. It’s 2023, and even though some of the things have changed a little on Google Ads, this course is still worth it. Isaac shares a ton of knowledge and experience in digital marketing.” – Arturo L., Udemy learner.

What you’ll learn:

  • Set up your Google Ads account from scratch
  • Understand the theory behind successful online advertising
  • Use keywords to your advantage
  • Set up conversion tracking and track phone calls, sales, revenue, and form submissions
  • Take advantage of competitor reports and customer data in your campaigns
  • Perform A/B testing on your ads
  • Optimize your cost per click by increasing Quality Score
  • Structure your account, campaigns, ad groups, and keyword lists for optimal results
  • Work with external tools such as Excel, SEMrush, and Optmyzr.
Provider Udemy
Instructor Isaac Rudansky
Level Beginner
Workload 24-25 hours
Enrollments 211K
Rating 4.6 (51K)
Certificate Available

Additional Information

Also Great: Google Search Ads for Beginners (Joshua George)

Google Ads For Beginners 2023 – Step By Step Process is a practical course designed to teach you the basics of Google Search Ads, step-by-step. Taught by award-winning SEO agency owner Joshua George, you’ll learn how to create an effective campaign from scratch, using tools and strategies that will make your journey into digital advertising simpler.

What you’ll learn:

  • Set up your first Google Search Ad.
  • Understand what keywords to use and target for your business.
  • Learn about match types and how to write ads that generate clicks.
  • Experiment with different bidding strategies.
  • Learn about Quality Score and ad extensions.
  • Optimize your ad campaigns.
  • Set up and track conversions.

This course is also available on Skillshare.

“Great course for a beginner who’s looking to learn the basics and different strategies to use for your business. Taught at a great pace and very thorough with key information and endless examples. Feel a lot more confident running ads and analyzing my data after doing this course.” – Daniel M., Udemy learner

Institution ClickSlice Ltd
Provider Skillshare
Instructor Joshua George
Level Beginner
Workload 4-5 hours
Enrollments 13.7K
Rating 4.6 (3.3K)
Certificate Available

LinkedIn Learning’s Best Google Ads Course for Beginners (Brad Batesole)

Google Ads Essential Training is an introductory and practical course that will teach you the foundations of pay-per-click (PPC) advertising with Google Ads. Taught by marketing specialist Brad Batesole, you’ll learn how to set up and manage Google Ads campaigns, write effective ads, and track your results.

What you’ll learn:

  • Set up a new Google Ads account.
  • Keywords research.
  • Create a new campaign and write your first ad.
  • Use Google Ads reporting and Google Analytics to track your campaign’s performance.
  • Optimize ads to get more clicks, conversions, and ROI.
  • Use ad extensions to improve your click-through rate (CTR).

“Easy to understand, helpful hints and tips as well as clear chapter quizzes. I highly recommend this course even if you have no experience in Google Ads. It’s a good base to start learning.” – Meera Al Habtari, LinkedIn learner

Provider LinkedIn Learning
Instructor Brad Batesole
Level Beginner
Workload 2-3 hours
Enrollments 132K
Rating 4.8 (6.5K)
Certificate Available

Google Ads Search Free Certification (Google Skillshop)

This free course from Google Skillshop will teach you how to build and optimize Google Search campaigns. By earning the free certification, you’ll demonstrate your ability to:

  • Translate a vision for online marketing into a digital marketing strategy.
  • Generate a plan to increase sales or website traffic.
  • Develop a plan to reach new and existing customers.
  • Ensure your marketing plan is aligned with your budget.

What you’ll learn:

  • The fundamentals of Google Ads Search.
  • The main types of Google Search campaigns.
  • How to reach your audience with Google Search campaigns.
  • The more technical aspects of Google Ads, such as bidding, writing effective ads, and using ad extensions.
  • How to use Google’s Audience Solutions with your Search campaigns.
  • How to boost performance with Optimization Score and increase conversions with Performance Planner.

Google also provides plenty of free resources on YouTube. You can check out their channel and search for a topic in case you get stuck.

Institution Google
Provider Skillshop
Part of Google Ads Certifications
Level Beginner
Workload 4 hours
Certificate Free

Additional Information

  • If you’re interested in other free certificates, check out this article with thousands of courses from Google and other providers.

HubSpot Academy’s Free Google Ads Course (Jorie Munroe)

This practical free course from HubSpot Academy will teach you the fundamentals of Google Ads and how to build and customize a Google Ads campaign based on the needs of your business and target the right buyer personas using HubSpot and Google audience creation tools.

What you’ll learn:

  • Set up your Google Ads account from HubSpot.
  • Create a remarkable Google Ads campaign.
  • Optimize your Google Ads campaign using ad extensions and landing pages.
  • Control your costs with Google auction tips.
  • Increase your Google Optimization Score in HubSpot and troubleshoot your ad campaigns.
  • Target your Google Ads with remarketing, Google In-Market Audiences, and HubSpot ad audiences.
  • Report on your Google Ads with HubSpot Ads Reporting.
  • Understand the role of attribution in advertising.
  • Optimize your ad budget with Smart Bidding.
Provider HubSpot Academy
Instructor Jorie Munroe
Level Beginner
Workload 2 hours
Certificate None

Best YouTube Tutorials (Surfside PPC)

This collection of free tutorials from Surfside PPC, one of the most recommended resources on r/googleads subreddit, will teach you everything you need to know to create and manage successful Google Ads campaigns, from the basics to more advanced topics.

  • Set up your Google Ads account.
  • Create and manage Google Ads campaigns.
  • Target your ads to the right audience.
  • Write effective ad copy.
  • Set your budget and bidding strategies.
  • Track and measure your results.

If you are familiar with the basics, you can skip to more advanced topics: Dynamic Search, Display Network targeting options, bidding strategies, ads budgeting and forecasting, and much more.

Institution Surfside PPC
Provider YouTube
Subscribers 215K
Level All levels
Workload 41 hours
Certificate None

Best Google Ads Crash Course (Skillshare)

This concise introductory course from Skillshare, Digital Marketing with Google Ads, taught by digital advertising expert Ben Lund, will teach you the basics of Google Ads and best practices to drive customers to your business.

What you’ll learn:

  • Create a Google Ads account.
  • Create a search campaign.
  • Create display campaigns, including retargeting.
  • Create YouTube ads with video ads.
  • Measure the effectiveness of your campaign.
  • Understand your return on investment (ROI).

“Ben knocked it out of the park with this one. Coming into this I had no experience with Google Ads but after completing this course I feel confident I will be able to apply what he has taught me in a meaningful way to benefit either myself or the company I work for.” – Steven Clowes, Skillshare learner

Provider Skillshare
Instructor Ben Lund
Level Beginner
Workload 1-2 hours
Enrollments 9.9K
Rating 100% (114)
Certificate Available

Google Ads and Facebook Ads Course (ClickMinded)

This course from ClickMinded will teach you everything you need to know about paid advertising, with a focus on Google Ads and Facebook Ads. You’ll learn the fundamentals of paid advertising, how to target your ads to the right audience, create high-converting ads, and optimize your campaigns for success.

What you’ll learn:

  • The fundamentals of paid advertising, including targeting, ad creation, and the auction system.
  • How to set up a Google Ads campaign, including keyword research, match types, negative keywords, bidding and budgeting, ad group structure and organization, dynamic keyword insertion, and ad extensions.
  • How to analyze and optimize your Google Ads campaigns.
  • How to set up a Facebook Ads campaign, including targeting and ad creative creation.
  • How to track and analyze your Facebook Ads campaigns.

“The Google Ads content was amazing. I’ve already made positive ROI campaigns for every single one of my clients, and I LOVE the course update! Head and shoulders above the previous one. Thanks so much for refreshing it. Can see right from the start this version is so much better. I’m redoing the whole thing and was so pleasantly surprised when I saw it had been completely revamped.” – Sonja Graser, ClickMinded learner

Institution ClickMinded
Instructor Lucas Lee-Tyson
Level All levels
Workload 5-6 hours
Certificate Paid

Best Google Ads Advanced Course (LinkedIn Learning) 

This advanced Google Ads course from LinkedIn Learning, taught by co-founder and COO of Ladder.io Michael Taylor, will teach you how to take your Google Ads expertise to the next level using advanced techniques from automation to competitive analysis.

What You’ll Learn

  • Bid and budget optimization rules.
  • How to defend your optimization decisions.
  • How to use the Google Ads Editor to quickly make changes in bulk.
  • How to modify campaigns via bulk sheets.
  • How to run Google Ads scripts to automate nearly anything on your account.
  • How to efficiently track campaign performance.
  • How to leverage other Google channels, such as Google Shopping.

“It was a great experience to learn Advanced Google Ads in a simplified manner. Teaching method was awesome. Good course for anyone who’s looking for advanced google ads learning” – Nibras Hamza, LinkedIn learner

Provider LinkedIn Learning
Instructor Michael Taylor
Level Intermediate
Workload 1-2 hours
Enrollments 33K
Rating 4.7 (654)
Certificate Paid

Why You Should Trust Us

Class Central, a Tripadvisor for online education, has helped 60 million learners find their next course. We’ve been combing through online education for more than a decade to aggregate a catalog of over 150,000 online courses and 200,000 reviews written by our users. And we’re online learners ourselves: combined, the Class Central team has completed over 400 online courses, including online degrees.

How We Made Our Picks and Tested Them

Trying to find “the best” can be daunting, even for those of us who live and breathe online courses. Here’s how I approached this task.

First, I combed through Class Central’s Catalog and the internet to find a variety of free and paid courses.

Second, when choosing courses, I considered the following factors:

  • Renowned Institutions: I picked the most recognized institutions in Digital Marketing, SEO, and Google Ads.
  • Instructor experience: I looked for instructors with extensive experience in Google Ads and Digital Marketing.
  • Course content: I looked for courses that covered a wide range of topics, from the basics to more advanced techniques.
  • Student reviews: I read student reviews (when available) to get a sense of the quality of each course.

To evaluate each course, I watched some of the course videos and read the course syllabus. I also looked at the course’s rating and reviews on Class Central.

Ultimately, I used a combination of data and my own judgment to make these picks. I’m confident these recommendations will provide you with the knowledge and skills you need to create high performing ads for your business using Google Ads.

Fabio Dantas Profile Image

Fabio Dantas

Content writer with a degree in chemical engineering. I'm passionate about creative writing, process improvement, productivity, and mindfulness. I aim to empower learners through my articles by providing practical tips, inspiration, and a deeper understanding of learning.

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