Google Adwords Learning Center: Guide to Adwords

AdWords is Google's flagship advertising product and main source of revenue ($16.4 billion in 2007). AdWords offers pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, and site-targeted advertising for both text and banner ads. The AdWords program includes local, national, and international distribution. Google's text advertisements are short, consisting of one title line and two content text lines. Image ads can be one of several different Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) standard sizes.

Google's AdWords division is based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the company's third-largest facility behind its Mountain View, California, headquarters and New York City office.

If you're an AdWords advertiser, Google Advertising Professional, or just interested in learning more about AdWords, you can use our free training to sharpen your AdWords knowledge. We offer both multimedia and text lessons to match your preferred learning style. While lessons are organized to build upon previous ones, you can skip between topics and take them in any way you like. After each lesson, test your knowledge by taking a quiz. Because so much is covered, you probably can't complete training in one sitting (without the help of caffeine), so return often. Content is updated regularly to keep you current.

Advertise your business on Google

No matter what your budget, you can display your ads on Google and our advertising network. Pay only if people click your ads.


Reach people when they are actively looking for information about your products and services online, and send targeted visitors directly to what you are offering. With AdWords cost-per-click pricing, it's easy to control costs—and you only pay when people click on your ad.


Google have put fun into its Adwords Learning Center. Now you can take the test through their helpful ‘quizzes’ in order to test your knowledge of the system. You may think you know all there is as a budding Adwords Advertiser. Take a look around and get the facts quickly and simpler than ever before.

Another clever strategy to make Adwords more accessible and attractive to new clients. I never thought I’d be so tense whilst doing a quiz because I like to think that I know it all. Yes, I know sounds like I’m on an ego trip but I couldn’t help it.

How did you score?

Choose from the interactive Multimedia lessons or try the text based quiz tests at Google Adwords Learning Center.

You’re never too old to learn and learning can sometimes be fun!

Pay-Per-Click advertisements (PPC)

Advertisers specify the words that should trigger their ads and the maximum amount they are willing to pay per click. When a user searches Google's search engine on www.google.com or the relevant local/national google server (e.g. www.google.fr for France), ads (also known as creatives by Google) for relevant words are shown as "sponsored links" on the right side of the screen, and sometimes above the main search results.

The ordering of the paid listings depends on other advertisers' bids (PPC) and the "quality score" of all ads shown for a given search. The quality score is calculated by historical click-through rates, relevance of an advertiser's ad text and keywords, an advertiser's account history, and other relevance factors as determined by Google. The quality score is also used by Google to set the minimum bids for an advertiser's keywords. The minimum bid takes into consideration the quality of the landing page as well, which includes the relevancy and originality of content, navigability, and transparency into the nature of the business. Though Google has released a list of full guidelines for sites, the precise formula and meaning of relevance and its definition is in part secret to Google and the parameters used can change dynamically.

The auction mechanism that determines the order of the ads has been called a "generalized second price" auction. It is similar to the Vickrey auction, but is not equivalent to the Vickrey-Clarke-Groves (VCG) mechanism and hence truth telling is not an optimal strategy.