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Considering a career in PPC? Good choice! We love it too. 

In this article, I discuss the best PPC tutorials, learning guides and resources that will take you from PPC zero to PPC hero.

Why PPC? 

Before we dive into PPC training, we should start with the most obvious question… Why PPC? 

Since I started in this industry over 10 years ago, it’s evolved and expanded tremendously. Today, the scope of PPC is massive. 

You can pick a lane and that’s probably a sensible move but know there is much to learn. 

The learning never stops! The half-life of a digital marketer is around 2.5 years. Consider whether this excites or demotivates you. 

In my experience PPC account managers fall into a few different camps, 

  • Technical – These folks love automation, using scripts and scaling campaigns using technology.
  • Creative – Good at telling stories, writing compelling ad text and designing banners and landing pages. 
  • Communicators  – Have empathy, great at building relationships with clients, stakeholders and team members. 

In an ideal work they would perform all of these well. In reality, I find people lean into 1 or 2. 

Before you deep dive into PPC training consider your current skill set and where you see yourself in the future. 

If the prospect of using JavaScript to build custom scripts excites you but speaking to clients daily makes you queasy be honest with yourself. 

Double down on your strengths and look for opportunities that cater to you. 

The requirement for technical ability has increased that’s for sure but in my experience the best PPC account managers within agencies are great communicators. 

Learn by doing 

What’s the best way to learn archery?… Pick up a bow and arrow and start shooting at a target. 

Did Lionel Messi take a football course on Udemy… 

You get my point. 

The best way to learn PPC like anything is by taking action. 

Putting in the reps. 


Launching a PPC campaign and seeing what works. 

It’s satisfying to optimise a campaign and see performance improve. To see real people take action because of your work. 

Once you’re bitten by the PPC bug, it’s hard to turn back. 

But how do you gain real world experience when the stakes are real? There’s no monopoly version,

Here’s a few suggestions, 

  • Pro-Bono – Offer your services for free. There are two prerequisites to this. You should expose yourself to theoretical learning first (more on this in a minute) so you have a solid grounding in the fundamental principles of PPC. Be honest about your situation. Explain that you’re not an expert (yet). This is not the time to fake it until you make it. You’ll be using real money. Start small, take your time and scale as you see results
  • Internship – This is perhaps your best option for rapid learning. Find an environment where you can absorb from experts and gain a mentor. 
  • Be cheap – Websites like Upwork.com have become competitive for freelancers but if you’re willing to offer yourself out cheap to gain experience, you may be a perfect match for a cash strapped business owner. 
  • Mentors – Not all PPC work is glamorous. Reach out to experienced PPCer’s and offer to lend a hand on any menial task. Perhaps you’ll gain read only access to their accounts so you can see their PPC strategy first hand. 

My first PPC client almost 10 years ago was a friend of my dad’s. He had no clue, and the account was terrible so the only way was up. Fortunately performance did just that. 

Get creative, real world exposure is what you need to get great at PPC.

Beginner PPC training Courses 

As you would expect Google have tons of free PPC training. The journey to PPC mastery starts with a Google certification.

A seal of approval from Google will get you started on your journey to gaining a client or landing a PPC job or internship. 

To become certified you must pass the fundamental Google ads assessment (4.8 hours) plus 1 other. I would recommend taking all the assessments below, 

That’s around 44 hours (a solid week of learning). By this point you’ll be well on your way to understanding the core principles of PPC and the different campaign types you can utilise. 

Next you should move on to analytics. Here you’ll learn how to measure the impact of PPC. 

Take the Google Analytics individual qualification (IQ) assessment, which takes 3.5 hours. 

By this point you’ll be ready to put some of your learning into practice. You could progress to more advanced learning from here but I recommend you take action.

Make moves to gain access to real accounts, launch a campaign and start analysing data.

Intermediate PPC Training 

You’ve gotten to grips with the basics and you’re hungry for more. 


We’ve only covered the basics up to this point but it’s important to learn how to walk before you run. 

Now is the time to talk about your new friend Microsoft Excel. You can do a lot of analysis within the ad platforms themselves but as you collect more data, you’ll need the ability to combine data and dig deeper. 

I will not list all the excel formulas and functions to be successful in PPC because there are too many to list but I recommend these 2 paid training courses,

The author Chris Dutton does a great job of breaking down the courses into bite-sized chunks with examples and homework. The total cost of each course is under $20! That’s insane value for money. 


If you have limited excel experience, perhaps start with from Beginner to Advanced.

Now let’s discuss social advertising. Brace yourself because there is plenty more learning to come. 

The core social advertising platforms are Facebook, Instagram and Linkedin. B2B advertisers should lean into Linkedin and B2C more on FB & Insta. 

These are not and fast rules, B2B clients can do well with Instagram and vice versa but  that’s the lay of the land. 

Facebook like Google also provide their own certification called Blueprint.

To become Facebook ad certified you must pass both the Advertising Core Competencies (EXAM 310-101) and Certified Planning Professional (EXAM 322-101) 

These exams and supporting learning material cover both Facebook and Instagram advertising and general marketing on each of the platforms. 

Linkedin are a little later in the game so you’ll find their platform is less evolved. You can check out their training resources online here although at the time of writing there is no individual certification. 

Let’s not forget our good old friends over at Bing either. Consider how many people use Bing in the Countries you’re targeting. In the US their market share is large enough to make it worth your time. 

Mostly Bing ads is very similar to Google ads. If you’ve honed your Google Ads skills, branching out to Bing will be a breeze. 

In fact you can even sync Google and Bing ads. There are some differences so complete their certification programme and training resources. 

At this point your PPC knowledge should be a lot more rounded. You now understand multiple advertising platforms and you’re able to analyse data using Google Analytics and Excel. 

I recommend you create a dashboard using Google Data Studio. The tool is free to use and will allow you to visualise performance and share your insights with the world. 

Advanced PPC Training 

If you’ve landed new clients or gotten yourself a PPC job, kudos to you! Well done. 

You ran a campaign on Facebook and realised the “conversions” were view through conversions and the results were nowhere near where you thought (insider joke). 

Or you had super high hopes for B2B expansion using GDN! 

We’ve only covered traffic acquisition and measurement. But what happens when the user hits your site or landing page. 

We just opened a whole can of worms! 

Although not a direct responsibility of a PPC account manager, landing page optimisation is a critical component of success. 

As we move into the advanced section of PPC training, you’ll have to fork out a few pennies. Hopefully by this point you’re making money from PPC or you may convince your boss to stump up some cash. 

Enter CXL. They offer the best paid training courses for marketing, analytics and CRO professionals. You can purchase one off courses or sign up for an individual or team membership. Prices start from around $100 per month but this gives you access to a huge range of courses. 

All PPC account managers at Upraw Media get access to CXL training. Some courses we recommend are,

I’m just scratching the surface here. CXL provides many many courses. 

Examples of the many courses CXL provides to become a PPC hero.

Getting to grips with Google Tag Manager (even just the intermediate courses) and landing page optimisation will take your PPC skill set to the next level. You’ll be able to bring a lot more value to your clients. 

The more value you can bring the more your time is worth… Cha Ching! 


Further PPC Training 

Remember the half life of a digital marketer is around 2.5 years. 

You must renew your certifications annually and keep your finger on the pulse with the latest ad innovations and industry updates. 

I recommend you subscribe to the following content to keep up to speed. 

  • Search Engine Land – Subscribe to the daily news recap email. Much of the knowledge will fall outside PPC but this is the go to news resource for search marketers. 
  • Google Ads Blog – Subscribe to the email and Youtube channels 
  • Follow the most influential PPC people in the industry
  • Subscribe to our email list and follow us on social media (shameless plug) 

Summary 

PPC mastery takes considerable time and effort. As you move from beginner to intermediate, the cost is minimal. There’s no silver bullet, It just requires that you put the reps in and learn from real world experience. 

I have found PPC to be incredibly rewarding. The blend of creative skills, data driven marketing and human interaction is quite unique.  I wish you well in your journey to PPC mastery.

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Todd Chambers Director & Founder of Upraw Media.

Todd is a seasoned PPC, SaaS, and Growth Leader with over 11+ years of experience in digital. Host of the Masters of SaaS Podcast.

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