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PPC Training: A List of Free Google Ads Training Courses, Books, Blogs, and Communities for Learning PPC

PPC Training: A List of Free Google Ads Training Courses, Books, Blogs, and Communities for Learning PPC

10/25/19 UPDATE: Hello Facebook Agency Visitor Person!  We’re delighted to have you visit this awesome post. About a year ago, ZATO stopped offering Facebook Ads solutions so we could focus solely on what we do best: Google Ads. Because of this, we’re always interested in partnerships with great Social Advertising agencies (like yourself, wink wink!) and we offer referral fees for signed clients!  Anyway, back to it, and happy reading…

Post Summary

I often get asked where a beginner should start in learning PPC. Rather than continue to re-find my list to DM someone, I decided to just write a blogpost so I could link to it, but also so others could have an easy list to send people to as well! If your cousin just got out of college and wants to begin a career in Paid Search Marketing, here are my go-to resources.I have divided them up into various sections, as seen below.

My recommendation is to not simply pick one resource out of the list, but many or all of them if you can swing it. What you will find is every course is a little different, every blog author has a unique take on things, and getting a well-rounded education on the different viewpoints of PPC is important and beneficial.Best wishes on your journey into my favorite field!

List of Free PPC Training Guides & Whitepapers

List of PPC Books for Beginners

Older books, but still helpful in learning how PPC works.

List of Free Google Ads Training Courses

We can't vouch for the updated nature of these, but are hoping to give you a list of courses to investigate.

List of Fee-Based PPC Training Courses

We can't vouch for the updated nature of these, but are hoping to give you a list of courses to investigate.

List of PPC Blogs to Follow

List of PPC Podcasts

List of PPC Communities to Join (Free or Paid)

Finally, with a cautionary note:

Google Ads Skillshop - it's worth including a cautionary note here, simply because I find Google Ads has a bit of "propaganda" included in its training courses. The reason I think it's important to include additional educational sources rather than just sending newbs to Google, is because Google may communicate strong approval for a certain activity, that may not be as guaranteed as Google would lead a beginner to believe. It is sometimes difficult to know if it is actually a best practice used by an account manager, or simply something Google wants to be utilized more for their own benefits. Because of that, I think any beginner will find value in Skillshop, but should also use many of the other resources from people actually managing accounts on the ground level.

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Kirk Williams
@PPCKirk - Owner & Chief Pondering Officer

Kirk is the owner of ZATO, his Paid Search & Social PPC micro-agency of experts, and has been working in Digital Marketing since 2009. His personal motto (perhaps unhealthily so), is "let's overthink this some more."  He even wrote a book recently on philosophical PPC musings that you can check out here: Ponderings of a PPC Professional.

He has been named one of the Top 25 Most Influential PPCers in the world by PPC Hero 6 years in a row (2016-2021), has written articles for many industry publications (including Shopify, Moz, PPC Hero, Search Engine Land, and Microsoft), and is a frequent guest on digital marketing podcasts and webinars.

Kirk currently resides in Billings, MT with his wife, six children, books, Trek Bikes, Taylor guitar, and little sleep.

Kirk is an avid "discusser of marketing things" on Twitter, as well as an avid conference speaker, having traveled around the world to talk about Paid Search (especially Shopping Ads).  Kirk has booked speaking engagements in London, Dublin, Sydney, Milan, NYC, Dallas, OKC, Milwaukee, and more and has been recognized through reviews as one of the Top 10 conference presentations on more than one occasion.

You can connect with Kirk on Twitter or Linkedin.

In 2023, Kirk had the privilege of speaking at the TEDx Billings on one of his many passions, Stop the Scale: Redefining Business Success.

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