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Google gives the badge to agencies that keep their clients’ accounts in good shape, manage real ad spend and hold Google Ads certifications. We met all three in October 2026. Here is what that means for your business, and the results behind it.
Checked on Google, 25 October 2026
View our profile on google.comThe Google Partner badge covers our Google Ads work. Google doesn’t verify or endorse any agency’s SEO services, including ours.
These are our figures from Google’s Partners programme page on 25 October 2026.
92.9%
optimisation score across the accounts we manage. Google asks for at least 70%.
The score shows whether the accounts follow Google’s good practice. We act on the recommendations that suit each business and dismiss the ones that would only raise spend.
US$10k+
of client ad spend managed in every rolling 90 days.
Google wants proof that an agency runs real accounts, month after month, not a single campaign. Our total comes from shops and local service businesses we manage now.
Search
Reza Razm holds the Google Ads Search certification, valid until October 2027.
Google requires at least half of an agency’s account strategists to pass its Google Ads exams. The person who plans your campaigns is the person who passed.
Reza Razm plans and reviews the campaigns personally. You speak to the person making the decisions, at our Chester office or on the phone.
The requirements are rechecked daily. If our accounts slipped, the badge would go, so it is a standard we have to keep, not a certificate on a wall.
Partners can apply Google’s promotional offers to eligible new Google Ads accounts. When an offer is available and your new account qualifies, we apply it for you. Google sets the terms.
Partners get Google’s annual industry report and Partner-level product resources, which keep us current on changes such as AI Max and new bidding options.
You can check us on google.com yourself. A real badge always links to the agency’s profile there.
We also build websites and do SEO. The landing page is half of what decides your cost per click, and we can change it the same day.
A badge is only worth something if you know exactly what it stands for.
Partners pay the same click prices as every other advertiser. What brings the cost down is a better Quality Score and less waste, which is the work we do.
The badge is about how we manage Google Ads accounts. Our web design and SEO work stands on its own, and our case studies show the results.
Premier Partner is roughly the top 3% of Partners in each country, assessed once a year. We are a Google Partner, and we say so plainly.
Any agency can join the programme. Only those that meet the requirements get a badge. Taken from Google’s own programme page.
| Member | Google Partner (us) | Premier Partner | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Requirements | Join the programme with a Google Ads manager account | Meet the performance, spend and certification requirements | Meet the Partner requirements and rank in the top 3% of Partners in the country |
| Google Partner badge | No | Yes | Premier Partner badge |
| Listed in Google’s Partner directory | No | Yes | Yes |
| Promotional offers for new client accounts | No | Yes | Yes |
| Annual industry report | No | Yes | Yes |
| Dedicated Google account support | No | No | Most Premier Partners, by invitation |
Source: Google Partners programme, business.google.com/uk/support/become-a-partner, read 25 October 2026.
Google’s AI can set bids, write ads and choose searches on its own. It needs three things only you and your agency can give it: a clear goal, honest conversion data and a landing page worth landing on. Here is how that compares with leaving everything on automatic.
| Left on automatic settings | How we run it | |
|---|---|---|
| Which searches you pay for | Broad matching and AI Max let Google pick related searches. Some will be nothing like your business. | We read the search terms every week, block the wrong ones and add the right ones as keywords. |
| Your ad text | Automatically created text can rewrite headlines and send people to pages you did not choose. | We write the ads around the words people search and point each one at the page that answers it. |
| Bidding | Smart Bidding learns from whatever you count as a conversion, including button taps that never become customers. | We use automated bidding where real purchases or leads are tracked, and manual bids where they are not. |
| Recommendations | Auto-applied recommendations often raise budgets or widen targeting. | Auto-apply stays off. We accept the recommendations that help and dismiss the rest. |
| The landing page | Not part of Google’s settings. A slow or vague page lowers Quality Score and raises every click price. | We build and fix the pages ourselves, so landing-page experience can be improved the same week. |
Online shop · automation inside limits
7p
average cost per click across 27,274 Google Search clicks, 1 April–24 October 2026
The shop tracks real purchases, so Google’s value-based bidding has good data to learn from. We switched off the broad automation that chose its own searches and ad text, and kept the landing pages fast and relevant. Quality Score is 8 to 10 on 19 of 21 keywords.
Read moreLocal service · manual bids
20.1%
click-through rate in the first six days, 15–20 June 2026
A local trade gets fewer online conversions, which gives automated bidding little to learn from. So every Search campaign runs on manual bids, each service has its own campaign, and the area is fenced to where the team actually works.
Read moreOur own account · catching what automation misses
22
negative keywords added after one keyword matched the wrong searches
In September 2026 our keyword “check ai visibility” was matched to searches for AI-content detectors, people who would never buy from us. It spent £75 in a week before our review caught it. Negative keywords stopped it the same day.
Read moreHow the savings stack up
Each layer adds to the one before. At Aquatropics, the whole account paid 12.6p a click in the 29 days before our September changes and 5.6p in the 29 days after, with 6% more clicks.
Finds the right bid at today’s price, when it has reliable conversion data.
Relevant ads and fast, useful landing pages lower the price Google charges for the same position.
Wrong searches, wrong areas and weak conversion goals cut out, which automation alone counts as fine.
Our AI checks the ad, search and analytics data daily and flags anything unusual; a person decides what changes.
Send us view access and we will look at the search terms, bidding, tracking and landing pages, then tell you in plain English what we see and whether you need us. It costs nothing and you are under no obligation.
Ask for an account checkYes. Hand On Web Ltd has been a Google Partner since October 2026. Google awards the badge to agencies that meet three requirements, checked every day: an optimisation score of at least 70% across the client accounts they manage, at least US$10,000 of client ad spend in the last 90 days, and certified Google Ads staff. You can check our status on our Google Partners profile.
Click the badge on the agency’s website. A genuine badge links to a page on google.com/partners that names the company and lists the requirements it meets. A badge that is just an image, or that links somewhere else, is not proof. Google’s own pages say the badge must link to the company’s Partner profile.
No. Google runs the same auction for every advertiser. What lowers the price of a click is Quality Score: how likely people are to click your ad, how well the ad matches the search, and how useful the landing page is. A Partner should know how to improve those three things, but the badge itself buys nothing in the auction.
Both meet the same performance, spend and certification requirements. Premier Partner is reserved for roughly the top 3% of Partners in each country, assessed once a year, and comes with extra support from Google. Hand On Web is a Google Partner, not a Premier Partner.
Not automatically. Many owners run good campaigns themselves. A Partner is useful when you lack the time to check search terms, bids and conversion tracking every week, or when the account spends money without bringing enquiries. We are happy to look at your account and tell you honestly whether you need us.
Sometimes. Automated bidding works well when it has reliable conversion data, such as tracked online purchases, and a clear goal. It works badly when it learns from weak signals, such as button taps, or when broad automation sends ads to searches you would never pay for. We switch automation on where the data supports it and keep tighter control where it does not.
Google Ads. It shows that we meet Google’s requirements for managing Google Ads accounts: account performance, managed spend and certified staff. Our web design and SEO work is a separate service, and our case studies show its results.
Yes. We connect your account to our manager account, review the campaigns, tracking and search terms, and agree changes with you before making them. Account ownership, access and approvals are agreed in writing before any work starts.
Campaigns, landing pages and daily monitoring, from £249 a month.
Learn about Google Ads management in Chester7p a click across 27,274 clicks, with the before-and-after figures.
Learn about Aquatropics Google Ads case studyWhy good landing pages make every click cheaper, explained with real account data.
Learn about SEO and Google Ads togetherUK click prices, budgets and management fees, with Keyword Planner figures.
Learn about How much does Google Ads cost?Help customers find you in organic search as well as in the ads.
Learn about SEO servicesThe Chester people behind the websites, SEO and Google Ads.
Learn about Meet the teamTell us what you sell, where you work and what you spend now. We will show you where the money goes and what we would change first.
