The recently launched IPA qualification for agency practitioners has been developed by Reform, in a move by the trade body towards professionalising the sector. The IPA Search Certificate will help agencies gain the necessary skills to manage search effectively, encouraging growth in industry standards.
Launching on 29 April the search qualification is backed by Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, and will train search agencies, promote best practice and provide advertisers with confidence that specialists are working to the same standards.
Mark Fagan, chair of the IPA Search Group and digital media director at agency Golley Slater, said it was the first truly independent search qualification for the search industry.
“It’s a watershed moment. The individual engines have their own accreditation schemes, but they’re only focused on educating for their platform rather than a central training programme,” he said.
Amanda Davie, founder of search consultancy Reform, which developed the training scheme, said, “This is the first qualification for search in the UK. It’s meant to set a standard for agencies and hopefully will act as a guide for clients when selecting an agency.”
Andy Jones, Yahoo’s head of search account management, said there was a definite need for the industry to have an independent training and accreditation scheme.
“As more people want to learn about search, so the need for something like this increases,” he said. “A few years ago there probably wasn’t the demand for this, but now it’s the right time.”
Dominic Allon, agency leader at Google UK, said, “We enjoy close working relations with the IPA. We’re delighted to back this training initiative and are supporting the development of the course content.”
Source: http://www.nma.co.uk/news/ipa-introduces-first-formal-qualification-for-search-agencies/3010150.article9