Author Archives: Lisa Gevelber

Preparing learners for growing industries with higher ed

Ensuring today’s workforce has the skills required for an evolving labor market requires creative approaches. That’s why we’ve been working with higher education to help students and people already in the job market reach their earning potential. Educational institutions in all 50 states, including over 300 universities, community colleges and career and technical education high schools, have incorporated Google Career Certificates to help people begin promising careers in growing fields.

Today, we’re announcing Industry Specializations, a new addition to the Google Career Certificates program. We’ve joined forces with leading universities so people can learn from top experts at Google and world-class faculty in an affordable and accessible way — no experience or application required. The university-built Specializations will provide Google Career Certificate graduates and new learners with additional expertise and skills for jobs in some of the fastest-growing industries.

Learners can build on their skills and access new career opportunities by enrolling in a Specialization to prepare for entry-level jobs like:

Plus, top institutions are working with us to reach even more people with the Google Career Certificates. UCLA Extension, one of the first and largest continuing education providers in the country, is offering the Google Career Certificates to any learner, at no cost, through UCLAxOpen. Stanford Digital Education is partnering with the Bay Area Community College Consortium to provide in-person and virtual instruction programs to deliver the Google Career Certificates across the Bay Area. And the SkillUp Google Career Certificate program at Rutgers University provides alumni with free access to the Google Career Certificates through their career services office.

Many of these partnerships are happening state-wide:

  • The Technical College System of Georgia launched the Google Career Certificates as a non-credit option to all 22 of their colleges.
  • The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education is working with member universities across the state to implement the certificates as a non-credit offering to undergraduates, and will extend access to the community by offering them through university workforce and continuing education offices.
  • The North Carolina Community College System has developed credit-bearing courses around the Google Project Management and Data Analytics Certificates and has made them available in their central course catalog for all 58 colleges.
  • In addition to these states, community college systems in Connecticut, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio and Virginia are offering Google Career Certificates to help support learners’ employability.

By completing a Google Career Certificate and an Industry Specialization, learners will earn a credential from Google and from the participating university. They will also gain access to jobs through our employer consortium, which includes more than 150 companies — such as Adobe, Deloitte, Lowe’s, Verizon and Google — that are eager to hire talent in these fields.

We’re proud to work with higher education institutions to create additional accessible and flexible pathways for economic mobility. To learn more about these opportunities, visit grow.google/certificates. And if you are an academic institution interested in partnering with us, more information can be found on our website.

Helping more businesses and people get skills to succeed

Editor’s note: Today marks the start of National Small Business Week, a time to celebrate the millions of small businesses across the U.S. that power and connect our communities. This morning, Lisa Gevelber, Founder of Grow with Google, was joined by the Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator, Isabella Casillas Guzman, at an event to announce new resources for businesses to help fuel growth and employee skill development. More details below.

Small businesses drive the U.S. economy and employ more than 46% of workers. We can attribute much of the nation’s economic rebound over the past two years to the hard work of American businesses — and to the digital tools that helped them adapt. At Google, we see how technology is fueling American business growth in the 2.4 billion connections we make every month between American businesses and their customers.

Three out of four U.S. small-and-medium sized businesses reported that adopting digital tools during the pandemic created new opportunities for their business. And digitally advanced businesses report 20 times better customer acquisition rates. Yet almost half (49%) of small businesses still lack the information and skills needed to use digital tools. Filling these skill gaps can help fuel growth for American businesses while creating new opportunities for workers. That’s why we’re expanding our Google Career Certificates program to further meet the needs of businesses and job seekers.

Google Career Certificate scholarships for U.S. businesses

To make it easier for businesses to help their employees get the skills they need, beginning today, U.S. businesses can get up to 500 scholarships each to Google Career Certificates to train their employees.[71cee3]These scholarships are worth up to $100,000 in workforce training per American company. Businesses can apply at grow.google/certificatesforbusiness.

It’s no secret that businesses of all sizes are struggling to acquire and retain talent. Those who create growth opportunities for their employees have a much better shot at retaining them. Businesses can use Google Career Certificates to train their employees for jobs in data analytics, digital marketing & e-commerce, IT support, project management or user experience (UX) design. No experience is required, and employees can earn an industry recognized credential in three to six months of part-time study. For every scholarship we give, a business will be gaining capabilities and, at the same time, an employee will be growing new skills.

Giving businesses more capabilities in e-commerce and digital marketing

The pandemic accelerated the need for digital tools — and we know digitally advanced businesses have been more financially resilient, and have hired at twice the rate compared to less digitally advanced peers.

To ensure businesses of all sizes can use digital marketing and e-commerce to unlock growth opportunities — and that they have access to talent with the know-how — Google is launching a new Digital Marketing & E-commerce Certificate.

This new certificate is rigorous, and endorsed by the 4A’s (American Association of Advertising Agencies) and the AAF (American Advertising Federation). Here’s what you should know:

  • This certificate teaches digital marketing and e-commerce skills, including how to find customers, building an online store, measurement and analytics and increasing customer loyalty.
  • Like all our certificates, all course instructors are Google employees who are subject-matter experts.
  • Learners will get hands-on experience with popular digital marketing and e-commerce tools and platforms such as Canva, Constant Contact, Hootsuite, HubSpot, MailChimp, Shopify and Twitter, as well as Google Ads and Google Analytics.

This certificate is the latest addition to the Google Career Certificates program, which provides flexible online training for skills in high-growth fields. Combined, these certificates provide job seekers with access to more than 1.5 million in-demand jobs in the U.S. Graduates of the program gain access to jobs through our employer consortium, which includes more than 150 companies — such as Crate & Barrel, Infosys, Shopify, Verizon, Walmart, Wayfair and Google — that are eager to hire entry-level talent in these fields.

We’re looking forward to seeing what opportunities businesses, employees and job seekers continue to unlock with the expansion of the program. Learn more and enroll at grow.google/digitalmarketing.

Turn customers into advocates with #SmallThanks

The holiday season is a time to be grateful for friends, family and community. For me, that gratitude includes the small businesses who are a part of my everyday life in California. From my friends at Zombie Runner whose post-run coffee is the best part of my workout, to the folks at Tin-Pot Creamery who make it impossible to give up ice cream; these small businesses make my day-to-day life better and add heart to our community, and for that, I am thankful. I firmly believe when we support the businesses we love, we make the places we live better.


I also spend much of my time at work thinking about how to help small businesses grow using the web. Our products play a pivotal role in helping people and small businesses connect with each other.  As this year’s holiday shopping season and Small Business Saturday approach us, we’re doing something extra to help small businesses stand out and succeed, both online and in their neighborhoods.


We’ve created the #SmallThanks Hub to help you get free, customized marketing materials to promote your business. Simply search for your business name on the site, and we’ll automatically create posters, social media posts, window clings, stickers and more—based on the reviews and local love from your customers on Google. And now, it is available nationally in U.S. to any verified Google listing with an address. (Don’t yet have a verified listing? Signing up is free and only takes a few minutes. Start here.)  


Reviews from your fans are like digital thank you notes, and they’re one of the first things people notice about your business in search results. A few positive small thanks can mean the difference between a potential customer choosing your business or going elsewhere. 71 percent of consumers say that positive reviews in search results make them more likely to use that the business, and listings with positive reviews see 360 percent higher clicks to their site.

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Show why your customers love you with posters in your store, and posts on social media.

Here are a few tips on how to use the materials from the #SmallThanks Hub to gain new customers and turn existing ones into advocates.

  1. Personalize your assets: Choose the reviews you want to feature, and select from several layouts, colors and styles to match your business’s aesthetics. You can create as many versions as you want.
  2. Show why your customers love you: Print and hang your customized posters in a visible area in your store, and share the social media versions with #SmallThanks to join in the conversation and show what makes you unique. Post the flyers around your neighborhood where potential customers might see them. 
  3. Ask customers to support you with reviews: Some customers may not remember to leave you a review, or realize the impact that it can have, so why not give them a little nudge? Place stickers in your window, receipt booklets, point-of-sale machine or anywhere else it can be prominently displayed to remind them to support you with a review. 
  4. Remind people to search for you: Post the “Find us on Google” stickers in your store and on your social media channels with #SmallThanks hashtag to tell potential customers how to connect with you.
  5. Keep your Google listing up to date: The holiday season usually means different hours and special offerings. Let customers know when you’ll be open using the special hours feature, and promote holiday specials with Local Posts
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Encourage customers to support you on Google by placing these in visible spots.

Happy holidays and best wishes from all of us at Google.