Google has added a brand new Mobile Sites certification to their Google Parners program.  The certification gives a Google stamp of approval that the bearer of the certificate is knowledgeable in “best practices for creating, managing, measuring, and optimizing mobile websites.”

Those that take the exam must answer 65 questions with an accuracy of 80% or higher.  For those that do not pass, it can be attempted again in 7 days. Google has also released a study guide which can be found here, which includes 4 modules:

• Module 1: Mobile sites and why they matter
• Module 2: Improving mobile site speed
• Module 3: Creating an effective mobile UX
• Module 4: Advanced web technologies

This new Partners badge is an interesting addition, since it is the closest to an SEO badge that Partners can earn.  Google recently changed some of the program terms to prevent Partners from using the badge to imply Google was endorsing their organic SEO skills.  In light of this new addition, it makes sense that Google made those changes, since mobile site certification gets pretty close to the organic SEO side of things.