Advanced Cloud Integrations for Google Partners Directory

Key Technologies

Google Cloud Platform

• AppEngine
• BigQuery
• Memorystore
• Secret Manager
• Translation API
• Cloud SQL
• Cloud Build

Leveling the playing field

The Google Partners directory, which Beyond built with Google in 2022, connects Google Ads customers with 20,000+ Google Partners and Premier Partners across 60+ countries through a web application supported by a complex architecture of cloud-based services.

The unique ethical challenge of this project was to create an inclusive algorithm that delivered equal opportunities for partners across 60+ countries, in multiple languages and alphabets. We responded to inequitable search tactics within the previous system, which prevented the Google Partners directory from providing a level playing field for all Google Partners and Premier Partners.

Designing for Diversity

Beyond’s algorithm doesn’t compromise on the diversity of Google Partners directory; it champions it. By creating a sorting and filtering system that integrates with Google’s Cloud Translation API, we maximized the inclusive potential within the Google Partners directory.

This provides Google Partners and Premier Partners an equal opportunity to compete for Google Ads customers. Designing tech-based solutions for diversity is an excellent example of how humanizing product development can influence fair treatment and impartiality.

Collaboration for Cloud integration

Through intense collaboration with Google’s internal tech teams, we created a data pipeline that ensured all partner data used in the application was up-to-date, sanitized, free from malware, de-duplicated, screened for blacklisted words, stored securely in an approved database, and delivered to the frontend via an API endpoint. These steps optimized the partner directory to ensure that the partner data was inclusively aggregated and sorted to provide equal competition for all Google Partners and Premier Partners.

Diversity, inclusivity, security

Through our development of technical solutions for the unique needs of the Google Partners directory, we integrated 15 Google Cloud services, which helped us work towards our goal of creating technology that is based on fundamental principles of diversity, inclusivity and security.

After a successful initial launch, our Google Cloud-certified Professional Cloud Architects and Back End Engineers implemented changes to the application’s cloud infrastructure – migration of the NoSQL Datastore database to the Cloud SQL database – to enable advanced filtering of partner data. In the process, we updated the partner data and content aggregation pipelines and all corresponding API endpoints to connect with this new, inclusive system.

Integration with Google’s Cloud Translation API ensured that Google Partner and Premier Partner names were inclusively aggregated and sorted in the directory, giving them equal visibility compared to partners with English names.

Our expert Cloud architects also used Secret Manager to store any sensitive configuration such as API keys for services like Cloud SQL. This extra degree of security adds a protective layer to the cloud integration while conforming to Google’s standards around privacy, code quality and security.

Other integrations included:

• BigQuery as the data warehouse solution for data imported from the Google Ads team internal database
• Cloud Storage for storing any imported/exported data or large media assets
• Error Reporting for application error reporting
• Cloud Logging and Monitoring for operational logs and monitoring
• Cloud Scheduler for App Engine cron jobs
• Google Cloud IAM service accounts used for service-to-service authentication
• Identity-Aware Proxy used for restricting access to internal App Engine services and pre-production environments
• Cloud Build used for CI/CD pipelines for development purposes
• Redis for Memorystore used as a backend application cache.

Human-centered tech-solutions

Beyond wanted to use their Cloud expertise to create human-centered solutions for the Google Partners directory that encouraged inclusivity, diversity and equality for both partners.

• Innovative changes by our expert Cloud Architects to the application’s cloud infrastructure enabled us to filter partner data in different and more complex ways. It enabled us to create a more inclusive Google Partners directory that also reduces the risk of biased search results, instilling equity among partners.
• The integration of Google’s Cloud Translation API champions diversity by giving equal opportunity to all partners in the directory, regardless of which language or alphabet their names were written in.

A values driven approach

This values-driven, tech-based solution promotes the diverse selection of Google Partners and Premier Partners around the world, humanizing the Google Partners directory in the process.

Using our existing expertise in designing and building cloud infrastructures for complex web-based applications, we collaborated with our Google client team to successfully deliver a more inclusive and diverse directory that provides a level playing field for all users.