I’ll give you some insight into the answer to the titular question: Is SEO certification worth it?
It is the favorite answer of all SEO professionals.
That’s right: it depends! (If not, this would be a much shorter article.)
SEO certifications can be valuable if you’re new to the industry or if you’re expanding your skill set into different disciplines.
But do you need a specific certification to be successful? Probably not.
Certifications and courses are great for building your core skills and familiarizing yourself with industry tools. But SEO evolves so quickly that experience and testing are often the best teachers.
Experienced SEO professionals who can demonstrate results don’t need certifications for the work they already do.
But you can still find something useful in the right training. Everyone needs to improve their skills.
Let’s examine which certifications might be the most valuable for your time or money.
Is there an SEO certification?
There is no single widely recognized SEO certification. There is no common SEO degree or curriculum, which can seem daunting if you’re trying to learn how to get started with SEO.
But it makes sense.
SEO is a huge discipline that requires many skills and involves many people.
Developers, designers, writers, marketers, data analysts, influencers, marketers, managers and other professionals have something to add to the SEO industry.
There are many ways to contribute and many entry points.
However, the academic community seems to be taking more notice of late. Certifications offered by universities have begun to emerge.
Do you have to pay for an SEO certification?
Many companies offer their own courses and certifications. But, these can be expensive.
The short answer is: pay for what you learn, not for the certificate.
With the amount of free resources out there, from SEO beginner guides to advanced SEO strategy guides, I don’t recommend paying big bucks for basic certification.
The certificate itself probably isn’t what will move the needle for you.
This industry cares about what you can prove, and for the most part all a certificate proves is that you can Google the answers to multiple choice questions.
On the other hand, the courses themselves can be extremely valuable when they go beyond the basics. If you want to take a course and think you’ll gain useful skills from it, it’s worth paying for.
So evaluate a certification or course based on the actual educational value you get from it.
I’ve also noticed that many paid certifications come with a specific premium SEO tool. So they’re probably worth it if you commit to this tool.
My advice is to check out the free content first. If you like what it does and think you would get real business value from the course or certification, go for it!
Is a Google SEO Certification Worth It?
Learning new skills and tools can boost your career and help you earn higher compensation. Additionally, a number of specialized certifications can build an impressive LinkedIn profile and resume.
If you’re new to the industry, certifications can help you demonstrate your knowledge to land your first clients or jobs.
Unfortunately, if you wait for Google’s official certification, it doesn’t directly offer anything that fits this description.
However, it offers certifications on all of its tools. It also offers a variety of digital marketing, professional development and data courses, although not all of them include certificates.
If you browse the Digital Garage, you’ll also find courses from providers outside of Google, such as Coursera and educational institutions.
Google resources are useful in their granularity.
You should quickly know which ones are relevant and useful to you. Not all of them will be, but you should at least consider taking tool-specific courses.
Courses are categorized by time, skill level, and whether you’ll get a digital certificate at the end.
At the time of writing, they’re all free, so there’s really no reason not to check out something that interests you.
A Google account with a good selection of completed certificates can be helpful if you don’t have real-world experience with the tools.
Additionally, Google’s partner organizations often require Google certifications.
7 Best SEO Certifications
This list includes some of the most highly regarded certifications that add a lot of value to the learning process. I’ve focused on free certifications first, but later we’ll talk about paid courses that might be worth your while.
1. Google Fundamentals for Digital Marketing Certification
This isn’t technically an SEO certification, but it does include SEO modules, including modules on search ads and local search.
level: Beginner
Hours: 40
Key learning outcomes: Analytics, business strategy, SEO, SEM, content marketing and various other basic aspects of digital marketing
price: Free
Number of registrants: 300,000+
More information here.
2. Google Analytics 4 in Skillshop
If you’re going to use Google tools, there’s no better teacher than the people who created them.
Plus, getting certifications for all the tools you use regularly is a great and quick way to communicate your technical expertise.
This one is especially relevant to anyone who used Google Analytics.
GA4 brings changes and new features, so you should stay up to date!
level: beginner to advanced users
Hours: approximately one hour per course
Key learning outcomes: Analyzing your website and performance with GA4
price: Free
More information here.
3. UC Davis Specialization in search engine optimization
The University of California, Davis offers this specialization in SEO.
It is a series of five courses that culminate in a final project.
Of all the options, this is probably the most time consuming. It is also the most intriguing.
level: beginner-intermediate (two or more years of experience in the sector)
Hours: About 120 – six hours a week for five months
Key learning outcomes: Keyword Research, Marketing, SEO, How Search Algorithms Work, Competitive Analysis, SEO Reporting
price: Free
Number of registrants: Around 120,000
More information here.
4. HubSpot SEO Certification Course
HubSpot Academy is legitimately great. It’s all free and online, not unlike Google’s learning resources. It is also easy to search for certifications on various topics related to digital marketing.
Level: Beginner-Intermediate Hours: Just over 2 Key Learning Outcomes: Keyword Research, Link Building, Website Analytics Price: Free Number of Enrollees: About 250,000 (across Hubspot Academy, not just this course)
More information here.
5. Semrush SEO Fundamentals Exam
Semrush structures its courses and certifications a little differently.
List courses separately from exams.
If you’re confident in your knowledge and up for a challenge, you can quickly pass the exams and get certified.
Or, you can take as many courses as you want before tackling a single exam.
Alternatively, you can skip the certification exams if you don’t care and just want to learn.
This certification exam is combined with a course of the same name, but Semrush includes several SEO-focused courses and certifications.
level: beginner-intermediate
Hours: Exam – about 30 minutes. Course – Four hours.
Key learning outcomes: SEO basics, technical SEO, ranking signals, mobile SEO
price: Free
learn more: Examination – course
6: Complete Ahrefs SEO Course for Beginners
I’m cheating a little on this one. There is no certification at the end of the course, but as I said, I can doubt the only value of certifications.
So you won’t get a digital certificate for adding your LinkedIn profile, but you can still brag about it.
I like this one because it’s no nonsense; is a YouTube playlist. Easy access, at any time.
level: beginner-intermediate
Hours: Around two hours of videos
Key learning outcomes: basic SEO concepts, link building, on-page SEO, technical SEO
price: Free
More information here.
7. Payment certifications
I cheat again; I decided to group the paid certifications here. Trusted names in the industry offer them, so you’ll likely get a lot of value out of them.
But if you’re new to the industry and just want to get started, consider saving them for later.
Moz Academy
The Moz training academy includes a variety of courses.
There’s a free course to get your feet wet, but certifications are $395 or $595.
Moz offers a robust learning center where you can get a lot of insight from these industry veterans.
Comprehensive Yoast SEO Training
Yoast is the ubiquitous WordPress SEO plugin.
If you’ve done any work on digital marketing content, you’ve probably come across it.
His training course it is an annual subscription model for $99 per year. There is a free course you can try to get started.
conclusion
There is a critical difference between a course and a certification. Not all courses have certifications. Some of the best ones don’t.
Certifications have their uses. They are quick ways to demonstrate skills to employers and clients, and if you don’t have a lot of experience, they can act as proof of your skills.
Getting certified in specific tools is great for your resume if you work with them. An at-a-glance list of your certified tools is impressive and useful!
But the content you learn is much more important than the digital certificate. You shouldn’t discount a course because you don’t get a certification.
In fact, a digital certification in itself is not particularly impressive.
Don’t let this deter you from pursuing learning opportunities. Digital courses, both free and paid, can be critical in your career.
You can learn new skills, keep up with the industry, and get higher rates with the right application of knowledge.
Don’t focus on getting SEO certified. Focus on learning SEO.
More resources:
Featured image: Ground Picture/Shutterstock
