Is Getting SEO Certified Worth It?
This is the reaction every SEO pro likes.
That’s right: it depends! (Otherwise this would be a shorter article.)
An SEO certification can be helpful if you’re new to the industry or want to expand your skill set into different areas.
But do you need specific certifications to be successful? Probably not.
Our certifications and courses are a great way to build foundational skills and familiarize yourself with industry tools. But SEO evolves so quickly that experience and testing are often the best teachers.
Experienced SEO professionals who can prove results don’t need to be certified for the work they’re already doing.
But with proper training, you can find something useful. Everyone needs to upskill.
Find out which certifications are the most valuable for your time and money.
Are you SEO certified?
There is no one widely recognized SEO certification. There is no SEO degree or general curriculum. If you’re trying to learn how to get started with SEO, it can be discouraging.
But it makes sense.
SEO is a huge field that requires many skills and involves many people.
Developers, designers, writers, marketers, data analysts, influencers, salespeople, managers, and other professionals all have something to add to the SEO industry.
There are many ways to contribute and many entry points.
Recently, however, academia seems to be paying more attention. University-provided certifications began to emerge.
Should You Pay for SEO Certification?
Many companies offer their own courses and certifications. However, these can be expensive.
Simply put, you pay for what you learn, not for certificates.
With so many free resources, from beginner’s guides to SEO to advanced SEO strategy guides, we don’t recommend paying big bucks for basic certification.
The certificate itself probably won’t make much of a difference for you.
The industry cares about what you can prove. Most of the time, all a certificate proves is that you can Google the answer to a multiple-choice question.
The course itself, on the other hand, is very valuable when it goes beyond the basics. If there’s a course you want to take and you think the course will give you useful skills, it’s worth paying for.
So please rate any certification or course based on the actual educational value you get from it.
I also noticed that many paid certifications come with certain premium SEO tools. So if you’re committed to that tool, it’s probably worth it.
My advice is to check out the free content first.
Is Google SEO Certification Worth It?
Acquire new skills and tools to advance your career and earn higher rewards. Plus, a series of professional certifications will help you build an impressive LinkedIn profile and resume for her.
If you’re new to the industry, a certification can help prove your knowledge to attract your first clients and jobs.
Unfortunately, if you want official certification from Google, we won’t provide you with a direct match to that description.
However, we do offer certification for all of our tools. We also offer a variety of digital marketing, career development and data courses, not all of which come with certification.
Browse the Digital Garage to find courses from non-Google providers, such as Coursera and educational institutions.
Google’s resources are helpful in terms of their granularity.
You should be able to quickly determine which ones are relevant and useful to you. Not all, but at least you should consider taking a tool-specific course.
Courses are categorized by time, skill level, and whether or not you earn a digital certificate at the end.
All of them are free at the time of writing. There is absolutely no reason not to check the ones you are interested in.
A well-chosen Google account with a completed certificate is useful if you have no hands-on experience with the tool.
Additionally, Google partner organizations often require Google certification.
7 best SEO certifications
This list includes some of the most highly regarded certifications that offer a lot of value in your learning process. We initially focused on free certifications, but we’ll cover worthy paid courses later.
1. Google Digital Marketing Fundamentals Certification
It’s not technically SEO certified, but it does have SEO modules, including modules on Search Ads and Local Search.
- level: beginner
- time: 40
- Main learning outcomes: analytics, business strategy, SEO, SEM, content marketing, and several other important aspects of digital marketing
- price: free
- enrollment: 300,000+
- Click here for details.
2. Skillshop Google Analytics 4
When it comes to using Google’s tools, there are no better teachers than the people who created them.
Additionally, getting certified for all the tools you use on a regular basis is a great and fast way to communicate your technical expertise.
This is especially relevant for anyone who has used Google Analytics.
GA4 brings changes and new features, so you need to keep up with the times.
- level: from beginner to advanced
- time: 1 course about 1 hour
- Main learning outcomes: Analyze Your Website and Performance with GA4
- price: free
- Click here for details.
3. UC Davis Search Engine Optimization Specialization
The University of California, Davis offers this specialization in SEO.
This is a series of five courses culminating in the Capstone Project.
Of all the options, this is probably the slowest. It’s also the most interesting one.
- level：Beginner to Intermediate (More than 2 years of industry experience)
- time: about 120 – 6 hours a week for 5 months
- Main learning outcomes: Keyword Research, Marketing, SEO, How Search Algorithms Work, Competitive Analysis, SEO Report Creation
- price: free
- enrollment: About 120,000
- Click here for details.
4. HubSpot’s SEO Certification Course
HubSpot’s academy is justifiably cool. Just like Google’s learning resources, they’re all free and online. You can also easily search for certifications on various digital marketing-related topics.
- Level: Beginner to Intermediate
- Time: 2+
- Key Learning Outcomes: Keyword Research, Link Building, Website Analysis
- Price: Free
- Enrollments: Approximately 250,000 (not just for this course, but for the entire Hubspot Academy)
- Click here for details.
5. Semrush SEO Fundamentals Exam
Semrush has a slightly different structure for courses and certifications.
Courses are listed separately from exams.
If you’re confident in your knowledge and willing to take the challenge, you can take the exam and earn your certification in no time.
Alternatively, you can take as many courses as you like before working on a single exam.
Alternatively, if you don’t care about the certification exam and just want to learn, you can skip the certification exam.
Although this certification exam is paired with the course of the same name, Semrush has several courses and certifications focused on SEO.
- level: Beginner to Intermediate
- time: Exam – about 30 minutes. Course – 4 hours.
- Main learning outcomes: SEO Basics, Technical SEO, Ranking Signals, Mobile SEO
- price: free
- learn more: Exams – Courses
6: Ahrefs Complete SEO Course for Beginners
I’m cheating a little on this one. There is no certification at the end of the course, but as already mentioned, you may question the value of the certification itself.
As such, you won’t get a digital certificate to add your LinkedIn profile, but you can brag about it.
I like this one because it’s nonsense. It’s a YouTube playlist. Easy access anytime.
- level: Beginner to Intermediate
- time: Approximately 2 hours of video
- Main learning outcomes: SEO basics, link building, on-page SEO, technical SEO
- price: free
- Click here for details.
7. Paid Certification
I am also cheating. I decided to group the paid certifications here. Reliable names in the industry offer these, so you might get a lot of value out of them.
However, if you’re new to the industry and just starting out, consider saving these for later use.
Shrike Academy
Moz Training Academy offers a wide variety of courses.
There is one free course to get your feet wet, but the certification is $395 or $595.
Moz offers a robust learning center where you can get a lot of insight from these industry veterans.
Yoast all-round SEO training
Yoast is the ubiquitous WordPress SEO plugin.
If you’ve ever done any work on the content side of digital marketing, you’ve probably run into it.
The company’s training courses are an annual subscription model for $99/year. There are free courses to get you started.
Conclusion
There is a crucial difference between courses and certifications. Not all courses have certifications. Some of the best are not.
Certification has its uses. They are an easy way to demonstrate your proficiency to employers and clients. It also serves as proof of your skills if you don’t have much experience.
Getting certified with certain tools is great for your resume if you use them. The list of certified tools is impressive and helpful.
But what you learned is much more important than digital certificates. A course shouldn’t be taken lightly just because you can’t get a certification.
In fact, the digital certification itself isn’t particularly impressive.
Don’t let that deter you from looking for learning opportunities. Both free and paid digital courses are very important for your career.
You can learn new skills, keep up with the industry, and earn higher rates by applying your knowledge properly.
Don’t focus on getting SEO certified. Dedicate yourself to learning SEO.
Other resources:
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