SEO Certifications: Are They Really Worth It?

2 years ago 163
ARTICLE AD BOX
Article stats
  • Linking websites 70

  • Tweets 43

Data from Content Explorer

Shows however galore antithetic websites are linking to this portion of content. As a wide rule, the much websites nexus to you, the higher you fertile successful Google.

Shows estimated monthly hunt postulation to this nonfiction according to Ahrefs data. The existent hunt postulation (as reported successful Google Analytics) is usually 3-5 times bigger.

The fig of times this nonfiction was shared connected Twitter.

If you privation to larn SEO, you tin portion everything unneurotic from blog posts and videos oregon instrumentality an SEO course. But what astir an SEO certification?

After spending hours researching SEO certifications and taking 3 of them (see my three certificates), my sentiment is this:

Most SEO certifications aren’t worthy it.

I’ll explicate wherefore successful this article. But first, let’s screen the basics…

What is an SEO certification?

SEO certifications are awarded to those who implicit an SEO people and show their cognition by completing a trial or quiz.

It’s the past portion that differentiates an SEO certification from an SEO course.

For thing to suffice arsenic an SEO certification:

  • There indispensable beryllium a quiz/test that you tin walk or fail.
  • Upon passing the quiz/test, the people supplier indispensable contiguous you with impervious of your achievement—usually successful the signifier of a certificate or badge.

Here’s what that mightiness look like:

Is determination a Google SEO certification?

Kind of.

Google offers a escaped ‘Fundamentals of Digital Marketing’ certification through the Google Digital Garage. It includes 26 modules, ~14 hours of material, and covers galore aspects of integer marketing—with three of them solely dedicated to SEO. It’s accredited by the Interactive Advertising Bureau Europe and The Open University.

Google besides offers the SEO Fundamentals’ certification in the Digital Garage. It’s free, has ~2.5 hours of material, covers the 4 main facets of SEO (on-page, off-page, keyword research, technical), and was created by the University of California, Davis.

If you’re looking to larn Google Analytics, there’s besides the Google Analytics Certification. Read this to larn much astir however to walk the Individual Qualification Exam and wherever to find your certificate.

Why SEO certifications astir apt aren’t worth it

If you privation an SEO certificate to adhd to your resume and LinkedIn to pull occupation offers, I person atrocious quality for you: most employers don’t attraction astir SEO certifications.

How bash we know?

We asked 15 SEO hiring managers for the skills and requirements that they deem important erstwhile hiring an SEO specialist. 86% said that SEO certifications aren’t important, with the remainder saying that they’re lone somewhat important.

Not 1 hiring manager said they were precise important.

But this isn’t the lone crushed wherefore SEO certifications astir apt aren’t worthy it for astir people. Here are a few more:

SEO certifications don’t warrant a bully SEO education

Getting an SEO certificate doesn’t needfully mean that you learned thing useful. It conscionable means that you learned something. So don’t fto the allure of a certificate unreality your judgement erstwhile learning SEO. If the syllabus doesn’t look helpful, don’t bother.

SEO certifications lone thatch you theory, not applicable skills

If you privation to go an SEO expert, my advice is to start a website arsenic soon arsenic imaginable aft learning the basics of SEO. That’s due to the fact that knowing the mentation lone gets you truthful far. Getting your hands soiled and trying to fertile a website volition thatch you much than an SEO certification.

SEO certifications instrumentality a batch of time

Look astatine the magnitude of Google’s Digital Marketing certification above: determination are 14 hours of material. That’s not a negligible magnitude of clip to walk connected SEO certification. There’s an accidental outgo present arsenic you could walk that clip gathering and ranking a website. As I said above, that’s astir apt a amended usage of your clip if you already cognize the basics of SEO.

SEO certifications usually absorption connected the basics

There are astir apt immoderate SEO certifications that deep-dive into 1 country of SEO similar keyword research or technical SEO, but the ones I came crossed were rather basic. That isn’t a atrocious happening if you’re caller to SEO, but determination are faster ways to larn the basics, specified arsenic our beginner’s usher to SEO or our abbreviated ‘SEO for beginners’ video course.

SEO certifications are often conscionable selling ploys

Passing an SEO certification gets you a certificate (and sometimes a badge, too). You tin amusement this disconnected connected your resume, LinkedIn profile, website, wherever. That raises marque consciousness for the creator of the SEO certification. I deliberation this is wherefore galore of them are casual to pass. Passes pb to marque awareness.

What’s the champion SEO certification?

After researching countless SEO certifications and taking 3 of them, my sentiment is that there is nary ‘best SEO certification.’ I can’t urge immoderate of the ones I completed—at slightest not for the certification alone.

If I were judging these ‘certifications’ for their people content, it would beryllium a antithetic story.

Each of the ‘certifications’ I took had well-produced videos, explained concepts well, and shared close SEO cognition overall. Google’s SEO Fundamentals certification had annoying inheritance euphony and looked a spot dated, but that’s a minor point.

It was the exam and certification facet that fto each of these courses down, successful my opinion.

For starters, if you failed the exam, you could retake it soon aft (between 0 and 12 hours) your archetypal attempt. That mightiness dependable similar a affirmative if you privation to pass, but each it does is diminish the worth of the certification. If things were this mode for assemblage exams, the occupation marketplace would soon go saturated with graduates and degrees would suffer overmuch of their value.

But that information was thing compared to the exams themselves…

Here’s conscionable 1 of the questions connected 1 of the exams:

If you’re caller to SEO, the contented present is that all links are ‘beneficial’ to a site’s authority. That doesn’t mean each types of links volition assistance you to fertile higher successful Google, but that’s unrelated to tract authority.

Here’s different question from a antithetic exam:

This isn’t truly a existent oregon mendacious question, arsenic Google recommends that you usage hyphens alternatively than underscores in URLs.

Here’s different question, this clip from Google’s SEO Fundamentals certification:

You tin spot that I got the reply wrong. I’m guessing that the close reply is “optimizing tract keywords,” but I genuinely person nary thought what that means. It sounds similar thing you’d spot connected Warrior Forum in 2009.

In short, the certification facet felt similar an afterthought for each of the certifications I completed. It felt similar idiosyncratic created the course, past tasked idiosyncratic acold little knowledgeable to ticker the people and make an exam.

Does that mean this is the lawsuit for each SEO certifications?

Probably not. There are plentifulness of different SEO certifications, truthful it whitethorn beryllium that paid certifications are of higher quality.

Here are a fewer paid SEO certifications that came up during my research:

To beryllium clear, I didn’t instrumentality immoderate of these certifications. They’re simply the ones I recovered that are really SEO certifications (not courses) and were created by reputable companies/people.

If you’re wondering wherefore I didn’t see different fashionable resources (e.g., Brian Dean’s ‘SEO That Works’) commonly recovered connected lists of ‘SEO certifications,’ it’s due to the fact that they aren’t certifications. They’re courses. There’s nary exam oregon certificate.

Our SEO people for beginners is the same. It doesn’t person an exam oregon certificate astatine the end, but it’s a large spot to commencement if you’re caller to SEO:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsVTqzratPs

Final thoughts

Most SEO hiring managers spot certifications arsenic unimportant erstwhile hiring SEO specialists, and I agree. I wouldn’t look for SEO certifications connected resumes if I were hiring due to the fact that I cognize that galore of them are passable done a premix of proceedings and mistake and communal sense.

So here’s my advice:

If you privation to turn your SEO knowledge, find a bully SEO people (here’s our escaped one) and past execute what you learn.

If you privation to get a job, bash the aforesaid happening due to the fact that results talk louder than an ‘SEO certification.’

Got questions? Disagree with my opinion? Let’s sermon on Twitter.