SEO Certifications and Certificates

If you’re looking for a way to demonstrate your skills in SEO, you might be overwhelmed by the different certifications and certificate programs available. You might also have a lot of questions, such as Will a certificate help you get a job? Is there a difference between a certificate and a certification? How do I prepare for these credentials?This article aims to provide answers to these questions so you can efficiently choose the right path towards an SEO certification. Keep reading to find out more.

What is SEO?

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is a way to drive more traffic to your website and gain more customers. It depends upon content, technical website optimization, link building, and keyword research to ensure that your website appears near the top of a Google results page. A BrightEdge survey conducted in 2019 found that SEO is 1000% more effective at driving website traffic than organic methods like social media posts. Professionals who work with SEO are often called Website Optimization Specialists.

The primary goal of SEO is to build trust between your business and your users. You can do this through high-quality content, ensuring your website loads quickly in desktop and mobile versions, and optimizing your site for voice search. Another way to improve your rankings on search engine results pages (SERPs) is to create a “Google My Business” listing.

Read more about what SEO is and why you should learn it.

What Can You Do with SEO?

SEO is used to determine search engine success in three crucial ways: technical SEO, on-page SEO, and off-page SEO.

Technical SEO looks at a website's technical features and how they affect search engine rankings. These include the site structure, schema, and URL. The site needs to be easy to navigate with a clearly understood organization. Other aspects of technical SEO are website loading speed, mobile friendliness, voice optimization, and the XML sitemap.

The primary goal of on-page optimization is meeting the intent of the searcher/user with high-quality content. On-page content is essential and refers to everything that appears on a website, including text, keywords, images, tags, and internal links. Researching and choosing the best SEO keywords shows that the website has authority and is trustworthy.

Off-page SEO involves building links and strengthening social media engagement. Backlinks and social media help build authority and trust with search engines. Link building refers to finding reputable and relevant websites to link to your website or content. The more references to your content on other reliable sites, the better. Additionally, building out social media presence across various channels will further establish your internet presence and boost your SEO. You can use different analytical tools to track SEO and conversion rates.

Certifications vs. Certificates: What’s the Difference?

If you want to work as a Website Optimization/SEO Specialist, you can get a college degree in marketing or you can enroll in a certificate program. Four years at a college or university is very expensive, so many people opt to earn professional certification to learn about SEO for digital marketing. Certificate programs take several months to complete, which is considerably shorter than going to college. These intensive courses focus exclusively on the latest SEO best practices.

Once you complete the course, you will be awarded a certificate that you can attach to your online resume or profile on LinkedIn. This tells prospective employers that you have been trained in the latest techniques in social media marketing such as choosing social media channels, search engine optimization, content management, and analytical tools. Training programs hire experienced Web Optimization/SEO Specialists as instructors. These marketing professionals tend to be more familiar with the rapidly changing internet trends than college professors.

Certifications are documents indicating that you took a competency test to prove that you know a software tool or process. Sometimes the test is given at the end of a training course, and some certifications have an expiration date and have to be renewed.

Top Certifications & Certificates for SEO

Noble Desktop

You can study SEO as part of a Digital Marketing Certificate from Noble Desktop. The course covers creating digital marketing campaigns, includingSEO, data analytics, content marketing, and social media channels.

LinkedIn Learning

The business-to-business social media network offers over 16,000 classes when you buy a subscription to LinkedIn Learning, among them courses in SEO. The first month is free. When you finish one of the video classes, you receive a certificate that you can post on your LinkedIn profile or resume.

Yoast Academy

Yoast creates WordPress SEO plugins and offers a three-hour course on SEO. This is an asynchronous video class and at the end, you receive a certificate and badge.

ClickMinded

ClickMinded offers a comprehensive SEO course with a certificate, as well as a free minicourse to start with.

Moz

The Moz SEO Essentials Certificate is a six-hour course led by an instructor. When you complete the exam at the end, you receive a certificate. While the class definitely includes Moz tools, you do not have to pay for a subscription to participate.

SEMRush

SEMRush is one of the most popular SEO tools available. They offer a free eight-module SEO training program with a certificate.

Market Motive

MarketMotive’s SEO certification class is designed for marketing professionals who already know something about SEO. Participants earn a certificate in advanced SEO when they complete the class.

Should I Get Certified in SEO?

Whether or not to get certified in SEO is entirely up to you. Some employers require a college degree, but many are more interested in what you can do than in a degree. A certificate shows that you are dedicated to your craft and interested in staying up-to-date. Earning certifications demonstrates to hiring managers that you understand how SEO works and have the knowledge to do a good job.

How to Get Certified in SEO

To get certified in SEO you will need to choose a program, take the class, and pass the exam. There are many classes to choose from, some meet in person and others are online. Many courses have fees, but some are free.

Learn SEO with Hands-on Training at Noble Desktop

If you want to change careers and become a Web Optimization/SEO Specialist, you can sign up for Noble Desktop’s SEO Bootcamp. This two-part class will teach you beginning and advanced SEO strategies to get your website to the top of the page. In the first class, SEO Level 1, you’ll learn how search engines work, how to do keyword research and competitor analysis, and how to use SEO-driven content to increase web traffic. SEO Level 2 covers how to do SEO audits and gives you hands-on experience with an expert instructor.

You can also sign up for a Google Analytics Bootcamp to learn how to set up an account, know which metrics to track, and understand the Google Analytics reports. You can also learn about paid advertising with Google Ads Bootcamp.

Another way to prepare for a career as a Web Optimizations/SEO Specialist is a digital marketing certificate course. Noble’s Digital Marketing Certificate includes the digital marketing, SEO, and Google Analytics bootcamps, plus Google Ads and classes on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, and Twitter marketing, as well as content marketing with blogs.

Use Noble Desktop’s Classes Near Me to find other courses in digital marketing in your area.

Key Insights

• SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization.
• SEO is a way to drive traffic to your website, get more customers, and increase sales.
• There are three types of SEO: technical, on-page, and off-page.
• Certifications are documents indicating that you took an exam to show competency with a software tool or process.
• Certificates are awarded upon the completion of a course.