Since assemblage degrees successful SEO are rare, certifications are a fashionable mode to beryllium your cognition oregon expertise successful SEO. However, the occupation is that specified certifications tin beryllium provided by anyone.

So if you privation to instrumentality an SEO certification, you privation to marque definite you’re completing those where:

• The people worldly is comprehensive, accurate, and really teaches you the basics of SEO.
• They’re good regarded successful the industry.

To find courses that acceptable the bill, we polled our 200K+ newsletter subscribers connected the champion SEO certifications they would recommend.

Here are the 5 that our subscribers gave the most votes:

1. Ahrefs Certification Course

Duration: 7 hours 4 minutes
Price: Free with an Ahrefs Webmaster Tools account
Instructor(s): Sam Oh
Level: All levels

This is our ain certification people that teaches however Ahrefs’ tools and information work. It’s divided into modules representing each of our tools.

Our certification people is presently successful beta. So you won’t beryllium capable to instrumentality an exam and get a certificate (for now). Don’t worry, though; we program to adhd the certificate successful the adjacent future.

2. Google SEO Fundamentals by UC Davis

Duration: 29 hours
Price: Free
Instructor(s): Rebekah May
Level: Beginner SEOs

Created by the University of California, Davis, and powered by Coursera, this people teaches the fundamentals of SEO. There are 4 modules successful this people and 4 assessments to complete. Once you’ve passed, you tin gain a vocation certificate that you tin adhd to your LinkedIn profile, resume, oregon CV. For example, here’s 1 fixed to my colleague, Joshua Hardwick:

While the people is good regarded and prestigious, it comes astatine a immense clip outgo of 29 hours. You could physique and perchance fertile a website successful that magnitude of time. It mightiness beryllium amended to see the different certifications connected this list.

Many SEOs utilized to mistakenly assertion that they were “Google certified” aft completing this course. This was apt due to the fact that Google utilized to urge it, adjacent arsenic precocious arsenic July 2023:

However, Google has since redirected this leafage determination other and, arsenic a result, stopped recommending this course. 

3. SEO Certification Course by HubSpot

Duration: 3 hours 51 minutes
Price: Free
Instructor(s): Rachel Sheldon, Matthew Howells-Barby
Level: Beginner SEOs

This SEO certification people is portion of HubSpot, a SaaS institution known for inbound marketing (the founders adjacent wrote a book about it). 

With six lessons and 26 videos, the people runs astatine adjacent to 4 hours. There are besides 5 quizzes to complete, aft which you tin summation a certificate. For example, my colleague, Joshua, took this certification and obtained this certificate:

The people is free, but you’ll person to motion up for a HubSpot Academy account.

4. All-Around SEO Training by Yoast

Duration: 3 hours
Price: $99/year
Instructor(s): Joost de Valk
Level: Beginner and intermediate SEOs

This is the archetypal paid SEO certification connected this list. It costs $99 per year, and you get a certificate, badge, and entree to the people for 1 year. (You tin stock this connected LinkedIn, your resume, CV, etc.). You besides get entree to each different Yoast academy courses and Yoast’s premium plugin.

Considering that Yoast is astir apt the astir utilized SEO plugin, this whitethorn really dependable similar a steal.

If you’re unsure astir dropping that magnitude of wealth connected an SEO course, Yoast besides offers a escaped illustration acquisition for you to try:

5. SEO Foundations connected LinkedIn

Duration: 1 hr 32 minutes
Price: ~$40
Instructor(s): David Booth
Level: Beginner SEOs

Part of LinkedIn Learning, this people has 5 modules and 5 section quizzes to measure your knowledge. Passing the people means acquiring a LinkedIn Learning Certificate of Completion, which you tin easy adhd to your LinkedIn profile.

Unfortunately, this is simply a paid course—but it’s comparatively affordable. You tin adjacent commencement a one-month escaped proceedings connected LinkedIn Learning and implicit the people wrong that period. 

Let’s beryllium straight: 

Most SEO certifications aren’t worth it.

Here are a fewer reasons why.

1. Most employers don’t attraction astir SEO certifications

We asked 15 SEO hiring managers for the skills and requirements that they deem important erstwhile hiring an SEO specialist. In all, 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. 

So if you privation an SEO certification to adhd to your resume and LinkedIn to pull occupation offers, I person bad news.

2. 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.

3. SEO certifications lone thatch you theory, not applicable skills

Knowing the mentation lone gets you so far. 

If you privation to go an SEO expert, our advice is to commencement a website arsenic soon arsenic imaginable aft learning the basics of SEO. Getting your hands soiled and trying to fertile a website volition thatch you much than an SEO certification.

4. SEO certifications instrumentality a batch of time

There are 13 hours of worldly successful Google’s SEO Fundamentals certification. 

That’s not a negligible magnitude of time. You could walk that clip gathering and ranking a website. And it’s astir apt a amended usage of your clip if you already cognize the basics of SEO.

5. SEO certifications often person atrocious questions

Look astatine this question from an SEO exam:

Google really recommends you usage hyphens alternatively than underscores successful URLs. So it’s not a existent oregon mendacious question.

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

You tin spot we got the reply wrong. If we indispensable guess, the close reply is apt “optimizing tract keywords.” But that’s a unspeakable answer—it sounds similar thing you’d spot successful 2009, not now.

If you are a hiring manager and spot specified questions successful the quiz, volition you spot the certification? And by extension, volition you spot the cognition of the idiosyncratic with specified certifications? 

Probably not.

6. SEO certifications are excessively casual to pass

For astir certifications, if you failed the exam, you could retake it soon aft your archetypal effort (between 0 and 12 hours).

This sounds large if you’re a “test taker.” But since astir questions are multiple-choice, it’s lone a substance of clip earlier you walk the exam via proceedings and mistake oregon Googling. 

This diminishes the worth of your certification. Imagine if it was this casual for assemblage exams. The occupation marketplace would soon go saturated with graduates, and degrees would suffer overmuch of their value.

7. 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, oregon website. That raises marque consciousness for the creator of the SEO certification. 

This is astir apt wherefore galore of them are casual to pass. Passes pb to marque awareness.

Here are immoderate commonly asked questions astir SEO certifications.

What is an SEO certification?

An SEO certification is awarded to a idiosyncratic who passes an appraisal aft completing an SEO course. 

The impervious of achievement, either successful the signifier of a certificate oregon badge, is what differentiates an SEO certification from an SEO course. 

Is determination a Google SEO certification?

Kind of.

Google offers a escaped “Fundamentals of Digital Marketing” certification done the Google Digital Garage. It includes 26 modules, ~14 hours of material, and covers galore aspects of integer marketing—with 3 of them solely dedicated to SEO. It’s accredited by the Interactive Advertising Bureau Europe and The Open University.

If you’re looking to larn Google Analytics, there’s besides the Google Analytics Certification.

Should you wage for an SEO certification?

Judge the people by its material, not by the certification. If the people contains worldly you didn’t cognize earlier oregon tin apt thatch you caller skills, past it’s worthy paying for.

Final thoughts

Most SEO hiring managers spot certifications arsenic unimportant erstwhile hiring SEO specialists. We agree.

So here’s our advice:

If you privation to turn your SEO knowledge, find a bully SEO people (here’s our free 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.”

Any questions oregon comments? Let maine cognize on Twitter (X) oregon Threads.