SEO Certifications? What is good/recommended? Is it still relevant?

[CSawatzky]

Hi All,

I'd really like to up my expert game in the SEO/PPC/Web Optimization game and I'd really like to get some strong credentials. So, I'm looking for some legit certifications. Of course, besides Google Analytics/Adwords Certs, is there anything else people here recommend? Is SEMPO still relevant? Check these out:

http://www.sempo.org/events/event_details.asp?id=298553

http://www.instantetraining.com/online-marketing-workshop/coached/seo-training

Let me know what you think! Thank you.

Cheers,
Pedram

[vmialik]

Hi Pedram,

Generally not so relevant in this creativity, experience, and w_ho-you-know_ focused industry.

Here are more thoughts here at moz on the topic:

http://moz.com/community/q/is-seo-certification-org-worth-having

http://moz.com/community/q/certification-of-internal-seo-training

http://moz.com/community/q/seo-certification-seo-experience-ideal-seo-consultant

Hope this helps!

[Chris.Menke]

In this ballgame, I don't think you can put "expertise" and "certification" in the same sentence and have them mean what you hope they will to peers, clients, and employers.  I don't know of any certification that industry experts will agree is a must have in order to call yourself and expert.  I don't know if many legitimate experts could actually pass so-called certification tests put out by many of the courses out there--on the first go, anyway.  And, I think most employers are generally confused about the whole shebang--they can't look to any specific certification as an ideal employee requirement, they can't wrap their arms around the specific skill sets they require or whether a prospective employee has a good grasp on them or not.

As Vadim states, there is a lot of "who-you-know " in this industry. There's also a lot of get-your-foot-in-the-door through salesmanship involved.  That said, it's possible Market Motive might be as close as you can get but to tell you the truth, I don't know of anyone who's taken the course or read any reviews on it.

[KevinBudzynski]

As Chris stated, I think salesmanship and discussing your experience weighs heaviest. Typically, when I recruit (btw-not very much), I focus specifically on what the candidate has done in the real world. Specifically project examples & experiences and ask questions like this:

• What was the issue/problem that the site was facing?
• How did you come to that conclusion?
• What data did you looked at and what tools did you use?
• What did you use as a baseline for measurement and why?
• What strategies did you implement to overcome that issue?

Quickly you can access if the candidate knows what they are talking about. So IMHO, I think describing projects you worked on weighs much more heavily than a bunch of fragmented certs you can place on your resume.

[EGOL]

Being able to point to a site in difficult SERPs that has white-hat kick-ass rankings and being able to say that you helped that site succeed should be fairly good proof.... but then there is the question of how much did that cost vs how much is the site earning.

Honestly... so many people go to training sessions to sit there, sip coffee and fart... they are putting in their time away from the office thinking that they are getting educated.  Field performance paired with ROI is the only real metric that you can count on.

And.... an SEO who turns down jobs because he can't see good potential ROI in the project for the client is probably an honest person and a good SEO.  How many SEOs turn down jobs for that reason?

[CSawatzky]

All,

Thanks so much for your help. All great answers.

So, you all are saying that even for the sake of added leverage to be considered (eventually) at expert level, no extra "stamps on the resume" besides actual work is recommended?

[EGOL]

SEO is a competitive industry.  You are going out there to fight the heavyweight champ.  Do you  want to send a guy who has kickass rankings or do you want to send the guy who sipped coffee and farted through a bunch of meetings?

I point to the Adwords professional exam.  What is the passing score?  Do you want a guy doing bidding who got a 70% on his exam?  That means 30% of your money is being blown.  Google should require 98% for a passing score.

[CSawatzky]

Good point yet again, EGOL. Thank you.