SEO Certification + SEO Experience = Ideal SEO Consultant ???

[CertifiedSEO]

Since the responsibilities of SEO have increased so  much, I think there has to be a kind of basic industry wide  Certification / Degree system.   Many people may argue that experince is much more important than certification but how about like any other trade or profession; we have (1) SEO Certification PLUS (2) SEO Experience for the Internet Marketers.

One of the reasons,  I get so many calls from people that they claim they are SEO experts and they are trying to sell their services to us, but when you talk with them, you can easily tell that they do not have any knowledge about it. But they sell the service to business owners that do not understand SEO.  It is very sad to see small business owners believe those people.. and I understand it is business owners responsibility to check the background & portfolio of SEO agency, but wouldn't it be nice to have another credential that they can ask "are you also certified SEO"?

what do you think about "Certified SEO" or "Certified Internet Marketing Consultant" concept?

can there be an international or national organization to coordinate and superwise the certifications?

Thanks,

Lewis

[Thos003]

I got a SEO certificate a couple of years ago.. Very official looking paper and all!.. and then my kids got to it and colored on it. Looks much better!

[EGOL]

Place your money on "track record" - preferably in your topic niche.

[JoeAmadon]

Bruce Clay might be a good place to start researching the topic of SEO certification. He offers a lot of SEO training courses and certifications. SEMPO is an organization that might be able to institute something like this. However, it is unlikely that an SEO certification will ever be widely accepted.

I understand the desire for a certification process, but personally, I think certification has the potential to be more damaging, by giving companies a false sense of security when hiring an SEO consultant/agency. Knowing how to do SEO and acquiring certification doesn't mean you won't take the easy way out with your clients and resort to black hat tactics to get quick results. Like with anything in business, the more research you do yourself, the better decisions you'll usually make. Don't rely on people who aren't really invested to make important decisions for you like whether someone is a credible consultant, especially when knowledge usually isn't the biggest factor in the success or failure of a person.