Is SEO Certification.org Worth Having?
-
I am new to SEO and I am trying to get properly trained. Have the SEO Certification.org professional is worth it? What's your think? Are there any other certifications to have that will properly train you? I know google has one.
-
SEOcertification.org certification is pretty much meaningless. I wouldn't trust it, and I don't know anyone else who would.
First, ask yourself if this certification provider is even up to snuff in their SEO skills. This particular site is not. Kris cracked me up on his post about seocertification.org :
"Before I’m even 10 seconds into the site I note that they didn’t even apply one of the most basic SEO fundamentals: Canonicalization
Observe:
http://seocertification.org
http://www.seocertification.org
http://www.seocertification.org/index.php
http://seocertification.org/index.php"The lack of fundamental canonicalization on their site is just one of many telltale signs of weak SEO-fu. It's 3/13/2013 now, at almost 3:13p.m. and their site looks dated circa 2006. Goodness, they even have text written on to images..! And what's more, their images lack keyword-rich filenames and have no alt tags at all! ![](<a href=)images/featuredImage.jpg" alt="" /> just ain't good SEO. I wouldn't trust them to teach me. If they are true masters, such as, perhaps Yoast or SEOmoz, they'd practice what they preach.
A better way to learn and master SEO is to learn by doing.
Build your own site, and then optimize it for people and search engines. Follow the checklists and tremendous detail here at SEOmoz, and participate in the forums here if you can't find an answer for your question first by searching the SEOmoz blogs.
If you want to learn SEO but don't want to develop your own site, you can always help build links to my site about rap similes and metaphors, Glennraps.com. Perhaps test your skills by trying to improve the ranking of the glennraps search result for https://www.google.com/search?q=haters+in+las+vegas&pws=0
Good luck and godspeed!
-
I absolutely agree as far as Google Adwords certification and recommend reading this post for more information on those:
- How to Become a Google Authorized Adwords, Analytics or Website Optimiser Consultant by Tom Critchlow
I don't tend to think of the Google certifications as SEO, strictly speaking, but for overall inbound / online marketing, they're absolutely respected, at least among other practitioners.
InboundMarketing.com is the closest thing to SEO certification that I have seen that I consider respectable. The courses they post are created by a number of well-respected authorities. Their FAQ says all courses are free, I assume that includes the exam as well.
-
Unfortunately, I haven't heard of many certifications that the industry respects. I think the MarketMotive program is a good one, but that's more for the training than the piece of paper, IMO.
It really depends on your goal. If it's for clients or your employer, get the certifications they value. It's all about perception, in that case. If it's for selling your services directly, I'm not sure I'd bother. The training can be good, but you still have to pound the pavement.
I'm Google AdWords certified, for example. It's a decent program, and some of my existing clients like that I have it, but when I first got it, it did little or nothing to bring in new clients. The training program itself is good, but you can do that without ever paying them a dime or taking the test.
Is there a specific aspect of SEO you're trying to learn?
-
Do you already have a job where you can practice SEO? Alternatively, do you have a personal website you can practice on? That experience is far more valuable then a certification. I don't think it lends much credence to any SEO agencies that are hiring, they're looking for things like hustle & creative thinking.
Between reading every SEOMoz blog post ever written (or at least most of the ones written in the last 2-3 years), as well as the Beginners Guide to SEO, and actually doing it on a site, you'll learn most of what you need to know.
Just my 2 cents, I've never heard of SEOCertification.org but for all I know they might be reputable to someone...
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
What would you expect an SEO agency to deliver in 6 months?
Hi All, Looking for some views/opinions on this one, my question is "What would you expect an SEO agency to have delivered for a single client over a 6 month period with a budget of £12k?" I appreciate that its fairly open ended and very subjective not knowing the site/circumstances but is there a general consensus or minimum you'd expect to have seen delivered for example x number of backlinks, x number pieces of content created, technical improvements made etc etc. Any steer, views or opinions would be greatly appreciated. Jon
SEO Learn Center | | Jon-S1 -
Is the Search Love Conference worth the money?
Hi, Thinking about going but just gathering a few opinions first. Well, is it any good? Worth £1,000? Anything to share? Info here: https://www.distilled.net/events/searchlove-london/ Thanks
SEO Learn Center | | YNWA0 -
How do I find a great SEO Mentor?
I've had good experiences growing with Mentors. I don't mind paying the high rates as it has always left me with a good return. What I'd be looking for: Someone to give me direction Someone to correct and provide advice on a strategy that I have come up with Someone to provide answers when I'm stuck Someone that I can grow with It would help if the mentor has good knowledge of and can help with how social media, blog writing, email marketing all ties in to a good SEO campaign. Ultimately we want to be able to help our clients reach more people any way possible. With this I feel I can take the next step and start offering these services in a way that works for our business and more importantly allows us to meet the needs of our clients. But finding an SEO mentor is proving harder than I thought. So does anyone have any tips on where to find a mentor? Who is actually doing it now and would be a good option? And what would the rates be? I was thinking in the $100-150 range. Is this reasonable for an SEO mentor? Any help here will be greatly appreciated. Thanks,
SEO Learn Center | | Daniel_B
Daniel.0 -
Developing A Survey To Assist With SEO Plan
Hello everyone, I searched through the forums to see if this has come up but it appears that it has not. I am in the process of developing an SEO plan for a client as part of an educational research project. As part of general research, we are planning on sending out a survey/questionnaire to all of the client's contacts in order to help us develop the SEO plan. Obviously a big emphasis would be placed on keywords (i.e. what keywords would you use if you were looking for ______) but there are other areas to look at as well. So, I would greatly appreciate any suggestions regarding the types of questions to ask in a SEO research project like this. What would you ask? What would you be interested in? If clarification is needed, please let me know.
SEO Learn Center | | Function50 -
Does Server Speed Effect SEO Rankings?
I was told by a website developer that Google ranks sites higher if they are hosted on faster servers. Is this true? For example my site is currently limited because it is a Quick Shopping Cart site hosted by Godaddy. He said that if I hosted my research chemical site with a different company with faster servers I could get better ranking immediately. I linked to my site. I think it loads ok. However Godaddy probably isn't the fastest service around.
SEO Learn Center | | chronicle0 -
What are the things I should tell my website developer to keep in mind for on-page SEO wise while outsourcing it?
I have done the keyword research for my target and will do the copy writing in-house suited for both visitors and bots.Like suitable headers and mention of keyword in the content,mention of keyword in link,having video in the page if possible etc. I need some help for a proper interlinking strategy and main question is, what are the things to be taken care of in coding/development SEO wise,which should be told to developer. I am going for custom development in .NET platform( if it matters anyway ) My site will have 3 products/services page and rest are resources and Q&A community. I am targeting the keywords for 3 products. Q&A community and resources should help me in long tail keywords. Any kind of advice,suggestion is welcome. Thanks
SEO Learn Center | | RyanSat0 -
Online SEO staff Tests
Hi, I've got a number of staff in the office that I am trying to get to learn SEO. I want to be able to test them on their ability and have already set them the SEOMOZ test: http://www.seomoz.org/seo-expert-quiz . Does anyone know of any other decent online SEO tests I can set them - I haven't really got the time to develop a test myself, so I am looking for some pre-build online testing. Thanks
SEO Learn Center | | James770 -
Missing SEO Moz Blog Post
I cannot find the blog post that I read earlier this month. I thought I had bookmark it, have checked my browser history and the link seems to be broken. The blog was 'Search Engine Marketing Tactics and Strategies'. Can anybody please provide the link? Thank you.
SEO Learn Center | | angie_corel0