Should You Get SEO-Certified?

Joseph Plazo | Nov 06, 2007 | View Comments


In addition to my dull day job, I’m author/editor of at least five blogs. When I’m not blogging, I do part time SEO Consulting work for companies to sharpen my skills. The clients never stop coming but I sometimes wonder: should I get SEO Certification?

I toy with this thought because certification might consolidate reputation and bring additional income. Then again, not. So I spent the night jotting down the pros and cons of getting that certificate.

Thumbs Up:

  • A piece of paper means a lot to some people. Lets face it- credentials come on a piece of paper. Someone is said to be a ‘celebrity doctor’ if big clients talk about his miraculous cures at parties and his clinic hangs heavy with degrees from Harvard. Without the latter, he may just be a very convincing quack. Or an urban leged . Certification is tangible testimony to excellence.
  • You pick up knowledge. Many certification boards like EC-Council provide self-paced coursework that build up personal knowledge. Since certification follows study and fairly rigorous examinations – you feel that you really earned it.
  • The sheen of credibility passes on. Certifying bodies maintain a roster of SEO professionals who can be scrutinized. Clients like the facility of doing credit investigation on folks who’ll be handling sensitive data- like their websites..

Thumbs down:

  • Search engines mutate. What you know today may not hold tomorrow. Till today, no one really understands the google algorithm. Everything is educated speculation. So unless you keep learning beyond the courseware of certifying bodies, your skills rapidly reek of obsolencence.
  • SEO isn’t the Excalibur of online business I know that Everton doesn’t even use SEO to his ConnectedInternet.co.uk, and still he pulls in 2000+ RSS subscribers.This proves that SEO and link building isn’t the only means to drive massive traffic to a website.
  • The final authority on search engine expertise are the search engines themselves- but do you think Google would ever spill its guts and open an SEO school? That would be like giving the keys to rapists in the night!

At this point, I’m still unsure if I want to be certified, but for those who do, do consider the following bodies.

SEOCertification.org.

ExpertRating.

OnlineWebTraining.

Search Engine College

Fly high and dominate!


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About the Author: Joseph Plazo is a recognized persuasion expert ... but can't persuade his business partners and clients to leave him alone.He is the author, co-author or creator of several best-selling persuasion, attraction and influence resources. You simply can't be persuaded to miss out on his massive library of free Mind Power downloads.

  • I've personally never put much thought into certifications for things like this. however, as a professional I can understand the benefits that it would portray to your clients.
  • There's no unified 'nationally accredited' body on SEO. So unless you have a portfolio of PR5+ sites ... seo accreditation is bunk.

    In fact, even getting degrees from trad schools can be worthless for consulting or promotions unless you have exemplary track record.
  • Certification does not make any sense...

    You must be able to show ur past work as a good example to prove your skills
  • What would really be important would be how successful your last projects were. I am sure that all your clients must be checking this out first with you. Your portfolio is your important certification.

    A certification would help only if there were some well defined process that are followed by the search engines. But every search engine develops their own logic in building their algorithm. You had google considering backs links as very important till it was misused.
  • "I know that Everton doesn’t even use SEO to his ConnectedInternet.co.uk"

    huh? SEO isnt something you either have or don't. LOL. How can you say he doesnt use SEO?
  • SEO Certification can help work with big company. They often want see "status symbols" and after see to experience.
  • Re: TechnoJuice

    The thing with SEO clients these days is that a lot of business will be gained directly through the Internet. About 70% of our new clients are people that are referred to us or who visit our website and the whole transaction and process is conducted via email and telephone calls.

    It's not feasible to be able to visit every client, especially when a number of them are in different countries. Of course...if they want to pay for a plane ticket over to them and accomodation, then we'd be very happy to visit, especially if they are in the Carribean or somewhere warm! Also, as we're based on the South Coast of England, even a meeting up North can take one of the team out of the way for a few days, costing a large sum. Generally we've found it easier for clients to conduct business via online methods, keeping their costs down and allowing them to continue with their day-to-day business.

    It's all well and good to have a paper certificate through the post that you can put in your office, but when you are talking online, you can hardly email them a scanned copy and say "hey we're qualified". And if you're concerned about a little badge or logo to put on your website, it would be easy enough to sit in Photoshop or Illustrator for an hour and make your own. I'm convinced that if I sat down for an hour and put together an "SEO Professional" badge, it would be better than many of the logos you might find on these websites offering courses.

    I'm not trying to be cynical anyway, I just think it's a huge waste of money when you can spend your time being far more resourceful and actually marketing yourself.
  • As you said, it is just a piece of paper although it may make some clients feel better, it does not mean much. One year after you get it, things may be completely different with the SEO world. Unless....maybe they make you take continuing education classes every year.
  • The question is who is the certificate for ? you might very well know the certificate is as good as paper for wiping a** but for client certificate means a lot .. instantly means better monetary compensation for your efforts and better respect for your authority !

    So go for it and once you get it add it to you visiting card "Blah Blah SEO certified"
  • I don't think SEO Certification is something to go for... I also agree with Matt's suggestion "Until there is such a thing as an ‘official body’, most of these certifications are meaningless. "
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