Google Courses that Every Digital Marketer should Know
Businesses know the importance of SEO for their website. That is why they want the best SEO and Google expert for the job. Most of them will want some sort of proof that you’re actually an SEO expert before they hire you.
Those in the industry understand this kind of thinking. That is why you’ll hear most SEO consultants claim that they have been certified by Google. When businesses hear this, they assume that Google has certified the individual as an SEO expert, which is not the case.
Is There Such a Thing as a Certified Google SEO expert?
While the name looks real on paper, this certification doesn’t exist. Google doesn’t offer any form of training that would make one a certified SEO expert. There are other pieces of training, but not this one.
The number one reason why Google doesn’t offer such a course is because they are the most used search engine. They would be teaching learners tricks to beat their system, which would lead to less revenue from paid ads. There’s also a conflict of interest – SEO is free, and Google doesn’t want to charge people for the course. However, given the logistics and long-term costs of the project, Google will be forced to charge people to recover those expenses.
Google Certifications that Actually Exist
Google offers a list of free courses to help boost the skill set of an SEO professional.
Google AdWords Certification
This course helps SEO experts master advertising concepts. Some of the things taught in this course include how to create a campaign, manage it, and optimize it for the best results. Before you get the Google AdWords Certification, you have to master 6 things: shopping advertising, display advertising, video advertising, AdWords fundamentals, mobile advertising, and search advertising.
Google Analytics Certification
This is the closest qualification to a certified Google SEO expert. That’s because the bulk of SEO work is the analysis of website data. In this course, an individual learns how to interpret Google’ metrics and measure their effectiveness. The program also allows you to learn the basic principle of Google Analytics. The final exam is three hours long and contains 70 questions. To pass the exam and get certified, you have to get 56 answers correctly.
Mobile Sites Certification
A large percentage of internet users use their phones to access the World Wide Web. Taking this course will help you know how to build, control, analyze, and optimize mobile sites. The program will teach you the importance of creating an interactive and easy-to-use mobile site interface. You’ll also learn how you can increase your mobile site speed since users are more responsive to fast sites.
Google Digital Sales Certification
Google designed this course to help people learn how to sell. It teaches online advertising and the importance of focusing on the client during a sale.
Google Developer Certification
To take this course, you need to know how to create mobile applications. This program helps developers learn how they can make their mark on Google. It teaches them how to optimize the app for more downloads.
Although Google doesn’t offer an SEO expert course, it offers other programs that can complement a digital marketer’s skills.
For example, if you have a Google AdWords certification, you can perform an in-depth analysis of SEO metrics to identify keywords with the biggest impact. AdWords certification will also help your company get the Google Partner Badge, which you can show on your website.
Google Analytics Certification proves that you can create and manage effective SEO campaigns while mobile sites certification shows that you understand mobile marketing.