Just the other day, I ran across an ad for a website that piqued my curiosity. It said, “Receive your SEO Certification in just 6 hours.” I’d never heard of SEO Certification. Thinking that perhaps I’d missed out somehow on certification, I decided to do some research before I panicked.
I ran a search for “SEO Certification”, and many sites came up. There was one in particular that stood out to me. I followed the link in the search results, and began to read.
From their website:
“Our courses are backed by the United States educational system. All of our material, exams, and the education program itself have to be approved by the University. Our courses can even be taken for University CEUs. Our certification means something. We have a governing body looking over our shoulder.” This sounded good enough, but I wanted to look at it a little closer. After all, anyone can hang a sign on their virtual door stating that they're offering 'certification' in search engine optimization. But what does that really mean? Who is backing the certification?
United States Educational System
“Our courses are back by the United States educational system…”
I went to the US Department of Education’s website, and looked for any information on these courses. Even with the advanced search option, I could find nothing regarding search marketing on the government’s website. I also checked their database of nationally accredited institutions, and couldn’t find them there, either. Then again, I don’t know which University they are referring to, because they never actually say. I couldn’t research this deeper until I found out which University they were referring to.
“All of our material, exams, and the education program itself have to be approved by the University. Our courses can even be taken for University CEUs.”
Which University are they referring to? CEUs are the industry measurement of non-credit education, counting for 10 contact hours of participation, or a measure of completion of non-credit professional development learning activities by an approved provider. This is generally referring to workforce training. Most Continuing Education classes are classified as "non-credit" and are geared specifically to the special interests of the community. Subject areas could include personal development, recreation, creative arts, and health and fitness, to name a few. My local community college offers CEUs in quilting. No, I am not joking.
Search Optimization 
