SEO Certification: Necessity, Myth, or Scam? - Industry Standards: Requirements, Authority, and Importance
(Page 5 of 5 )
3. The program must have distinct certification requirements.
If you were to get a group of SEOs together and asked them particular industry-related questions, I would be willing to bet that you would receive several different responses, and even opposing points of view.
If you were to receive your certification in an area that causes controversy about methodology even among professional SEO’s, then it would have to include distinct qualification requirements for everyone.
4. The certification must be backed by a trusted authority.
We touched on this earlier. Usually, a trusted authority for issuing certification in an area is the “product manufacturer.” The first company that I discussed initially who offers certification is backed by the University of Southern Mississippi; however, is the University’s CEU program then backed by the product’s manufacturer? Not in the case of SEO certification. We already mentioned that search engines state they have no special relationships with anyone, and make absolutely no mention of certification.
5. Without certification, one would be less qualified to administer SEO than one who is certified.
In order for certification to mean anything, it would need to show that the person holding the certification is better qualified than one that is not certified. I have a bit of difficulty with this. If all the above conditions were met, then in order to offer SEO to my clients, I should be certified. While I have no problem with that particularly, the problem I do have is that a company (who is not authorized by the product’s manufacturer to offer certification in the first place) is telling me that I’m not qualified unless I have their certificate, or that their view of industry standards is the right way. There is no decidedly right way.
So is SEO Certification truly a necessity for SEO professionals? Or is it a myth or a scam? In my humble opinion, I believe it is a myth. However, give me a year or two then ask me the question again. I may have a different answer.
There are many companies out there that offer certification in an industry where no standard has been set as of yet. I would be wary of any certification not offered from the authorized trusted authority. While I am always for honing skills and keeping oneself up on the industry through training and learning, I would caution against the idea that you are less of an SEO professional without certification with the way the industry is currently. There is one point I want to ultimately make clear: there are no industry standards as of yet. Right now, the best certificates you can receive are the ones that starts with: “Pay to the order of…” and the other that ends with “Thank you so much.”
| DISCLAIMER: The content provided in this article is not warranted or guaranteed by Developer Shed, Inc. The content provided is intended for entertainment and/or educational purposes in order to introduce to the reader key ideas, concepts, and/or product reviews. As such it is incumbent upon the reader to employ real-world tactics for security and implementation of best practices. We are not liable for any negative consequences that may result from implementing any information covered in our articles or tutorials. If this is a hardware review, it is not recommended to open and/or modify your hardware. |
|
| · | | | · | | | · | | | · | | | · | | | · | | | · | | | · | | | · | | | · | | | · | | | · | | | · | | | · | | | | |
|
