Monday, October 30th, 2006 by Andy Beal

15

Shhhh!….the dirty little secret about sem seo certification

By David Temple

Back in the 20th century Danny Sullivan, a guy who seems to get ‘it’ long before most of us know what ‘it’ is, wrote an article about sem seo certification entitled “Promoters Call For Certification“. In that article he describes an open letter from Beyond Interactive, Mercury Seven, US Web and Web Ignite to the major search engines. These four firms were calling for the establishment of a certification program for optimization professionals from the search engines. After Danny gave his reasons why he believed certification wouldn’t be viable, he added, “Given this, it may make sense for the major search engines to consider experimenting with the GoTo model and accept paid links, especially for competitive terms”.

Tip # 1 – Whenever Danny Sullivan speaks, listen. Whatever he writes, read.

Google, Yahoo, MSN and others were listening to the tune of billions of dollars a year in revenue. In fact Google and Yahoo implemented their own certification programs, Google Advertising Professional and Yahoo! Search Marketing Ambassador, respectively. While these are not sem seo certifications, they do require general industry knowledge. They are in essence “pay per click” certifications and are based on Google and Yahoo’s systems. You can’t use one certification for the other.

Tip # 2 – With search engine advertising expected to grow 26% in 2006 get one or both of these certifications if you can.

So what’s the dirty little secret about sem seo certification? As you’ve probably already guessed, there is no such animal! How can you offer a certification in an industry that doesn’t have any standards. With that being said, there are some very good training programs out there regardless of whether they offer certification or not. Some seo sem training programs do offer certification like the new Direct Marketing Association (DMA) Certification Program in Search Engine Marketing. Matt Bailey, an instructor, explained that the certification is a DMA “training certification“. In my mind that means the DMA certifies that you have successfully completed their training and not that you are sem seo certified. High Rankings Search Engine Marketing Seminar® does not offer a certification yet interestingly enough Matt Bailey is also an instructor in that program. Of all the seo sem training out there only one offers what I consider a certification. It’s Bruce Clay’s and what he offers is an SEOToolSetâ„¢ certification. It’s his tool set so he can offer a certification.

Tip # 3 – Certification or not, find a good training program. You’ll definitely learn a thing or two.

Finally, why aren’t the sem seo associations like SEMPO, SMA-NA, SMA-UK, SMA-EU and others taking a stand on sem seo certification or training? Maybe they should develop their own certification or training programs. Rumor has it some may be in the works. Better yet, perhaps they should endorse other programs like SEOPros did with Search Engine College and SEO Research Labs. Even better, rate or rank some of the programs and perhaps add an experience component to the mix. Whatever they do, let’s hope they do it soon.

Tip # 4 – Make your sem seo associations take a stand on certification and training.

Want to know more? Simply type sem seo certification into your favorite search engine and mine, Google. Naturally, click on the first organic link but shhhh!…..don’t tell anyone, let’s keep it our dirty little secret.

[The above article is a submission for Marketing Pilgrim’s Search Engine Marketing Scholarship Contest. Each Monday in October, entries will be published and the most popular article of the week will qualify for the $5,000 grand prize. If you’d like to submit an entry, please view the contest entry-requirements and guidelines.]


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15 comments on “Shhhh!….the dirty little secret about sem seo certification”

  1. The secret about “Shhhh!……the dirty little secret about sem seo certification” « SEM SEO Certification Blog Says:

    October 30th, 2006 at 1:16 pm

    [...] Okay, you’re not going to have a chance to read about the dirty little secret here. The secret is that you have to go to Marketing Pilgim’s SEM Scholarship article page “Shhhhh!…..the dirty little secret about sem seo certification” to read it. Thanks to Nick Urbani and Rob Stevens for their inspiration, Andy Beal for putting this on and the fantastic panel of judges. [...]

  2. Andrew Says:

    October 30th, 2006 at 5:06 pm

    Thanks for the tips David!

  3. Dangling sem seo certification conversations and superficial sighs « SEM SEO Certification Blog Says:

    November 2nd, 2006 at 10:02 pm

    [...] Anyone can claim to be an “expert” so how do you tell the good guys from the bad? Is an sem seo certificate going to help? In short, no way! Why? Well you can get an sem seo certification for $49.99. If that doesn’t tell you something about this industry then nothing will. Of course your first inclination might be to ask, “then why do you have a blog about sem seo certification”? Good question. Okay you caught me, there is no such animal! Maybe you think this blog should be called sem seo education or training? Yes, that’s a good idea but I think everyone knows what those mean. People are curious and search for sem or seo certification when they really mean training or education. My goal is to help you find out all you can and perhaps help you make better decisions about your seo sem training. [...]

  4. SEMPO launches online search engine marketing training at SEMPO Institute « SEM SEO Certification Blog Says:

    November 4th, 2006 at 12:06 am

    [...] My recent article submitted to Marketing Pilgrim’s SEM Scholarship contest was about sem seo certification and training. Here’s a snippet; Finally, why aren’t the sem seo associations like SEMPO, SMA-NA, SMA-UK, SMA-EU and others taking a stand on sem seo certification or training? Maybe they should develop their own certification or training programs. Rumor has it some may be in the works. [...]

  5. All About SEO by Ituloy AngSulong » Certification? Needed? Is Anyone Qualified to Certify? Says:

    November 6th, 2006 at 5:27 am

    [...] This was an interesting topic brought about by Marc Macalua in the SEO Philippines mailing list, where he pointed out an article by Andy Beal on Marketing Pilgrim on Certifications for SEO/SEM. And I have also shared my experiences in talking about SEO/SEM education. As some of the members in the email group has shared, education may be important but in the SEO business, there are just too many trade secrets that some people are not willing to divulge. Thus how can this certification take place and who certifies the certifier? Which was a good point raised by Jonathan Casuncad of SEM-Pros.com. And he did also mention that certifications may be done for PPC campaigns since this is pretty straight forward with no hidden tactics but simply plain strategy that can be certified by the Search Engine companies themselves. One of the popular certification bodies, SEMPO does not certify you for passing a certain level of skill or knowledge, but simply certifies you that you have undergone the training. Although mentioned by Andy Beal, for him the only certification out there is Bruce Clay’s SEOToolSet™ since it is his tools, thus he can certify people in the proficiency of using his tool. And if this is the case, then WebCEO is also a valid certification for using their software as well. But one thing’s for sure, this certification may not necessarily mean someone has more knowledge or skills in Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing, and someone without any official training does not also mean they are inferior, but I agree that certification of whatever kind can sometimes be good enough proof to a prospective client, or prospective job in order to get the deal. Share and Enjoy:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]

  6. Let’s take a closer look at Marketing Pilgrim’s SEM Scholarship contest « SEM SEO Certification Training Says:

    November 7th, 2006 at 2:47 am

    [...]  I agree with Jeremy, it was quite an experience. It may sound corny but I think everyone was a winner in this contest. Andy Beal, the contestants, the readers and even the judges, a virtual sem seo community who’s who list. Of course that’s easy for me to say since my article didn’t win. [...]

  7. Andy Beal breaks down Marketing Pilgrim’s SEM Scholarship contest « SEM SEO Certification Training Says:

    November 8th, 2006 at 11:15 pm

    [...] My article came in 12th place out of 48 entries with 273 visitors and 375 page views. Many of those page views came from the same IP address at work so next time I’ll make sure my colleagues check it out on their home computers. I’ll also start preaching the power of social media. All in all this was an excellent experience and I look forward to the next time around. Again, congratulations to the finalists and best wishes! [...]

  8. Let’s google “sem seo certification and training” « SEM SEO Certification & Training Says:

    January 4th, 2007 at 10:36 pm

    [...] Okay so what did we get when we typed “sem seo certification and training” into the search engine Google. Of course we get this blog first. No surprise there with this long exact phrase. Then we find the article Shhhh!….the dirty little secret about sem seo certification I wrote for Andy Beal’s SEM Scholarship contest. [...]

  9. SEM Scholarship - take two from Marketing Pilgrim « SEO SEM Training & Certification Says:

    March 26th, 2007 at 8:04 am

    [...] I entered this contest last year and really enjoyed the challenge of driving as much traffic in a week as I could. I finished 12th out of 48 entries and had a great time doing it. My entry was in the last week when other procrastinators like myself waited until the last minute. So we were competing against more weekly entries than the others. [...]

  10. SEO Theory - SEO Theory and Analysis Blog » Why SEO certification fails and how to fix the problem Says:

    August 27th, 2007 at 4:01 pm

    [...] October David Temple submitted an essay to Marketing Pilgrim that questioned the value of SEO certification …. He raised some good points, but the most important one is the issue of standards — the lack [...]

  11. 10 questions you should ask before doing SEO in house (from an ex-in house SEO) Says:

    December 18th, 2007 at 11:16 am

    [...] to have SEO in house. I just want to provide a different point of view with the recent spate of certifications, columns, sessions, and buzz about in house SEO. While it is easy to say, “Yeah, well of course [...]

  12. SEMPO Institute’s Dean interviewed on Online Marketing Blog » SEM Training & Certification Says:

    January 2nd, 2008 at 9:52 pm

    [...] and their sem training courses, SEMPO’s one year anniversary, the original launch and wrote an article for a Marketing Pilgrim contest about sem training. I even had Ward Tongen question SEMPO about [...]

  13. SEO contest gives to charities, thanks to Bruce Clay » SEM Training & Certification Says:

    February 18th, 2008 at 4:29 am

    [...] Pilgrims’ Search Engine Marketing Scholarship Contest a few years back with my article Shhhh!…..the dirty little secret about seo certfication. I didn’t win (I told you) but it did help me get a little exposure in the world of seo. [...]

  14. SEM Scholarship contest, step it up! » SEM Training & Certification Says:

    May 28th, 2008 at 9:43 pm

    [...] I entered the original contest a couple of year’s ago with my article “Shhhh!….the dirty little secret about sem seo certification” I didn’t expect [...]

  15. SEM Scholarship, and the winner is……………… » SEM Training & Certification Says:

    August 9th, 2008 at 12:20 am

    [...] in 2006 I entered the initial contest with my article “Shhhh!….the dirty little secret about sem seo certification“ and even though I didn’t win it was an excellent way to get noticed by the judges. I [...]