7 SEO Certifications Real Learners Recommend

Author:Rachel Handley
7 min read
Jul 29, 2025
Contributor: Christine Skopec

An SEO certification is generally known as a credential awarded for successful completion of a search engine optimization (SEO) assessment or course. 

By earning SEO certifications from reputable providers, you can improve your SEO knowledge and demonstrate relevant skills to clients or employers.

Here are seven SEO certifications that real learners recommend:

Provider

Course

Price* 

Length 

Best for

Semrush

SEO Essentials with Semrush

Free

1 hour 52 minutes

SEO beginners seeking a quick and practical way to get started 

Udemy

SEO Training Masterclass 2025: Beginner to Advanced SEO

$109.99

18 hours 55 minutes

Beginners looking for a comprehensive SEO overview

HubSpot

SEO Certification Course

Free

3 hours 35 minutes

Beginners looking to learn SEO basics

Blue Array

SEO Manager Certification

$667

30 hours+

New or aspiring in-house SEO managers

CXL

SEO Course Bundle

$599

18 hours 20 minutes

Intermediate to advanced B2B marketers

Digital Marketing Institute (DMI)

SEO Online

$445

11 hours

Marketers looking to improve their employability

Coursera/UC Davis

Google SEO Fundamentals

$59 if completed in one month

13 hours 26 minutes

Marketers seeking a mid-length Google SEO course

*Please see the sections below for more detailed pricing information

Keep reading to find out what these SEO certifications cover and why learners like them.

1. Semrush: SEO Essentials with Semrush

Semrush is a digital marketing platform used by many SEO professionals, and SEO Essentials with Semrush gives you a practical introduction to improving your search visibility.

In addition to mastering SEO basics, you’ll learn how to use the Semrush SEO Toolkit to measure your website’s search visibility, conduct keyword research, monitor your Google rankings, identify technical errors on your website, find backlink opportunities, and more.

Semrush's SEO certification lists lessons like what is SEO, SEO strategy, visibility, keyword research, and more with accompanying videos.

An accompanying worksheet makes it easy to track your progress and ensure you haven’t missed any important tasks.

The SEO essentials worksheet is a checklist to pair with the certification.

To earn your SEO certification, you need to pass a 24-question exam. 

You can then add the certificate to your LinkedIn profile, share your certificate via URL, or download a PDF certificate.

Sarai Henry, an aspiring marketing professional, earned her Semrush SEO certificate in May 2025. Sarai took the course as part of an internship to start building foundational skills.

Semrush Academy certificate lists the marketer's name, certification completion date, and instructor names.

Sarai says: “What I found most useful was how practical and beginner-friendly the SEO Essentials course was. It broke down complex SEO concepts like keyword research, on-page optimization, and website auditing into clear, manageable lessons. The real-world examples and actionable insights helped me understand how SEO works and how it can be applied in actual marketing scenarios. 

“I also appreciated the interactive format and the final assessment that tested what I learned—it gave me a sense of accomplishment and confidence in my new skills.

“This course is especially valuable for college students or early-career professionals who might not feel confident in their career skills yet. Earning a certificate is not only a great way to build that confidence, but also a tangible credential to show recruiters and employers your commitment to growth and learning.”

You can discover more Semrush SEO certifications in the Semrush Academy.

2. Udemy: SEO Training Masterclass 2025: Beginner to Advanced SEO 

Udemy is an online training platform covering a wide range of topics, and you can earn an SEO certification by completing the SEO Training Masterclass 2025: Beginner to Advanced SEO program.

  • Instructor: Alex Genadinik
  • Length: 18 hours 55 minutes
  • Price: $109.99

The masterclass has attracted over 100K learners and earned a 4.5-star rating.

Alex covers essential topics like on-page and off-page SEO, as well as specialist topics like international SEO and WordPress SEO. And he updates the content almost monthly to keep pace with current SEO topics, such as AI SEO.

Udemy's SEO training masterclass certification landing page shows that it was recently updated.

He also provides practical examples, so you can learn how to apply your knowledge to real-world scenarios.

At the end of each section, you’ll take a short quiz to evaluate your understanding of the material.

Alex says: “Due to the competitive nature of the marketplace, Udemy courses keep having to evolve, which means that I constantly update and improve my courses.”

As for who Alex’s courses are geared toward, he says: “My courses are ideal for people who already have some comfort working on the web and are either looking to start an SEO agency or just boost their website traffic.”

You can find more SEO certification options on the Udemy website.

3. HubSpot: SEO Certification Course

Hubspot’s SEO Certification Course covers on-page and technical SEO, keyword research, link building, website optimization, and SEO reporting.

If you need help along the way, you can join conversations in the study group community. 

Hubspot's certification community group has almost 15,000 members and has discussions on trending topics.

To earn your SEO certification, you must score at least 45/60 on the end exam.

Freelance Content Writer Isobel Coughlan earned her SEO certification in May 2025.

She says: “I’ve been working in SEO content writing for nearly five years, so I know the on-page SEO landscape well. But I thought it was time to refresh my knowledge and make sure it’s in alignment with the current best practices.

The SEO certification says the bearer of this certificate is hereby deemed knowledgeable about SEO and capable of optimizing a website to perform well in search engines.

“The most useful aspect of this course was that I could dip in and out of lessons. Everything was broken up into bite-sized portions—much like headings in an SEO blog—so it felt easy to follow and digest. 

“I also appreciated the examples given throughout the course, as it’s always good to see practical applications of what you’re learning.”

4. Blue Array: SEO Manager Certification

Blue Array is an SEO agency based in the U.K. that offers an SEO Manager Certification program through its Blue Array Academy. Modules cover SEO fundamentals and specialist topics like ecommerce SEO, international SEO, and Google News optimization.

The program is great for SEOs who learn through doing, as it provides a series of tasks to complete. For example, you’re required to configure Google Search Console and perform a keyword gap analysis.

Learners also receive templates to help them create an SEO roadmap, technical backlog, and more.

To earn your SEO certification, you need to score at least 80% on multiple knowledge tests. 

Senior SEO Executive Laura Vaduva earned her SEO Manager Certificate in October 2024.

She says: “I took the course to refresh my SEO knowledge on areas I haven't been working on lately and to gain more knowledge on managing an in-house SEO team. I'm currently aspiring for a manager role.

“For me personally, the templates were the most useful part, as I've recently started to offer part-time freelance services in addition to my current in-house role. The course provided me with the clarity I needed.”

The SEO certificate is for an SEO Manager Certification.

Laura recommends the course to three types of professionals:

  1. Junior SEO specialists looking to expend their knowledge in multiple areas
  2. In-house specialists looking to go freelance
  3. Entrepreneurs or agency managers looking to offer SEO as a service

You can find more SEO certification options on the Blue Array Academy website.

5. CXL: SEO Course Bundle

The SEO Course Bundle is a certification program offered by CXL, a B2B marketing education specialist and an authorized education provider on LinkedIn. The company has a 4.8-star rating on G2.

  • Instructors: See table below
  • Length: 18 hours 20 minutes
  • Price: $599—also available through an all-access subscription

You can earn SEO certificates for completing each of the bundled courses:

Title

Instructor

Length

Content Strategy for Demand Generation

Andy Crestodina

5 hours 27 minutes

Bottom-of-Funnel SEO Strategies in Tough Niches

Gaetano DiNardi

2 hours 26 minutes

On-Page, On-Site, and Programmatic SEO

Logan Bryant

2 hours 2 minutes

SEO-Driven Editorial Calendar

Dan Shure

2 hours 3 minutes

Growth-Focused SEO Testing

Logan Bryant

2 hours 22 minutes

SEO Link Building

Irina Nica

4 hours

Instructor Logan Bryant says: “My ‘On-Page, On-Site, & Programmatic SEO’ course is beginner-friendly, yet it also provides a lot of deep, field-tested insights for intermediate to advanced SEO professionals. 

“This course focuses on content strategy, on-page, and on-site SEO, which are typically the most impactful ways to drive performance for most companies. It also dives into the more advanced world of programmatic SEO for scaling thousands of pages to cast the widest net possible for traffic and rankings.”

The SEO certification lists lessons with accompanying videos.

“My other course, ‘Growth Focused SEO Testing’ also has some great beginner-friendly concepts. However, it is even more geared toward the intermediate-to-advanced SEO crowd. 

“This course goes deeper into performance measurement techniques to help teams improve their measurement processes for SEO performance through iterative testing.”

You can find more SEO certification options on the CXL website.

6. Digital Marketing Institute: SEO Online

The Digital Marketing Institute (DMI) is a leading digital marketing education provider (with a 4.6-star rating on Trustpilot), and the company offers an SEO Online course.

  • Instructors: Varied
  • Length: 11 hours
  • Price: $445

Participants get access to five interactive learning modules covering key areas such as on-page and off-page optimization, mobile usability, content strategy, and performance evaluation. 

Learners also receive a DMI Professional Membership, which provides access to thousands of extra resources and the DMI’s community forum.

The forum lists latest topics, popular topics, and featured posters on SEO.

To earn your certification, you need to pass a 40-question multiple-choice exam. And completing a DMI program can pay off in meaningful ways:

  • Nearly 90% of employers say they’re more likely to hire candidates with a DMI certification on their resume, according to the DMI Chief Marketing Officer Survey 2024
  • Over 95% of learners say they upskilled and improved their role-related performance, according to the DMI Business Member Survey 2024

You can find more SEO certification options on the DMI website.

7. Coursera/UC Davis: Google SEO Fundamentals

Google SEO Fundamentals is a certification course created by the University of California, Davis (ranked #9 in U.S. News list of Top Public Schools) and offered through Coursera.

  • Instructor: Rebekah May
  • Length: 13 hours
  • Price: $59 (if you earn your certificate in one month)

To earn your certification, you need to complete four modules covering on-page seo, off-page SEO, technical SEO, and keyword research. 

Each module includes videos, readings, assignments, and discussion prompts to keep you engaged and reinforce your learning.

The course has a 4.8-star average rating from over 3.6K reviews.

A recent reviewer writes: 

“The Google SEO Fundamentals course on Coursera is a well-structured and insightful introduction to search engine optimization. It covers essential topics like on-page and off-page SEO, technical SEO, and keyword research in a simple and easy-to-understand manner. The video lectures and quizzes help reinforce key concepts effectively.

“One of the best aspects of this course is that it provides a strong foundation for beginners. The explanations are clear, and the real-world examples make it easier to grasp SEO strategies.”

You can find more SEO certification programs on the Coursera website.

Earn Your First SEO Certification

You can earn your first (or next) SEO certification in just a couple of hours—and without spending a penny.

Sign up free to start SEO Essentials with Semrush.

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Rachel is a Senior Content Writer with 12+ years‘ experience in content marketing and SEO. In a previous role as Head of Content at a digital marketing agency, Rachel developed and executed search-driven content strategies for a diverse range of clients, including global ecommerce brands and local B2B companies. She later transitioned to an in-house role at an SaaS startup, where she focused on scaling content operations and driving organic growth.

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Rachel Handley
Rachel is a Senior Content Writer with 12+ years‘ experience in content marketing and SEO. She has worked agency-side, developing and executing content strategies for a wide range of brands, and in-house, driving organic growth for a SaaS startup.
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