It's like any certification. Just something people made up to make a little money. It means absolutely nothing.

Personally, to me, become seo certified means absolutely nothing to the average joe, it is really for small business who want to to hire someone to build there site. It is a great selling point, "One of are SEO certified Professionals" will build you site...

SEO really isn't that hard to understand, just takes a LOT of work in the implementation phase.

So if you are not planning to sell your SEO services to business, then really it isn't necessary.

Mark

There are a bunch of "certifications" out there, but none that are widely recognized and/or prestigious.

In other words, they're mostly pointless. I guess you could stick it on your resume, lol.

Yeah a certification doesn't mean anything, it's about how the SEO is implemented. There are a lot of awesome SEO 'pros' that aren't certified.

They are too busy building backlinkgs to get certified lol.

I own an SEO business but a certification is not something I am interested in yet. I guess the time will come when I will persue small businesses a little more and then I will be looking around for a credible certification.

As said above, it's more just a selling point rather than a true indication of talent or success.

Cheers,
Dave

Yip, I'd be a little wary of a certification since SEO is an open book to a large degree. When I say that, I mean its not as fixed and regular as something like a programming course that you could become certified in through a Microsoft course for example.

Anyone know how SEO companies go about hiring people though? Do they look for something like this?

The only certification that's legit is Google's Adwords Certification. Lots of people who have obtained it just say "Google certified" and the average business owner doesn't know it's just Adword certification not SEO certification.

That might be what they're referring to. You could mention to them that the only certification available is for understanding the PPC program, and doesn't apply to SEO. That might help.

Linda makes a good point. If anyone says they are certified by Google, it can't be in SEO because Google doesn't offer an SEO certification.

If someone says they are certified by anyone else, they might as well be certified by me or you. It might help them to get business or get a job, but it doesn't tell you that they are a good SEO.

There is nobody who is authorized to offer certification in SEO. However, there are many SEO training courses available that you can take and learn more...so don't believe any site that claims to certify you cause it is not true.

Lol at being certified, tell the client to do a Google search for a competitive keyword for a site you own, then show them how much traffic that keyword gets with Google keyword tool.

Your certification is your site ranking in the SERPs for a competitive keyword.

Ask the client "You want proof I can rank a site/page, or you want a piece of paper?".

If they need you to verify the keyword you show them that your already ranking, simply add whatever small snippet of text they provide as proof to the bottom of the already ranked page.

If they still want a certification paper, tell them you appreciate their time.