Although Google has long and clearly stated that it will not certify SEO professionals, similar to certifications for Google Ads, Google Analytics, and a variety of other services, things seem to have changed with the announcement of new Google Career Certificate scholarships for U.S. businesses.
Google Career Certificate announced that it is offering scholarships
to train employees of small and medium-sized businesses in in-demand digital specialties – data analytics, digital marketing, e-commerce, IT support, and Internet project management. The company is ready to allocate up to $100 thousand for training employees of one company:
“No work experience is required, and employees can earn industry-recognized credentials in three to six months of part-time training. For every scholarship we provide, businesses will gain opportunities while at the same time the employee will develop new skills,” Google said in a statement.
It also says that the training will be conducted by Google employees who are experts in these areas.
It is interesting that on the page of the course on digital marketing, in the list of specialties for which you can be trained and receive a certificate, there is also a specialist in search engine optimization.
SEO specialists are excited about this news.
However, most of them only wanted to get certified by Google without going through a training course. The very idea of becoming a certified Google SEO has the community very excited.
In 2016, Google representative Gary Illyes categorically stated that “there will be no special certification for SEO.”
“We have repeatedly considered this issue and each time we have come to the opinion that it is not necessary to organize such a program. If we launch certification for optimizers, we would have to train them, which in itself would be nonsense. Firstly, because of the scale – it is unclear how many people would participate in this. Second, we’d have to hire additional staff, which would increase costs. Finally, we would have had to charge for training, which goes against the concept of organic search.
Times are changing, and Google, as you can see, not only launched a certification for SEO specialists, but it will teach them for free.
