What Is It?
Google recently launched an online certification course for digital marketing fundamentals, called ‘Online Marketing Fundamentals,’ not surprisingly. It is curated by an e-academy of sorts they’ve dubbed Digital Garage.
How Does It Compare to Other Digital Marketing Certifications?
Having passed the HootSuite / Syracuse University Social Media Marketing Certification, I was sceptical of another online course that practically teaches an experienced digital marketing professional little to nothing, but I decided to give it a try anyways. Unlike HootSuite, where you have to watch each protracted and often not up-to-date lesson, Google lets you take the quizzes and exams following each of the 89 lessons without watching each 2 – 4 minute video that precedes it.
How Long Does It Take to Get Certified?
For veteran online marketers who don’t need to be taught the definition of ‘SEM’ and ‘retargeting,’ not having to go through the material was a welcome feature, as it allowed me to breeze through the certification process and receive my downloadable certificate (which comes in a pdf format with your name on it) in approximately 3 hours. Each set of lessons follows a certain digital marketing topic and allows you to earn a badge. There are a total of 89 lessons, 23 badges, and after each section there is an exam on the material presented in the video course. There is also a final exam, which doesn’t take more than 5 – 10 minutes to pass.
What’s the Benefit?
Yes, this is a fundamentals class as indicated in the title and it’s meant for small business owners or entrepreneurs who are just getting started with digital. Let’s face it, it’s also meant to help Google sell more display ads through Adwords and market their tools, including Google Analytics, Google Keyword Planner and Google Global Market Finder. But, if you want to refresh your knowledge, add one more relevant certification under your belt and display it on your website, LinkedIn profile or CV, the course will do just fine. From a UX perspective, the Digital Garage platform is clean, visual and user-friendly. The instructional videos are short, fresh, modern and engaging.
Well done, Google!
Digital, inbound & growth marketing, content strategy & creation, web copywriting, SEO, SEA Services 
totally agree, this is for Digital literacy. No more, no less.
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I went through some lessons that obviously were meant for newbies and I agree with you, videos and quizzes are user friendly. It is very tempting to skip the videos and finish the course quickly. Adding another badge is free and never useless. Definitely Google products are the main reason for these courses to exist as it happens with everything Google. Thanks so much for your review, it was helpful.
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