Digital Marketers Review the DMI Search Marketing Specialist Course
Reading time: ~5 Mins
Have you recently finished Jelly Academy and are looking for your next certification? Or are you wanting to continue your education in digital marketing? The DMI Search Marketing Specialist Course may be right for you.
Digital Marketer | 5+ Years of Experience
As someone who has 5 years of experience in digital marketing, this course was a good refresher of the foundations of SEO, Paid Search, Analytics and Strategy. The instructors are very knowledgeable in their fields and provide a solid understanding of each subject.
The SEO modules go through best practices for implementing and optimizing technical, on-page and off-page SEO. They discuss different tools for auditing SEO and conducting keyword research. The Paid Search module describes the process of setting up a Google Ads campaign, optimizing techniques, and reporting on campaign performance, while the Display module walks through Google Ads display and Facebook Ads campaigns. To finish off the course, the Analytics, Strategy and Planning modules teach you how to audit, research, plan, execute and analyze a digital marketing plan.
Key points to know:
Good refresher if already experienced in digital marketing.
Provides the foundation of all aspects of digital marketing.
Brief overview of different digital marketing tools.
Summarizes the process of a full digital marketing plan and what should be included.
If you have experience in creating and executing digital marketing plans as well as experience using the tools to do so, you may instead benefit from the advanced courses DMI offers such as the DMI Pro or DMI Expert.
SEO Specialist | 1 Year Digital Marketing Experience
As someone who specializes in SEO, the course provided many additional tools and insights to optimize for search engines. Additionally, it offered many interactive quizzes which tested my knowledge, as I went through the e-learning process.
Firstly for SEO, it solidified my understanding of user intent and the best ways to increase website traffic organically, setting long term success for businesses.
SEO Highlights:
Prioritize technical SEO, on-page & off-page optimization
Optimize content for users + search engine
Algorithms & top ranking factors
Target mobile users + local SEO
Search + tracking organic keywords
Maximize pre-click and post-click optimizations.
The Paid Search and Display Ads part of the course provided concepts that allow you to understand how both can benefit the overall search marketing strategy - ultimately supporting your SEO initiatives. The course also provided practical exercises to create a successful paid search + display ads campaign.
Paid Search & Display Advertising Highlights:
Create strong landing pages to support paid search
Key elements of a successful campaign
Campaign setup + managing - Google Ads & Google Display Network
Optimize campaigns + using the proper metrics
Importance of retargeting + best practices
Moreover, the course covers Analytics with Google Analytics. As someone with experience using GA, it helped me better understand how robust the analytics tool can be and introduced the best ways to analyze and record data.
This part of the course provided a deeper understanding of reporting using dashboards, filtering, advanced GA coding + tracking, and overall tools for more information about your audience.
Analytics w/ Google Analytics Highlights:
Collection + analysis of data
Tracking codes + testing
Advanced coding & analytics tracking
Using filters for website visitor accuracy
The last part of the course brings everything together: Strategy and Planning a Search Campaign. The instructors did an excellent job explaining how to assess opportunities using SEO, content and paid tactics. Here, I’ve learned how to tie search opportunities together to meet business objectives.
Strategy & Planning Highlights:
Effectively plan + execute a search marketing strategy
Understand the resources, technology requirements, & costs
Consider different search engines + social channels
Choosing the right tools to support both SEO & paid tactics
Overall, DMI’s Search Specialist course is perfect for someone looking to boost their knowledge in all things Search Engine Marketing. The self-directed learning platform was easy to navigate and the additional resources were very helpful to prepare for the exam; it includes interactive quizzes, practical exercises, slides and transcripts.
Once you complete the exam, DMI also offers 6 additional modules (for free) to extend your knowledge in digital marketing. You can choose to learn the following topics:
Analytics
Content Marketing
GDPR
UX Essentials
CX Essentials
Graphic Design Essentials for Marketers
Social Media & PR Specialist | 3+ Years Digital Marketing Experience
This course was a great foundation in search marketing for someone like myself who’s digital marketing career has been primarily focused on PR & social media. I have previous work experience in search marketing but it was valuable to add more skills-focused education to complement the work experience and develop actionable insights.
All of the instructors were incredibly knowledgeable experts in their industry and the overall pace of the course was really well executed. With a busy schedule, I really appreciated having shorter lessons that compiled to make one larger module. It allowed me to take time with the content and intentionally digest it, and even allow for time-efficient review if I felt I missed a key piece of content.
The course provided a great foundation for developing new skills, and a refresh on the previous skills I’ve learned on the job. While it was a very clear overview of key search topics, following completing my certification, I would need additional learning opportunities to feel fully confident to step into a search marketing project or role again. Some opportunities would be more hands-on learning experiences, and additional campaign examples in further readings.
Overall I am thrilled I had the opportunity to take this course and jump back into search marketing skills. I definitely would recommend this course to other digital marketing professionals who are looking to step into the realm of SEO and digital advertising for the following reasons:
Just the right amount of content for each lesson
Can move at your own pace
Covers a well-rounded scope of search marketing tools, and skills
Interesting and informative instructors
Provides study notes, and additional readings as you go
Written by: Cheryl Goeres, Jason Serafica, & Anabel Blesch
