The vast array of courses available online these days doesn’t necessarily mean they’re quality, it can be difficult to discern between the good, the bad and the ugly.
Here’s a list of some of the best free digital marketing courses on the web to help you either kick-start your career in digital marketing or just brush up on the essentials. Having certified courses under your belt can show potential employers and collaborators that you have a solid understanding of the key concepts of digital marketing, as well as adding a professional edge to your CV.
Google’s Digital Garage is a one stop shop for all the things you need to know to jumpstart your digital marketing adventure. Google has created a hub of free learning content, as well as paid courses, to provide you with the certifications to take the next step in your digital journey. is a free, certified online course consisting of 26 modules aimed at beginners.
This course will take you 40 hours to complete at your own pace, allowing you to flexibly learn if you navigate a busy schedule. Each module is delivered in video format, with a short quiz afterwards to test your newfound knowledge. Over the course of the modules, you will learn how to identify your digital marketing goals, how to build a solid, measurable strategy and all the basics from building a trusted presence online to search engine optimization. Practical exercises throughout ensure it is a relative learning experience, keeping you engaged and giving you the tools and confidence to put your knowledge into practise.
As well as giving you the competitive edge next time you apply for a digital marketing role, or if you are pitching to a potential client as a freelancer, this course offers a certificate which is accredited by The Open University and IAB.
HubSpot Academy
HubSpot’s mission is to help businesses grow better, and with that, they offer a fantastic range of free courses in their academy. You can access all of their free courses in one organised landing page with the option to choose between various digital marketing topics and delivery methods. Additionally, you can receive a certification for completing certain courses, again arming you with quality skills for your CV while proving you’re up to date with all the latest trends in digital marketing.
As well as learning new tips and tricks about your topics of choice, you’ll gain in-depth knowledge of how to use the HubSpot software, which you can then use to your advantage by combining this with your brand new digital marketing skills. It’s a win win.
You can complete one of these free accredited courses in as little as 1hr and 6mins. Not a bad investment in return for a certificate. Though these courses are free to complete, it is recommended by HubSpot that you consider their paid user subscriptions in order to make the most of your new digital marketing skills. However, it’s just a suggestion. Overall, is a great helm of information for anybody launching themselves into the world of digital marketing.
LinkedIn Learning
We all know and love LinkedIn as the best social platform for developing our careers and networking with like minded professionals. But, did you know that they also offer various free and paid courses for you to get ahead with your digital marketing?
has made educating yourself simple by curating their courses into 8 distinct pathways. These are aimed at job seekers, remote workers, managers and leaders, those working in talent acquisition, educators, small businesses, sales professionals, and even those wishing to reduce the amount of stress they experience in their job. If you wish to take it for a test-drive, you have a 14 day free trial to explore the possibilities. LinkedIn Learning has over 16,000 courses available, delivered by professionals with real industry experience. You can work at your own pace, while putting your newly learned skills in to practise with interactive quizzes and exercises.
LinkedIn will tailor your preferences specifically for you, offering on-brand courses which will pave the way for you landing your dream digital marketing role. An added bonus is that you receive digital certificates to share with your network on LinkedIn, adding proof to the pudding of your willingness to learn and better yourself professionally.
Coursera
deserves an honorable mention for their excellent range of accredited courses offered by not only Coursera, but from a wide range of highly regarded Universities and global tech giants alike. If you’ve ever wondered about the possibility of getting a certification from IBM, or even Stanford University, then Coursera is for you.
Browse their library of free and paid accredited courses, view feedback from real-life participants before you commit and most importantly, learn highly sought after skills which will enable you to climb your career ladder. In fact, their website states that 87% of those who completed a course for professional development reported career benefits such as promotions, an increase in their salary, or even starting a brand new career.
Similar to the others, Coursera offers pre-recorded lectures and a helpful app, enabling you to download material to access offline enabling you to learn in your own time, from anywhere.
Skillshare
With , you’ll not only gain access to thousands of classes, but also to an inspiring creative community. You can easily sign up to Skillshare for free and begin learning new digital marketing skills and deepening your passion for more niche areas of the digital marketing world.
Classes are delivered as pre-recorded videos by real creators, assuring jargon-free learning with tasks and activities to keep you engaged. With short, to-the-point classes and workshops, it’s never been easier to pick up new digital marketing skills. As well as offering paid, premium content, the site offers about 10% of its material for free. This allows you to play around with almost 2000 courses at your leisure, at zero cost!
Skillshare prides itself on empowering its members with the inspiration to learn new skills, unsurprisingly making it one of the most popular eLearning platforms for creatives and entrepreneurs. At a glance, their free courses can equip you with new skills in video editing and production, email marketing and the fundamentals of search engine optimization, all handy tools for your digital marketing toolbox.
Udemy
Similar to Skillshare, is another eLearning portal which gives you access to thousands of on-demand video tutorials and classes delivered by professionals. The main difference? Those who completed courses on both platforms tend to advise that Udemy classes offer more detail on the subject and in turn, tend to be slightly more time consuming.
Overall, Udemy offers a staggering 8,715 free courses on its platform with 265 of them purely dedicated to digital marketing. You can easily define your search by selecting your preferred video duration, which topic you’re interested in, and even at what level you wish to learn at from beginner to expert.
SEMrush Academy
A buzzword on every digital marketers mind is SEO. So what is it? Search Engine Optimization is a valuable task which optimizes your website for search results purposes. In other words, taking time to learn the basics of SEO can help you achieve your goals of being more visible on Google and increasing organic traffic to your site.
If you’re contemplating diving into the world of SEO, has all the free tools you need to build a solid understanding of the ever changing world of search engine optimization. As with all of the online courses previously mentioned, these are delivered in the form of easily digestible videos by digital marketing experts.
According to their site, more than 200,000 users have become certified marketers using the SemRush Academy. Users can choose SEO-specific courses covering topics such as the fundamentals of SEO, how to build links, how to conduct thorough keyword research and how to carry out competitive analysis. Upon completion of the course, you can take an exam which will allow you to become certified in the area once passed.
To Wrap
To round up, the world of digital marketing can seem daunting due to the saturated sea of classes, courses and workshops readily available. But it doesn’t have to be that way. It pays to take the time to seek out the courses that will give you valuable and working knowledge of the tools which will actively help you as you progress in your career.
The post Digital Marketing Courses – 5 Best Free Online Training Resources appeared first on Will Francis.
Leave a Reply