20 Free Digital Marketing Courses Online

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Learning digital marketing today gives you a competitive advantage over most careers.

Here’s why:

In the 2020 Future of Jobs Report released by the World Economic Forum (WEF), 99 job roles will grow in demand by 2025. One of these job roles is digital marketing.

As a digital marketer, this means you’d have a skill that has a high demand, better pay, and knowledge you can use to grow your business.

There are many ways to learn digital marketing as a beginner or intermediate. One of those ways is through free courses online. Below are some free digital marketing courses you can get started on.

20 Free Online Digital Marketing Courses

1.   Fundamentals of Digital Marketing

Google offers free courses on various digital skills. One of such courses is the Fundamentals of Digital Marketing.

This course contains 26 modules to help you learn the basics of digital marketing in no time. It contains text & video materials, real-life examples, and practical exercises suitable for beginners.

It is accredited by the Interactive Advertising Bureau Europe (IAB) and the Open University.

Certification: Free

Level: Beginner

Completion time: 40 hours

2.   Coursera

Coursera hosts both free and paid marketing courses from experts around the World. Their free offers come with fewer modules and no certification, but are still a helpful guide for learning digital marketing.

Sign up, browse their free courses, and start learning.

Certification: Paid

Level: Beginner–Intermediate

Completion time: Varies depending on the course

3.   Hubspot Academy

Widely recognized as an authority on online marketing, sales, content management & customer service solutions, Hubspot offers free comprehensive marketing courses.

Their courses are packed with in-depth lessons, templates, and actionable workbooks on each lesson. They also provide a learning path to guide you through each of their courses. If you want to gain a deeper understanding of all aspects of digital marketing, Hubspot Academy is perfect for you.

Their certified courses include:

• Inbound Marketing
• Content Marketing
• Email Marketing
• Digital Advertising
• Social Media Marketing
• Inbound Sales

Certification: Free

Level: Beginner–Intermediate

Completion time: 2–4 per course

4.   Alison

Alison hosts tons of free online courses from well-known universities, experts, and companies. Just like other courses they offer, their marketing courses are free and can be accessed by creating a free account.

Courses and proof of completion is free. However, attestation letters, certificates, and diplomas are not.

Certification: Paid

Level: Beginner–Intermediate

Completion time: 3–15 hours

5.   Edx

Edx is an online learning platform created by Harvard and MIT. They provide students access to courses by top universities & institutions such as the University of Edinburgh, Julliard, Columbia, and more.

They have University-level courses where you can learn anything, including Digital Marketing, for free. However, you may need to pay a fee to receive a certification on those courses.

Some of their free courses include:

• Fundamentals of Digital Marketing
• Digital Marketing Strategy
• Online Advertising & Social Media
• Digital Branding & Engagement
• And more

Certification: Paid

Level: Beginner–Intermediate

Completion time: Varies depending on the course

6.   Udemy

Although they are best known for their paid courses, you can find free courses on Udemy. Their free courses give you access to the course content but not for course certification, quizzes & assignments, or direct access to instructors.

If you’re a beginner interested in learning from various instructors, Udemy courses are for you.

Certification: Paid

Level: Beginner–Intermediate

Completion time: varies depending on the course

7.   Wordstream’s Growth Academy

Wordstream is an industry leader in search advertising. Their learning platform, Growth Academy, has some courses for marketers. These courses are comprehensive, certified, and completely free.

Some lessons covered are:

• Basics of Online Advertising
• Lead Generation
• Cross-platform E-commerce Advertising and
• Growth Strategies

Certification: Free

Level: Any skill level

Completion time: 35 minutes–2 hours

8.   Twitter Flight School

If you’re a digital marketer interested in advertising on Twitter, you might want to check out this course offered by Twitter’s online learning platform— Twitter Flight School.

This course features short lessons, live training, and downloadable resources for marketing on Twitter. It has a flexible learning path that you can either decide to follow or select specific courses you wish to learn.

Once you pass the assessments, you earn a badge that can be printed or shared on your social media profiles. Some of the courses include:

• Understanding Twitter as an Advertising Platform
• Strategy & Planning
• Content Creation for Twitter
• Twitter Ads Fundamentals
• Getting Started with Ads Manager
• Reports Analysis & Campaign Optimisation
• Creating & Executing Video Campaigns
• And more

Certification: No. Badge only

Level: All levels— Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced

Completion time: 20 minutes–5 hours

9.   FutureLearn

FutureLearn is an online learning platform that offers accredited online courses, programs, and degrees from World-class Universities and Organisations.

Their free courses can only be accessed within the duration of the course plus an additional 14 days. Like most online education providers, nonpaying students have access to free courses and may receive a free certification on few sponsored courses. However, most of their free courses require a fee for certifications or degrees.

Certification: Mostly paid

Level: Beginner

Completion time: 2–3 weeks

10.                Quick Sprout University

Quick Sprout offers extensive guides on content marketing, SEO, e-commerce, copywriting, and related topics. Their lessons cover marketing guides, tips, and trends for beginners, intermediate, and advanced learners.

These guides are text-based and are structured as blog posts. At the end of each lesson, there are suggestions and links to guide you to the next post(s) to study.

All lessons are free and don’t require you to sign-up. The downside of this is that you won’t be able to keep track of your course progress.

Certification: No

Level: Beginner–Advanced

Completion time: N/A

11.                eMarketing Institute

eMarketing Institute is a one-stop-shop to learn digital marketing courses online. They provide free resources for beginners who wish to gain an in-depth understanding of marketing and related concepts. All courses and ebooks are 100% free.

Their courses are certified and include:

• Affiliate Marketing
• Email Marketing, Blogging
• Content Marketing
• E-commerce
• Online Marketing
• Search Engine Marketing
• SEO
• Social Media Marketing and
• Web Analytics

Certification: Free

Level: Beginner

Completion time: 2 hours–2 weeks

12.                Oxford Home Study Centre (OHSC)

OHSC offers a free introductory course on online marketing. Certification is not available for free courses. However, you’ll receive a free completion letter at the end of the course.

This course covers:

• The Fundamentals of Internet Marketing
• Popular Strategies
• Web Design & Development
• Affiliate Programs
• Email Marketing
• Using Social Media and
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Certification: No

Level: Beginner

Completion time: 20 hours

13.                Google Ads Certification Courses

Where is the best place to learn Google Ads if not from its creators?

Google currently offers 6 free certification courses on basic and advanced aspects of Google Ads. Learners get access to detailed materials on how to use Google’s solutions for audience targeting, product/ service advertising, retargeting, and conversion tracking. If you’re interested in advertising on Google or its other platforms such as YouTube, this course got you covered.

Currently, the following courses are available on Google Ads Certifications:

• Google Ads Display Certification
• Google Ads Search Certification
• Google Ads Measurement Certification
• Shopping ads Certification
• Google Ads Apps Certification

Certification: Yes

Level: Beginner

Completion time: 2–5 hours

14.                Ahrefs Academy: Marketing with Ahrefs

Ahrefs Academy offers a short course on content marketing, SEO, and how to utilize Ahrefs’ tools for these. This course covers tutorials on:

• Using Ahrefs’ tools for online marketing
• Keyword Research and Topic Analysis
• Link building and Backlinking analysis
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Audits
• And other actionable tutorials

Certification: No

Level: Beginner–Intermediate

Completion time: 5 hours

15.                Quintly Academy

Quintly offers a free course on social media analytics for beginners or marketers who wish to brush up on their knowledge.

This course is broken into 4 lessons which cover various topics on social media analytics & reporting. Some of the topics include:

• Basics of Social Media Analytics
• Situation Analysis of existing footprint
• Identification of data-based goals
• Finding KPIs that fit your goals
• Understanding Metrics
• Social Media Reporting
• Automating Reports

Certification: No

Level: Beginner–Intermediate

Completion time: 11–12 hours

16.                Wordstream’s PPC University

Wordstream’s PPC University has valuable materials for digital marketers interested in learning about pay-per-click (PPC) marketing for free. They offer tons of text-based materials on PPC from beginner level to advanced.

This course covers:

• Basics of PPC (PPC 101)
• PPC Keyword Research
• Ad Optimization
• Landing Page Optimization
• A/B testing
• AdWords Analysis
• Remarketing
• Geotargeting & Local PPC
• PPC for Lead Generation
• And many more!

Certification: No

Level: All levels—Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced

Completion time: N/A

17.                Facebook Blueprint

Created by Facebook, the Facebook Blueprint features extensive courses on marketing on Facebook, Instagram, and messenger. Over 100 free courses are available. More courses are introduced or updated regularly based on new feature releases by Facebook.

The courses are self-paced and packed with interactive text materials, videos, and case studies. From audience targeting & retargeting, to content creation, and Facebook ads management, courses are available for all skill levels.

To earn a certificate, you must pay for and pass the Facebook Blueprint Certification Exams in your area of expertise. This exam is optional.

Some Facebook Blueprint courses include:

• Getting Started with Facebook
• Getting Started with Advertising
• Advanced buying options
• Audience Targeting
• Lead Generation
• Ads Management & Analysis
• Driving both Online & In-store Sales
• Content distribution & Monetization, e.t.c

Certification: Paid

Level: All skill level —Beginner, Intermediate, or Advanced

Completion time: 10–35 minutes per course

18.                SEMrush: Content Marketing Fundamentals with Ashley Segura

Content Marketing is an essential part of digital marketing. In this course, you will teach how to use content to promote your brand or that of your client’s. 

It contains exclusive videos on 13 lessons that can help you improve your content marketing skills in 2 hours. Some of the topics covered include:

• Basics of Content Marketing
• How to Implement Content Marketing in your Business
• Competitor Research
• Audience Research
• Content Creation, Optimization, and Distribution

Certification: No

Level: Beginner–Intermediate

Completion time: 2 hours

19.                Youtube Creator Academy

Youtube Creator Academy has comprehensive courses to help you become a proficient YouTube Marketer. The courses are sectioned into 6 parts with lessons under each section for specific skill levels.

Lessons covered includes:

• Getting Started
• Content Strategy
• Production
• Channel Optimization
• Money & Business
• Policies & Guidelines

Certification: No

Level: Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced

Completion time: 15 minutes–4 hours per lesson

20.                Smart Insights’ Marketing Training

Smart Insights allows members to access their online marketing resources for free. Although it’s not designed as a course, this training is a refreshing way to learn digital marketing.

Once you sign up for a free account, you get instant access to over 25 free guides, templates, tools, and materials on:

• Search Marketing
• Social Media marketing
• Email Marketing
• And more

Certification: No

Level: Intermediate

Completion time: N/A

CONCLUSION

This is our complete list of 20 digital marketing courses you can learn online for free. Learning multiple courses all at once can be overwhelming. Pick a course that covers aspects of digital marketing you have an interest in and study at your own pace to become a better digital marketer. Remember, you’ve got this!

Have you tried any of these courses? Let me know how it went in the comments!

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Author’s bio:

Katherine Nwanorue is a freelance B2B writer who creates content that drives visibility and leads for Saas & Marketing businesses.