13 part-time weeks. Think, acquire, measure, prove. Each week ends in a portfolio artifact. Not 90 weeks. Completing it does not guarantee a job.
Week 1 · Days 1–7 · Think · Live
Define the next valuable action and who is worth targeting this month.
Artifact: 4-box ICP / anti-ICP / offer / conversion worksheet
Start the courseWeek 2 · Days 8–14 · Think · Live
Collect demand signals and label every claim as observed, inferred, or unknown.
Artifact: 8-row signal table + competitor promise/proof grid
Start the courseWeek 3 · Days 15–21 · Think · Live
Verify AI work and draft a $3,000 plan aimed at appointments, not vanity traffic.
Artifact: 8-row AI keep/cut log + $3,000 job-split table
Start the course
Week 4 · Days 22–28 · Acquire · Live
Find 20 keyword opportunities that could actually make a local business money.
Artifact: Keyword map by intent
Start the courseWeek 5 · Days 29–35 · Acquire · Live
Audit a site and recommend the 10 changes with the highest business impact.
Artifact: SEO audit
Start the course
Week 6 · Days 36–42 · Acquire · Live
Diagnose why a brand is invisible in AI answers and ship a citation plan.
Artifact: AI search audit + 30-day GEO plan
Start the course
Week 7 · Days 43–49 · Acquire · Live
Build campaigns, ad groups, and match types from intent — not from a dumped keyword list.
Artifact: Search campaign architecture
Start the course
Week 8 · Days 50–56 · Acquire · Live
Design who to reach, what to say first, and what you would test in week one.
Artifact: Meta structure board + 6-variant creative pack
Start the course
Week 9 · Days 57–63 · Acquire · Live
Connect the click to the booking action. Kill pages that cannot convert.
Artifact: Conversion-path critique
Start the course
Week 10 · Days 64–70 · Measure · Live
Diagnose rising CTR / falling sales and choose the next measurement fix.
Artifact: Analytics diagnosis memo
Start the course
Week 11 · Days 71–77 · Measure · Live
Map the journey after the form. Write a weekly an owner will read and catch a bad claim.
Artifact: Follow-up map + client weekly / QA
Start the course
Week 12 · Days 78–84 · Prove · Live
Solve a brief you have not seen. No recycled Northfield answers.
Artifact: Integrated 30-day plan
Start the courseWeek 13 · Days 85–90 · Prove · Live
Explain one system well enough to teach it. Optional Legible interest only after evidence.
Artifact: Teach-back recording or written lesson
Start the courseWe link Google Skillshop, Meta Blueprint, HubSpot Academy, Semrush Academy, and Google Search Central. We do not copy their courses. Your grade is your work on the briefs — including AI search / GEO.
Hiring managers (and we) can tell the difference between someone who watched a video and someone who can open Ads Manager on Monday. Finish the official path for the channel you are in, then prove it on Northfield or Cedar & Stone.
Official free Google Ads, Analytics, and Google Business Profile training.
Why finish it: Skillshop is the language buyers use in the account. Completing Search and Analytics certifications means you can name match types, conversions, and GA4 events without guessing — then our briefs make you apply that to Northfield. A badge without the worksheet is still just a badge.
Time: About 4–8 hours. Do Search first, then Analytics.
What to upload: Google Ads Search + Analytics certificates
Meta
Meta BlueprintOfficial free Meta ads and creative training.
Why finish it: Blueprint teaches the Ads Manager tree (campaign / ad set / ad) and Advantage+ rules we refuse to invent. Complete the ads fundamentals path so you can defend CBO vs ABO and Instant Forms. Then upload the certificate and finish our 3×2 creative board — Blueprint will not write Northfield’s hooks for you.
Time: About 3–6 hours for the ads fundamentals path.
What to upload: Meta ads / Blueprint certificate
HubSpot
HubSpot AcademyFree inbound, CRM, and digital marketing certifications.
Why finish it: HubSpot’s inbound and CRM certificates teach stages, speed-to-lead, and a client-ready vocabulary. That is the language of our automation course. Complete Inbound or CRM, upload the PDF, then write Priya’s Saturday SLA — HubSpot will not invent Cedar & Stone’s no-show branch.
Time: About 4–7 hours. Inbound first if you are new.
What to upload: HubSpot Inbound or CRM certificate
Semrush
Semrush AcademyFree SEO, content, and competitive-research courses.
Why finish it: Semrush Academy shows how professionals collect keyword and competitor signals without inventing volume. Finish an SEO fundamentals certificate so our 20-row map is a method, not a guess. Then refuse doorway pages in the audit — their course will not grade Northfield’s city spam.
Time: About 3–5 hours for one SEO path.
What to upload: Semrush SEO / competitive-research certificate
Official documentation on AI features in Search. Use it to check GEO recommendations — do not paste it as an assignment.
Why finish it: This is documentation, not a badge — still required reading before you claim a citation plan. Google’s own page is how you check what AI Overviews may show. Read it, then run our 8-prompt audit. Invented footnotes fail.
Time: 45–90 minutes of careful reading.
What to upload: No badge — save a dated reading note
Free research, consumer insights, and measurement articles.
Why finish it: Think with Google trains you to ask better measurement questions. Read two recent pieces on local or auto journeys, then label every claim observed / inferred / unknown in Foundations. Do not paste their charts into a client deck as if they were Dana’s numbers.
Time: 60–90 minutes.
What to upload: No badge — attach two article titles + takeaways
