HubSpot Content Marketing study plan

Map the full exam blueprint into a one-page outline that splits Content Marketing and SEO into their sub-skills and weights each at 50 percent

Define content marketing in your own words and list the five stages of a repeatable content process: plan, create, distribute, promote, measure

Build a glossary of 25 core terms (buyer persona, content audit, pillar page, topic cluster, conversion path) with a one-line definition for each

Set up a free study log to track hours and quiz accuracy per domain

Draft two distinct buyer personas with goals, pain points, and the questions each asks before buying

Write a content brief for one blog post that names the persona, the search intent, the angle, and the call to action

Audit five competitor blog posts and note their structure, formatting, and internal linking patterns

Draft three headline variants and three meta description variants for the same post

Outline a 90-day editorial calendar that maps content to funnel stages: awareness, consideration, decision

Classify ten content formats (blog, video, newsletter, case study, podcast, infographic, ebook, landing page, social post, webinar) by effort and funnel fit

Write one full blog post of at least 800 words following your brief, with headings, a CTA, and internal links

Create a repurposing plan that turns that post into three derivative assets

Explain how content and SEO reinforce each other by writing a short paragraph on keyword-informed content planning

Practice writing titles, meta descriptions, and headings that satisfy both reader intent and search intent

Answer 40 mixed practice questions split evenly across both domains and log every miss with a reason

Review all logged misses and rewrite the underlying concept in your own words

Explain how search engines crawl, index, and rank pages, and describe what robots.txt and a sitemap each control

Distinguish on-page, off-page, and technical SEO with two concrete examples of each

Perform keyword research for one topic and group results into a cluster of one pillar page plus five supporting pages

Write title tags and meta descriptions for all six pages in that cluster

Audit one live page for on-page SEO: title, meta description, heading hierarchy, keyword placement, image alt text, and internal links

Identify and fix three internal linking opportunities that connect supporting pages to the pillar page

Explain how backlinks and domain authority influence ranking and list three legitimate link-earning tactics

Describe how page speed, mobile usability, and structured data affect search performance

Define the key metrics for each domain: traffic, conversion rate, leads, engagement, rankings, click-through rate, and organic sessions

Build a simple measurement plan that ties each content asset to a metric and a reporting cadence

Run a second 40-question mixed practice set and compare accuracy against week 4

Re-teach your two weakest sub-skills in writing without notes

Take two full-length timed practice exams and record the score for each domain separately

Review every missed question and tag it to a sub-skill in the blueprint outline

Re-drill only the tagged weak sub-skills until you can explain each one aloud in under two minutes

Write a one-page exam-day checklist covering timing strategy and question-flagging rules