HubSpot Inbound Marketing study guide · 2026

The 7 HubSpot Inbound Marketing domains, explained

7 areas and 27 lesson topics. HubSpot Academy does not publish weights for these areas, so each gets equal space here. Each guide explains what the area covers, how it is assessed and where candidates slip.

Start with Domain 1 See all domains
Questions
60
Time
3 hours (timed online exam; unlimited retakes, 12 hours apart)
Passing score
45 of 60 correct (75%)
Outline
Inbound Marketing Certification course, 2022 rebuild (launched 19 Jan 2022; seven content lessons; current as of October 2026)

Exam blueprint

HubSpot Academy does not publish weights, so every area is drawn the same size.

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  1. 1 Inbound Marketing Fundamentals
  2. 2 Getting to Know Your Customer
  3. 3 Creating Content for the Buyer's Journey
  4. 4 Developing a Content Distribution Strategy
  5. 5 Understanding Behavioral Marketing and Customer Segmentation
  6. 6 Maximizing ROI With Marketing Attribution and Experimentation
  7. 7 Utilizing Marketing Automation and Artificial Intelligence

All 7 domains

27 official lesson topics 21–28 hrs suggested study

  1. Domain 01

    Inbound Marketing Fundamentals

    The lesson that defines what inbound marketing is and why it works: earning attention with helpful content, the attract-engage-delight flywheel, and the goals every later lesson is measured against.

    Inside this domain

    • What inbound marketing is
    • The flywheel: attract, engage, delight
    • Content shock and earning attention
    • Setting inbound marketing goals

    Watch for Personalized outbound

    Lesson topics
    4
    Questions est.
    8–9
    Study time est.
    3–4 hrs
  2. Domain 02

    Getting to Know Your Customer

    How inbound marketers find out who they serve: building buyer personas from real research, choosing the right research method, and mapping the awareness, consideration and decision stages.

    Inside this domain

    • Buyer personas
    • Negative buyer personas
    • Researching your audience
    • The buyer's journey and journey mapping

    Watch for Demographics as a persona

    Lesson topics
    4
    Questions est.
    8–9
    Study time est.
    3–4 hrs
  3. Domain 03

    Creating Content for the Buyer's Journey

    How to decide what to create: matching formats and offers to awareness, consideration and decision, finding topics in real buyer questions, and getting more value from each piece through repurposing.

    Inside this domain

    • Matching content to buyer's journey stages
    • Planning content from buyer questions
    • Creating and repurposing effective content

    Watch for Skipping stages

    Lesson topics
    3
    Questions est.
    8–9
    Study time est.
    3–4 hrs
  4. Domain 04

    Developing a Content Distribution Strategy

    How inbound content reaches the right people: choosing channels from persona evidence, balancing owned, earned and paid media, adapting each piece to its channel, and testing small before scaling.

    Inside this domain

    • Choosing channels from audience evidence
    • Owned, earned and paid media
    • Multichannel distribution and channel fit
    • Testing and measuring distribution

    Watch for Biggest audience wins

    Lesson topics
    4
    Questions est.
    8–9
    Study time est.
    3–4 hrs
  5. Domain 05

    Understanding Behavioral Marketing and Customer Segmentation

    How inbound marketers use what people do, not just who they are: tracking meaningful interactions, segmenting contacts explicitly and implicitly, personalizing follow-up, and respecting privacy rules.

    Inside this domain

    • Behavioral marketing and its five-step process
    • Explicit and implicit segmentation
    • Behavioral tactics and personalization
    • Privacy and data reliability

    Watch for Tools before purpose

    Lesson topics
    4
    Questions est.
    8–9
    Study time est.
    3–4 hrs
  6. Domain 06

    Maximizing ROI With Marketing Attribution and Experimentation

    How inbound marketers prove and improve results: crediting the touchpoints that drive revenue, calculating ROI, running clean A/B tests, and reading funnel data to find where people drop off.

    Inside this domain

    • Marketing attribution models
    • Calculating marketing ROI
    • A/B testing and experimentation
    • Analyzing performance data

    Watch for Last-touch as the whole truth

    Lesson topics
    4
    Questions est.
    8–9
    Study time est.
    3–4 hrs
  7. Domain 07

    Utilizing Marketing Automation and Artificial Intelligence

    How inbound teams scale without losing relevance: behavior-triggered workflows, AI tools for writing, timing and recommendations, automated data cleanup, and the human touchpoints automation should never replace.

    Inside this domain

    • Marketing automation and workflows
    • AI tools for inbound marketing
    • Automating data management
    • Keeping the human element

    Watch for Automate the blast

    Lesson topics
    4
    Questions est.
    8–9
    Study time est.
    3–4 hrs

Suggested study order

No official weights are published, so follow the outline order, across about 21–28 hrs of study.

  1. 1 Inbound Marketing Fundamentals 3–4 hrs
  2. 2 Getting to Know Your Customer 3–4 hrs
  3. 3 Creating Content for the Buyer's Journey 3–4 hrs
  4. 4 Developing a Content Distribution Strategy 3–4 hrs
  5. 5 Understanding Behavioral Marketing and Customer Segmentation 3–4 hrs
  6. 6 Maximizing ROI With Marketing Attribution and Experimentation 3–4 hrs
  7. 7 Utilizing Marketing Automation and Artificial Intelligence 3–4 hrs

Try one

Practice questionDomain 1: Inbound Marketing Fundamentals

A software company attracts plenty of trial sign-ups, but many new customers cancel in their first two months, citing confusing setup. Which change best applies the flywheel model to restart growth?

One trap from every domain

The answer that looks right, and the clue that gives it away.

  • Domain 1

    Personalized outbound

    Clue The words 'purchased', 'rented' or 'acquired list' mean outbound.

  • Domain 2

    Demographics as a persona

    Clue Look for the option that includes why and how the person buys.

  • Domain 3

    Skipping stages

    Clue The content explains a symptom or problem, not a solution.

  • Domain 4

    Biggest audience wins

    Clue The scenario includes data about where the persona reads, watches or asks questions.

  • Domain 5

    Tools before purpose

    Clue The team has no stated goal or list of meaningful interactions.

  • Domain 6

    Last-touch as the whole truth

    Clue The content serves awareness or the sales cycle is long.

  • Domain 7

    Automate the blast

    Clue The scenario mentions different personas or stages but one sequence.

Other CRM & Business Applications certifications

Study guides for exams that overlap with HubSpot Inbound Marketing.

Practise what you read

HubSpot Inbound Marketing domains: common questions

How many domains are in the HubSpot Inbound Marketing exam?

HubSpot Inbound Marketing has 7 domains with 27 official lesson topics between them: Inbound Marketing Fundamentals, Getting to Know Your Customer, Creating Content for the Buyer's Journey, Developing a Content Distribution Strategy, Understanding Behavioral Marketing and Customer Segmentation, Maximizing ROI With Marketing Attribution and Experimentation and Utilizing Marketing Automation and Artificial Intelligence.

What is the HubSpot Inbound Marketing exam format?

Questions: 60. Time allowed: 3 hours (timed online exam; unlimited retakes, 12 hours apart). Passing score: 45 of 60 correct (75%).

How long should I study for HubSpot Inbound Marketing?

Our planning estimate is 21–28 hrs across all domains, split by weight. It is an editorial estimate, not an official figure, so adjust it to your experience and to how you score on practice questions.

Where should I start?

Work through the areas in order, since each builds on the one before. Use the checklist on each page to confirm you can do what it asks before moving on.

Which outline is this guide based on?

This guide follows Inbound Marketing Certification course, 2022 rebuild (launched 19 Jan 2022; seven content lessons; current as of October 2026), published by HubSpot Academy. It was last reviewed in October 2026.

Domain names, weights and lesson topics come from HubSpot Academy's official outline (Inbound Marketing Certification course, 2022 rebuild (launched 19 Jan 2022; seven content lessons; current as of October 2026)). Question counts and study hours are editorial planning estimates, not official figures. Last reviewed October 2026.