# Experience Cloud Consultant Study Guide

*Last updated October 24, 2026 · https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant*

The Certifyforce Experience Cloud Consultant study guide covers the official Salesforce Experience Cloud Consultant exam outline in 37 units across all 8 exam sections, one unit per exam-guide topic. The exam itself has 60 scored questions plus 5 unscored, a 105-minute limit and a 62% passing score, and its largest section is Administration, Setup, and Configuration at 25%. Every unit is verified against official Salesforce documentation, cites its sources, and links to the practice questions that test it. Last updated October 24, 2026.

## Contents

### Experience Cloud Basics (8% of the exam)

- [Business use cases for Experience Cloud sites](https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/experience-cloud-basics/business-use-cases-for-experience-cloud-sites): Why companies build Experience Cloud sites (self-service and case deflection, partner channel sales, event microsites), why a site is a CRM-connected window rather than a static website, and how site purpose and segment goals decide between one site and several. ([markdown](https://www.certifyforce.com/md/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/experience-cloud-basics/business-use-cases-for-experience-cloud-sites))
- [Experience Cloud personas: builders, managers and members](https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/experience-cloud-basics/experience-cloud-personas-builders-managers-and-members): The four Experience Cloud personas (site user, community or site manager, site admin, site builder), what each one does and wants, how customer, partner, employee and guest site users differ, and which license each kind of member needs at persona level. ([markdown](https://www.certifyforce.com/md/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/experience-cloud-basics/experience-cloud-personas-builders-managers-and-members))
- [External account models and license families](https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/experience-cloud-basics/external-account-models-and-license-families): How every external user anchors to a business account and contact or a person account, how partner accounts differ from customer accounts, and an overview of the license families (Customer Community, Customer Community Plus, Partner Community, Channel Account, External Apps, External Identity), member-based versus login-based, and legacy portal licenses. ([markdown](https://www.certifyforce.com/md/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/experience-cloud-basics/external-account-models-and-license-families))
- [Experience Workspaces areas and permissions](https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/experience-cloud-basics/experience-workspaces-areas-and-permissions): What each Experience Workspaces area does (Builder, Moderation, Content Management, Gamification, Dashboards, Administration, Guided Setup), which permission plus site membership opens it, what the Administration workspace configures, and how to fix hidden sections, blank pages and unmapped dashboards. ([markdown](https://www.certifyforce.com/md/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/experience-cloud-basics/experience-workspaces-areas-and-permissions))

### Sharing, Visibility, and Licensing (17% of the exam)

- [User visibility settings for members and guests](https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/sharing-visibility-and-licensing/user-visibility-settings-for-members-and-guests): Which users site members and guests can see: the User external default as the master switch, Portal User Visibility for same-account users, Site User Visibility with See other members of this site, the per-site guest setting, and per-field contact information visibility. ([markdown](https://www.certifyforce.com/md/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/sharing-visibility-and-licensing/user-visibility-settings-for-members-and-guests))
- [External org-wide defaults and object access](https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/sharing-visibility-and-licensing/external-org-wide-defaults-and-object-access): How external users reach objects, records, fields and files: external org-wide defaults that can't exceed the internal ones, record access that follows the user into every site, object permissions and field-level security, the default access of high-volume users, file Customer Access, and record names in lookups. ([markdown](https://www.certifyforce.com/md/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/sharing-visibility-and-licensing/external-org-wide-defaults-and-object-access))
- [Sharing sets and share groups for high-volume users](https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/sharing-visibility-and-licensing/sharing-sets-and-share-groups-for-high-volume-users): The declarative sharing tools built for external users: sharing sets that open records matching the user's account or contact (access mappings, one per profile, the object list, Contacts to Multiple Accounts), share groups that open high-volume users' records to others, and when role-based users need sharing rules instead. ([markdown](https://www.certifyforce.com/md/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/sharing-visibility-and-licensing/sharing-sets-and-share-groups-for-high-volume-users))
- [External account hierarchies and account relationships](https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/sharing-visibility-and-licensing/external-account-hierarchies-and-account-relationships): How data moves between external accounts: external account hierarchies that share child-account data up to the highest role at each parent level (and their limits, including incompatibility with account role optimization), account relationships with data sharing rules between peer partner accounts, and when a sharing set over Contacts to Multiple Accounts fits instead. ([markdown](https://www.certifyforce.com/md/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/sharing-visibility-and-licensing/external-account-hierarchies-and-account-relationships))
- [Choosing external licenses by access and volume](https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/sharing-visibility-and-licensing/choosing-external-licenses-by-access-and-volume): How to pick Customer Community, Customer Community Plus, Partner Community, Channel Account, External Apps or External Identity from the objects, sharing, reports, platform capacity and user volume a site needs, and how member-based and login-based licenses are counted and billed. ([markdown](https://www.certifyforce.com/md/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/sharing-visibility-and-licensing/choosing-external-licenses-by-access-and-volume))
- [Designing a least-privilege external security model](https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/sharing-visibility-and-licensing/designing-a-least-privilege-external-security-model): How to design external access that grants only what each persona needs: one custom profile plus permission sets and groups, access-summary reviews, the oversharing paths through nested public groups and portal subordinates, Apex that guests can call, and targeted sharing when account role optimization is on. ([markdown](https://www.certifyforce.com/md/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/sharing-visibility-and-licensing/designing-a-least-privilege-external-security-model))
- [External roles, super users and role optimization](https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/sharing-visibility-and-licensing/external-roles-super-users-and-role-optimization): How partner and customer account roles are created under the account owner's role, what the number-of-roles setting changes, how account role optimization assigns a shared person role and when it creates account roles, how to stay under the 50,000-role allocation, and how Partner and Portal Super User access differ. ([markdown](https://www.certifyforce.com/md/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/sharing-visibility-and-licensing/external-roles-super-users-and-role-optimization))

### Branding, Personalization, and Content (15% of the exam)

- [Experience Builder pages, audiences and publishing](https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/branding-personalization-and-content/experience-builder-pages-audiences-and-publishing): How a site manager changes a site in Experience Builder: preview as a guest, target audiences at pages, components and branding sets (and why audiences are never security), build the page hierarchy and navigation menu for Aura and LWR sites, hide components on mobile, and publish. ([markdown](https://www.certifyforce.com/md/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/branding-personalization-and-content/experience-builder-pages-audiences-and-publishing))
- [Search in Aura and LWR sites](https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/branding-personalization-and-content/search-in-aura-and-lwr-sites): What site search returns and how to configure it: site-scoped, sharing-aware results; Global Search Box and Global Search Results tabs on Aura sites; guest autocomplete; header versus hero search; LWR Search Bar and Results Layout with CMS content and CRM object sources and index rebuilds; and why internal global search misses site users. ([markdown](https://www.certifyforce.com/md/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/branding-personalization-and-content/search-in-aura-and-lwr-sites))
- [Salesforce CMS workspaces, channels and content](https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/branding-personalization-and-content/salesforce-cms-workspaces-channels-and-content): How Salesforce CMS content reaches a site: enhanced CMS workspaces with the site added as a channel, matching default languages, contributor roles for users and public groups, drafts, publishing and scheduling, trusted URLs for external images, CMS Connect for an external CMS, conditional collections and content pages on Aura sites, and data binding on LWR sites. ([markdown](https://www.certifyforce.com/md/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/branding-personalization-and-content/salesforce-cms-workspaces-channels-and-content))
- [Knowledge article access: channels and data categories](https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/branding-personalization-and-content/knowledge-article-access-channels-and-data-categories): Every check an external user or guest must pass to see a Lightning Knowledge article on a site: Read on Knowledge, the channel that matches the license, data category visibility by role, permission set or profile (or standard sharing instead), the Public Knowledge Base for guests, and topics so articles appear in Aura site search. ([markdown](https://www.certifyforce.com/md/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/branding-personalization-and-content/knowledge-article-access-channels-and-data-categories))

### Templates and Themes (10% of the exam)

- [Themes, branding sets and LWR styling](https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/templates-and-themes/themes-branding-sets-and-lwr-styling): How Aura sites are styled with prebuilt themes, the Theme panel and audience-assigned branding sets, what switching or resetting a theme keeps and deletes, and how LWR sites are styled instead with color palettes, styling hooks and head markup. ([markdown](https://www.certifyforce.com/md/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/templates-and-themes/themes-branding-sets-and-lwr-styling))
- [Choosing an Aura or LWR template](https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/templates-and-themes/choosing-an-aura-or-lwr-template): Match a site requirement to the right Experience Cloud template: the Aura templates (Customer Service, Partner Central, Customer Account Portal, Help Center, Build Your Own), the LWR templates (Build Your Own, Microsite), Aloha and Salesforce Tabs + Visualforce, plus the framework trade-offs, prerequisites and retired Koa and Kokua. ([markdown](https://www.certifyforce.com/md/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/templates-and-themes/choosing-an-aura-or-lwr-template))
- [Exporting and packaging Experience Builder templates](https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/templates-and-themes/exporting-and-packaging-experience-builder-templates): How to export a customized Aura Experience Builder template, page or theme, reuse it in the same org, and package it in a managed package for other orgs, plus what the export leaves behind and why upgrades don't change existing sites. ([markdown](https://www.certifyforce.com/md/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/templates-and-themes/exporting-and-packaging-experience-builder-templates))
- [Lightning Bolt Solutions: contents and distribution](https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/templates-and-themes/lightning-bolt-solutions-contents-and-distribution): When a Lightning Bolt Solution beats a bare template export: what a solution can contain (templates or pages, flow categories, custom apps), how to create it in Setup and package it for other orgs or AppExchange, and the sites it can't carry (LWR sites, whole Partner Central sites). ([markdown](https://www.certifyforce.com/md/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/templates-and-themes/lightning-bolt-solutions-contents-and-distribution))

### User Creation and Authentication (13% of the exam)

- [User creation: manual, bulk, self-registration and JIT](https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/user-creation-and-authentication/user-creation-manual-bulk-self-registration-and-jit): The four ways external site users come into being: enabling a contact by hand, inserting User records with Data Loader, self-registration at sign-up, and SAML Just-in-Time provisioning with its Federation ID, Recipient URL, matching order and profile rules, plus contactless External Identity users. ([markdown](https://www.certifyforce.com/md/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/user-creation-and-authentication/user-creation-manual-bulk-self-registration-and-jit))
- [Self-registration pages, profiles and accounts](https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/user-creation-and-authentication/self-registration-pages-profiles-and-accounts): How to set up self-registered site users correctly: the Login & Registration profile and account, the four registration page types, the Configurable Self-Reg Page settings (user fields, Execute Registration As, verification, Include Password), CommunitiesSelfRegController overrides, and the right account model for person-account customers, partners and contactless users. ([markdown](https://www.certifyforce.com/md/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/user-creation-and-authentication/self-registration-pages-profiles-and-accounts))
- [Single sign-on for sites: SAML and authentication providers](https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/user-creation-and-authentication/single-sign-on-for-sites-saml-and-authentication-providers): The SSO options for Experience Cloud sites and when each fits: the site as a SAML service provider (with the site login URL), as a relying party through predefined or OpenID Connect authentication providers with a registration handler and the site URL parameter, as an identity provider for an outside app, and SSO for mobile apps with OAuth. ([markdown](https://www.certifyforce.com/md/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/user-creation-and-authentication/single-sign-on-for-sites-saml-and-authentication-providers))
- [Enabling partner accounts and external users](https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/user-creation-and-authentication/enabling-partner-accounts-and-external-users): The enablement steps for customer and partner users: Enable as Partner on a business account, Enable Customer User or Enable Partner User on a contact, the account-owner role requirement, holding back passwords until a site is active, the permissions to create and log in as external users, and the license upgrade paths and their one-way effects. ([markdown](https://www.certifyforce.com/md/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/user-creation-and-authentication/enabling-partner-accounts-and-external-users))
- [Site membership with profiles and permission sets](https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/user-creation-and-authentication/site-membership-with-profiles-and-permission-sets): How users get into a site: membership through profiles and permission sets (never permission set groups or public groups) under Administration > Members, what adding or removing them does, welcome emails and Preview status, adding membership with Data Loader when nobody can open Workspaces, and keeping internal or broad profiles out of external sites. ([markdown](https://www.certifyforce.com/md/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/user-creation-and-authentication/site-membership-with-profiles-and-permission-sets))

### Adoption and Analytics (5% of the exam)

- [Site dashboards, reports and engagement insights](https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/adoption-and-analytics/site-dashboards-reports-and-engagement-insights): How to build Networks-based reports, map dashboards and Engagement Insights in Experience Workspaces, use the Salesforce Communities Management package, and respect the refresh and external-user limits on site dashboards. ([markdown](https://www.certifyforce.com/md/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/adoption-and-analytics/site-dashboards-reports-and-engagement-insights))
- [Moderation rules, flagging and moderator permissions](https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/adoption-and-analytics/moderation-rules-flagging-and-moderator-permissions): How member and content criteria drive content rules (block, review, replace, flag) and rate rules on Aura sites, the order rules run in, how members flag content, and which permissions let internal or external moderators act. ([markdown](https://www.certifyforce.com/md/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/adoption-and-analytics/moderation-rules-flagging-and-moderator-permissions))
- [Reputation, gamification and adoption practices](https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/adoption-and-analytics/reputation-gamification-and-adoption-practices): How to enable reputation and tune its levels and points, where recognition badges fit, and the adoption practices a site manager runs, including why the site manager is an internal member while trusted external members moderate. ([markdown](https://www.certifyforce.com/md/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/adoption-and-analytics/reputation-gamification-and-adoption-practices))

### Administration, Setup, and Configuration (25% of the exam)

- [Partner Central PRM: leads, deals and funds](https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/administration-setup-and-configuration/partner-central-prm-leads-deals-and-funds): How to build channel sales on a Partner Central site: lead distribution through a queue and the Lead Inbox, deal registration with a lead record type, global action and approvals, partner opportunities and teams, and market development funds from budget to claim. ([markdown](https://www.certifyforce.com/md/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/administration-setup-and-configuration/partner-central-prm-leads-deals-and-funds))
- [Deploying sites with change sets and Metadata API](https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/administration-setup-and-configuration/deploying-sites-with-change-sets-and-metadata-api): How to move an Experience Cloud site between orgs: a full-site change set with the Network component, what it leaves out and overwrites, partial Digital Experience deployments for enhanced LWR sites, and Metadata API with ExperienceBundle or DigitalExperienceBundle. ([markdown](https://www.certifyforce.com/md/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/administration-setup-and-configuration/deploying-sites-with-change-sets-and-metadata-api))
- [Enabling Digital Experiences and site statuses](https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/administration-setup-and-configuration/enabling-digital-experiences-and-site-statuses): Turning on Digital Experiences (one way, with a My Domain-based site domain), creating a site, the Preview, Active, Inactive and Archived statuses, why activating is not the same as publishing, and the basics of site URLs, custom domains and SEO. ([markdown](https://www.certifyforce.com/md/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/administration-setup-and-configuration/enabling-digital-experiences-and-site-statuses))
- [Delegated external user admins and managed accounts](https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/administration-setup-and-configuration/delegated-external-user-admins-and-managed-accounts): How to let a partner or customer user manage their own account's members: the Delegated External User Administrator permission, supported licenses, assignable profiles and permission sets, the permissions it leaves behind, External Managed Accounts with the Account Switcher, and Account Management. ([markdown](https://www.certifyforce.com/md/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/administration-setup-and-configuration/delegated-external-user-admins-and-managed-accounts))
- [Public sites: guest access and record ownership](https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/administration-setup-and-configuration/public-sites-guest-access-and-record-ownership): How to open an Experience Builder site or a single page to guests, harden the per-site guest user profile (Read and Create only, API, flows and self-registration pages off), share records through guest user sharing rules, and handle guest-created records with a default owner. ([markdown](https://www.certifyforce.com/md/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/administration-setup-and-configuration/public-sites-guest-access-and-record-ownership))
- [Topics: navigational, featured and automatic assignment](https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/administration-setup-and-configuration/topics-navigational-featured-and-automatic-assignment): How to choose and set up navigational, featured, content and member-created topics in an Aura site: UI limits and the API for deeper hierarchies, the topic catalog, merging and its permissions, topic metrics, and mapping Knowledge data categories to topics automatically. ([markdown](https://www.certifyforce.com/md/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/administration-setup-and-configuration/topics-navigational-featured-and-automatic-assignment))
- [Cases, Enhanced Chat and Agentforce Service on sites](https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/administration-setup-and-configuration/cases-enhanced-chat-and-agentforce-service-on-sites): How cases work on Experience Cloud sites: the site case feed and Question-to-Case (Aura and Visualforce only), guest case forms and case deflection, adding Enhanced Chat with the Embedded Messaging component, retiring legacy Chat, and connecting an Agentforce Service agent through an Omni-Channel flow. ([markdown](https://www.certifyforce.com/md/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/administration-setup-and-configuration/cases-enhanced-chat-and-agentforce-service-on-sites))

### Customization Considerations and Limitations (7% of the exam)

- [Page view, bandwidth and file allocations](https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/customization-considerations-and-limitations/page-view-bandwidth-and-file-allocations): What counts against an org's Experience Cloud page view, bandwidth and service request time allocations, what happens on an overage, and how site file limits and guest file uploads behave. ([markdown](https://www.certifyforce.com/md/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/customization-considerations-and-limitations/page-view-bandwidth-and-file-allocations))
- [Feature limits for external user licenses](https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/customization-considerations-and-limitations/feature-limits-for-external-user-licenses): What external users can't do because of their license: API calls by license, username uniqueness, email templates, account teams, task reminder emails, and the 50,000-account ownership limit with person account owner power users. ([markdown](https://www.certifyforce.com/md/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/customization-considerations-and-limitations/feature-limits-for-external-user-licenses))
- [Template, LWR and guest form limitations](https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/customization-considerations-and-limitations/template-lwr-and-guest-form-limitations): The documented gaps in Partner Central and other Aura Experience Builder sites (language selector, support features, Bolt export, login page language, guest case validation, lookups, reCAPTCHA) and the Aura features, workspaces and route counts LWR sites don't offer, with the recommended workaround for each. ([markdown](https://www.certifyforce.com/md/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/customization-considerations-and-limitations/template-lwr-and-guest-form-limitations))

## Common questions about the Experience Cloud Consultant study guide

### Is the Experience Cloud Consultant study guide free?

Partly. Every unit's summary and its "What the exam expects", "Key facts" and "Check yourself" sections are free to read without an account. The "Core concepts", "Exam traps" and "Worked scenario" sections, reading progress and unlimited timed mock exams come with the Experience Cloud Consultant pack (USD $19).

### How current is the Experience Cloud Consultant study guide?

It is written to the current official Salesforce Experience Cloud Consultant exam outline, and each unit is checked against Salesforce documentation before it is published. The most recent update was October 24, 2026, and every unit shows its own last-updated date.

### How does the study guide map to the official Experience Cloud Consultant exam guide?

There is one unit per topic in the official exam guide, grouped under its 8 weighted sections: Experience Cloud Basics (8%), Sharing, Visibility, and Licensing (17%), Branding, Personalization, and Content (15%), Templates and Themes (10%), User Creation and Authentication (13%), Adoption and Analytics (5%), Administration, Setup, and Configuration (25%), Customization Considerations and Limitations (7%). Each unit quotes the exam objective it covers word for word.

### How do the practice questions link to the study guide?

Each unit lists the reviewed practice questions that test it (300 questions are linked across the guide), so you can read a topic and practice it in one click. After a practice exam, every missed question links back to the unit that teaches it.