What is SEO and why invest in it?
Before you delve deep into learning SEO online, let’s define what SEO is and why it’s so important for your digital venture. SEO is short for search engine optimization and denotes a set of rules and strategies for getting organic traffic and ranking high in search results.
There are several aspects of SEO:
- On-page SEO, related to the content of your website.
- Technical SEO, which includes non-content elements of your website such as site speed and architecture, mobile optimization, etc.
- Off-site SEO which deals with the relationships of your website with other websites.
Why is SEO vital for your affiliate website? In a nutshell, it helps you get discovered by the target audience through organic search and thus, boost your visibility and conversions. Besides, good SEO means good user experience and allows you to build your website authority. All these put together can help you get ahead of your competitors and generate more affiliate revenue.
So, now that you understand the importance of making your website SEO-optimized, let’s have a look at the best free and paid SEO courses for both professionals and those who are starting out in online marketing.
Best Free SEO Courses for Beginners
SEO may seem complicated if you’re starting from scratch in online marketing. Thankfully, there are loads of free SEO classes online to flatten the learning curve and build necessary SEO skills. Besides, many of these courses give you a chance to get free SEO certifications. Let’s take a close look at the best of them.
The SemRush SEO Fundamentals course
The SemRush SEO Fundamentals course, led by Greg Gifford, a recognized SEO consultant, helps you learn the nuts and bolts of SEO in just four hours. The course contains 31 video lessons, quizzes, and materials to read further on the topic.
What topics will you cover?
- Search engine basics
- Technical SEO
- Link and on-page signals
- SEO for mobile
- Local and international SEO
Certification
After the course, you can take a 100% free exam to test your knowledge and obtain a certificate to be shared in your CV or on LinkedIn. By the way, the number of attempts at the exam is unlimited, so there’s no need to suffer from test anxiety.
SEO for Beginners by Yoast Academy
This easy-to-navigate course provides instructional videos, a list of terms, reading materials, and quizzes on the essentials of SEO.
What topics will you cover?
- What is SEO?
- How crawling works and how it determines website ranking
- What is holistic SEO?
- “Black-hat” SEO tricks to avoid
- Keyword research
- Creating content for SEO
- Site structure
- Technical SEO
Certification
You’ll get a certificate and a badge if you manage to finish the whole course successfully. Note that you’re required to get at least 80% to pass each quiz.
SEO Training Course: Building Sustainable Traffic for Business Growth by Hubspot
The course walks you through the process of choosing and developing an SEO strategy for your business. It also shares Hubspot secret tips on how to be ranked high on Google. Besides, learners can make the most of practical SEO worksheets provided to help you analyze and amplify your SEO strategy.
What topics will you cover?
- Measuring the SEO authority of your website
- The importance of link building for SEO
- Building topical relevance
- Optimizing your content for Google’s featured snippet
- Historical optimization
The SEO Certification Course by Emarketing Institute
The course provides basic information on SEO in the form of a free ebook which contains over 150 pages of hands-on SEO tips.
What topics will you cover?
- SEO as a marketing strategy
- Common SEO techniques
- Search engine facts and figures
- Search engine marketing
- The fundamentals of keyword research
- Google ranking and algorithms
- Link building
- Search engine tools and services for webmasters
- SEO glossary
Certification
To get a free certificate, you need to take a test consisting of 50 questions. The passing score is 50% and the time limit is 60 minutes. You can retake the test if you need.
Beginner local SEO | The Foundations of what Google wants
This free Udemy course by Joshua Mackens, Local SEO & Local Business Marketing Guru, explains the basics of local SEO. It provides insights on what Google needs to rank your website higher in search results.
What topics will you cover?
- 5 SEO elements to focus your attention on
- The importance of Google My Business pages
- Local search directories
- The importance of online reviews
- On-page optimization
- Backlinks
Certification
None
Learn SEO in 2021 by Mangools
This easy-to-understand course guides novices in SEO through the process of search engine optimization. It breaks down the basics of SEO and provides extra reading materials.
What topics will you cover?
- The way search engines work
- The most typical ranking factors
- On-page and technical SEO
- Content and SEO
- Keyword research
- Link building
- UX and SEO
Certification
To get a certificate, you need to pass a test consisting of 20 questions.
SEO Training Course by Moz
This search engine optimization online course consists of 18 video lectures and shares insider tips on SEO tools and strategies.
What topics will you cover?
- Developing a powerful SEO strategy
- Site audits and structure
- The tricks on performing keyword research
- The basics of on-page SEO
- The fundamentals of off-page SEO and link building
- SERP features
- SEO metrics to track
Certification
None
Free SEO Mini-Course by Clickminded
This free online SEO course teaches you how to boost your organic traffic with perfectly optimized content. If you want to keep whole-life access to this course, you need to complete it within a week. Besides, upon completing the course, listeners are given access to a free exclusive resource via email.
What topics will you cover?
- The most powerful SEO tactics to implement
- How to optimize your content step-by-step
- SEO traffic opportunities within your existing content
Certification
None
Introduction to SEO: Tactics and Strategy for Entrepreneurs
This Skillshare course by Rand Fishkin consists of 12 lessons guiding you through the process of SEO-optimizing your content and increasing your brand and website visibility.
What topics will you cover?
- SEO overview
- Using analytics to track SEO success
- Ranking factors
- Dispelling common myths and misconceptions about SEO
- Keywords, content strategy, on-page optimization
- How to make your website crawler-friendly
- Auditing your SEO strategy
- Making the most of SEO
Certification
None
SEO Tutorials for Beginners: Learn Search Engine Optimization Step-By-Step
This YouTube SEO training program by Ahrefs covers the fundamentals of SEO. It also shares hands-on tips with examples to help you build a successful organic traffic pipeline.
What topics will you cover?
- How does SEO work?
- SEO checklist
- Learning SEO quickly and effectively
- On-page SEO
- SEO vs SEM
- Basic technical SEO audit for beginners
- Free keyword research tools
Certification
None
Search engine optimization (SEO) starter guide by Google
As most online marketers are interested in Google rankings, this guide by Google is the go-to learning resource on SEO. It provides an overview of SEO and shares best practices to get more eyes on your website in search results.
What topics will you cover?
- Ways to help Google find your content
- Managing your appearance in Google search results
- Building the hierarchy of your website
- Optimizing textual content and visuals
- Ways to make your website mobile-optimized
- Promoting your website
Certification
None
Best Paid SEO Courses for Beginners
The web also offers a great number of paid SEO courses. So, if you’re ready to invest in your SEO expertise, here’s the list of the best online SEO courses you need to pay for.
SEO 2021: Complete SEO Training + SEO for WordPress Websites
This comprehensive Udemy course will guide you through your SEO journey from Beginner to Advanced. For this, the course provides you with over 10 hours of on-demand expert video lectures, 9 articles, 6 downloadable resources, and full lifetime access.
What topics will you cover?
- How to grow traffic from search engines
- Most powerful SEO tools
- Making your website rank higher on Google
- Google Algorithms
- Off-page optimization
- Doing an SEO website audit
- On-page optimization
Certification
Certificate of completion
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Specialization
Coursera SEO specialization consists of five courses on SEO topics and helps novices in the subject become SEO professionals.
What topics will you cover?
- SEO 101
- Key elements of a powerful SEO strategy
- Performing an SEO audit of your website
- Advanced tactics to amplify your SEO strategy
Certification
You get a shareable certificate upon completion.
SEO Essentials Certificate by Moz
Moz offers an instructor-led SEO training certification covering the foundations of SEO. The course contains over 5 hours of educational videos, quizzes, and a final exam.
What topics will you cover?
- SEO essentials
- SERPs and search sntent
- How crawling and indexing work
- Search algorithms
- Keyword research and evaluation
- On-page SEO
- Developing powerful link strategies
- Learning how to measure and report on your SEO efforts
Certification
To earn your certification, you need to score 80% in your final exam, which consists of 50 questions. After that, you’ll be given a certificate and a LinkedIn badge. You have three attempts to pass the exam.
Building & earning backlinks
The course is one of the search engine optimization courses for beginners offered by TrafficThinkTank. It guides you through the process of creating backlinks which are vital for standing out in search results.
What topics will you cover?
- Evaluating the quality of backlinks
- Acquiring backlinks
- The advantages and disadvantages of purchasing backlinks
- Creating quality content to generate backlinks and traffic
- Local link building strategies
- How to find authority websites
Certification
None
SEO Fundamentals course
The course by Pluralsight helps learners acquire the fundamental knowledge of SEO. It also shares some tried-and-tested SEO strategies to help your website appear high in search results.
What topics will you cover?
- Keywords research and analysis
- On-page optimization
- Creating quality and trustworthy content to earn links and drive traffic
- Link building
Certification
Available to premium members
SEO Foundations course by LinkedIn Learning
This expert-led course helps learners master basic SEO skills and teaches the best strategies to make your website more visible on Google. Note that LinkedIn Learning offers you a one-month free trial.
What topics will you cover?
- The fundamentals of SEO
- Keywords research, analysis, and distribution
- Optimizing your content for SEO
- Technical SEO
- Developing a content strategy and measuring how well your content performs
- Link building
- SEO for eCommerce
- Local and mobile SEO
Certification
You get a certificate upon completion.
SEO Training to 10x Your Traffic From Google by Clickminded
This all-embracing course led by ClickMinded SEO instructor Tommy Griffith helps webmasters boost organic traffic to their websites. The course offers unlimited lifetime access and provides 5 SEO mini-courses.
What topics will you cover?
- The fundamentals of search algorithms and ranking
- The secrets of keywords research
- Technical SEO
- Link building
- Optimizing your visuals
- Driving traffic from mobile devices
- Helping crawlers discover important pages
- Best SEO tools and services
- Local and international SEO
Certification
To get a certificate that integrates with LinkedIn, you need to pass the final exam.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Foundations Course
The self-paced course by SimpliLearn explains the fundamental SEO concepts and provides learners with round-the-clock assistance and support.
What topics will you cover?
- What is SEO and why is it important?
- SEO advantages and drawbacks
- Major and minor search engines and their principles of work
- SEO types
- Keywords research
- Off-page and on-page optimization
- Duplicate content
- The importance of design and architecture
- Local SEO
- SEO tools, etc.
Certification
To earn a certificate, you need to complete 85% of the course and do one simulation test scoring at least 60%.
Complete SEO Training With Top SEO Expert Peter Kent!
This Udemy course will teach you the foundations of SEO and help your website become more noticeable in search results. The course offers over eight hours of video lectures and 45 articles, one downloadable resource, and lifetime access.
What topics will you cover?
- Choosing the best keywords
- Things that can damage your SEO
- Content and its role in SEO
- Making your website pages SEO-optimized
- How structured data markUp can boost your SEO
- Local SEO
- Why links are vital for SEO and how to choose the best ones
Certification
You get a certificate of completion.
Best Paid SEO Courses for Professionals
Search engines algorithms are in a constant state of flux, so to achieve great results, you constantly need to improve your skills. Here’re some advanced SEO training courses to grow your skills in SEO.
Further SEO by Distilledu
This self-paced course helps intermediate, advanced, and expert users take their SEO skills to the max. The course contains interactive modules and multiple-choice quizzes. And, users get the chance to study the first three modules of the course for free.
What topics will you cover?
- Linkbait
- Outreach
- Excel skills
- SEO toolkit
- Analytics
- The basics of HTML
- International SEO
- Meta information
- Mastering consulting skills
- Tips to make your website mobile-friendly
- Penalties and algorithm updates
- App indexing and app search
Certification
None, but you can choose your public DistilledU profile to display your badges and scores.
The SEO Playbook
This advanced SEO course is created to help professionals broaden their SEO skill set. For this, it provides users with over 14 hours of video tutorials, 23 in-depth training modules, 100+ video lectures, over 60 templates and process docs, and gives access to a private Slack community.
What topics will you cover?
- Pulling existing keywords data with SemRush and Ahrefs
- Identifying and prioritizing keyword shortlist
- Content relaunch strategies
- Tracking the success of your campaigns
- Content audit
- How to collect all your indexable content
- Mapping data
- Finding “existing” keyword opportunities and content gaps
- Identifying and grading organic search competitors
- Creating your seed keyword list, etc.
Certification
None
Advanced Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Certification Training
The course aims at helping SEO professionals boost their skills and acquire in-depth knowledge of more complex SEO issues. It offers one-year access, over 30 hours of video content, over 15 hours of live instructor-led online classes and around 20 real-life industry-based projects. Before taking the course, students are advised to take the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Foundations Course.
What topics will you cover?
- SEO 101
- Advanced SEO
- Advanced content marketing
- Advanced web analytics
Certification
To get a certificate, students need to complete 85% of the course, three projects and one simulation test. The passing score of the test is 60%.
SEO (Level 2) by Online Marketing Institute
The course is tailored for online professionals with fundamental knowledge of SEO. It aims at providing in-depth knowledge of less common SEO issues and sharing some out-of-the-box SEO strategies.
What topics will you cover?
- Ranking high in local search results
- Consumer insight-driven SEO
- Content and SEO
- Technical SEO
- Link building
- Optimizing video content
Certification
To earn a certificate, you need to pass the final exam.
Advanced SEO: Developing an SEO-Friendly Website
The course led by Brad Batesole, a marketing thought leader, teaches advanced SEO strategies and shares actionable tips on making your website more SEO-optimized.
What topics will you cover?
- Boosting your website indexability and crawlability
- Optimizing your website architecture
- How to manage URLs in a smart way
- Rules of embedding keywords into images and alt text
- Helping Google understand your pages better
- Best SEO tools
Certification
You earn a certificate upon completion.
Best SEO Courses to Optimize Your Website
Well, this more or less rounds up our post about the best SEO courses 2021. However, there are many other online search engine optimization workshops, foundation courses and in-depth training for professionals. To discover some of them, take a look at our list of best resources to learn SEO in 2021.
To boost your chances for ranking high on Google, choose the courses and resources to your liking. But remember that the most vital thing for your website success is to put SEO knowledge and skills acquired into practice.