Here’s the harsh reality. Any entry-level position requires you to show at least some relevant basic skills for it. So, if you want to start building your career in SEO, you can’t jump right into applying to posting on Indeed or another job board. You have to get ready for acing the job, first.
Don’t worry, though: you don’t have to spend a single buck to learn the basics of search engine optimization. You just need to know where to look!
But be warned: it’s going to take a while to build the knowledge and skills you’ll need down the road. So, make a long-term commitment to this self-learning endeavor.
“But I’m a student who’s constantly buried in homework! What do I do? Do I need Essaypro to free up some time?” Yes, it’s a good idea to offload some assignments if they stand between you and your future career.
Now, onto the ten best free online courses that the internet has to offer!
Best Free SEO Courses Online by Top Websites
1. SEO Certification Course (HubSpot Academy)
HubSpot may be the most famous for its free-of-charge CRM, but it’s not the only thing it has to offer. The company’s academy has dozens of courses on marketing, sales, and customer support – and, of course, there’s one on SEO. It includes:
- 6 lessons laid out in 24 videos;
- 5 quizzes;
- 2:21 hours;
- Free certification.
Here’s just a quick glimpse into some of the things you can learn from this course:
- How to assess a website’s performance and improve it;
- How to perform keyword research and use its results to boost pages’ rankings;
- How to harness the full potential of link building.
2. One-Hour Guide to SEO (Moz)
Ask any SEO specialist about Moz, and they’ll name at least one of its tools. And like HubSpot, the team behind Moz doesn’t shy away from sharing their expertise with anyone who wants to become a pro in the field. What’s more, the One-Hour Guide is just one of the courses it offers for free!
This guide is designed for complete beginners and teaches six core concepts:
- Strategy;
- Keyword research;
- Searcher satisfaction;
- On-page optimization;
- Technical optimization;
- Link building.
3. SEO for Beginners (Yoast)
If you don’t know what Yoast is yet, you will: it’s a favorite WordPress plugin among SEO specialists and website owners alike. And the Yoast team is ready to share some of their knowledge with you for free!
This course consists of three main parts:
- Introduction: how search engines work and rank pages;
- Content optimization: keywords, SEO copywriting, site structure;
- Technical optimization: crawlability and rich results.
4. SEO Fundamentals Course with Greg Gifford (Semrush Academy)
Semrush is another household name among SEO specialists. It’s a pro-level platform that brings together more than 50 tools and features. And, it’s trusted by the likes of Apple, Decathlon, Tesla, Forbes, and Booking.com!
This Semrush course is among the most comprehensive ones online. It consists of 8 modules that cover:
- 1. Search engine basics;
- 2. Technical optimization;
- 3. Link signals;
- 4. On-page signals;
- 5. Mobile optimization;
- 6. Other ranking signals;
- 7. International optimization;
- 8. Local optimization.
5. SEO Training Course by Moz (Udemy)
If you’re searching for more in-depth content from Moz, they have an expanded course on Udemy (yes, for free). Instead of covering the SEO basics in just an hour, this course takes three and a half hours to teach you everything you need to know to get started in the field.
Here’s a quick overview of the course’s content:
- Developing a strategy;
- Auditing a website;
- Doing keyword research;
- On-page optimization;
- Link building;
- SERP features;
- Reporting on your work.
6. SEO Training (Udemy)
Created by Eric Schwartzman, this course will teach you the basics from scratch in just two and a half hours. And as a bonus, you’ll gain access to over six hours of pre-recorded lectures by guest experts!
Here are just some of the topics covered in this course:
- White-hat and black-hat tactics;
- Metadata;
- Optimization for mobile;
- Best practices.
7. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) (Acadium)
Acadium is a platform that brings marketers and employers together – and helps anyone interested in the field to master the basics and jumpstart their career. Their beginner-friendly course consists of 10 lessons divided into two major modules:
- On-page: keyword research, URL optimization, title tags, content, anchor text, website speed optimization.
- Off-page: link building, forum marketing, link bait, social bookmarking.
8. On-Page and Technical SEO Course (Semrush Academy)
If you want to take a deep dive into these two particular topics, Semrush has a course for you! Its consists of two modules that cover:
- Performing audits;
- Discovering and solving HTTPS and crawlability issues;
- Analyzing log files;
- Creating SEO-friendly content;
- Improving on-page optimization.
It’s best to enroll in this course after you finish the fundamentals one from Semrush (or have the basics covered by another course).
9. Advanced Search Engine Optimization Strategies by UC Davis (Coursera)
Once you get well-versed in the basics, you need to take your skills to the next level – and this is where this course comes in. Created and curated by the University of California, Davis, it goes further than most SEO online courses.
Here’s what you can expect to learn from it:
- How to build a strategy for increasing international traffic;
- How to leverage social media to drive organic traffic;
- How to identify key metrics and report your progress to stakeholders.
10. Website Performance Optimization by Google (Udacity)
What does website performance have to do with search engine optimization? Well, a lot: Google takes it into account when crawling your website. That’s why improving the website’s performance is a vital part of technical SEO.
Before you take this course, however, you should bring yourself up to speed with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript basics. The course itself consists of three lessons:
- Introduction: how to measure performance using Chrome Developer tools
- Critical rendering path: how browsers and websites are built and rendered;
- Easy HTML, CSS, and JavaScript optimizations: HTML tag attributes, metrics to track, optimization opportunities to spot.
In Conclusion
These ten free online courses are just a sliver of what you can find online. So, understandably, you might find it challenging to choose which course to start with. They all look compelling, don’t they? How do you pick?
Here’s a piece of advice: take the first lesson in every course that caught your attention. Then, compare how interesting and helpful each of them was and pick the one that scored the highest. Good luck!
