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For many professionals — from marketers to business owners — search engine optimization is a necessary skill. According to Bright Edge, nearly 70% of all online experiences start with a search engine.
SEO is a broad, complex discipline that includes a lot of moving parts, and it’s constantly changing. But keywords, landing pages, domain authority — what do they all mean?
If you’ve never heard of SEO before, chances are all of these terms are flying right over your head. And yes, at first, learning SEO can feel quite daunting. The landscape is ever-changing, and chasing algorithms, rules, and other changes can feel next to impossible. Thankfully, once you grasp a few key concepts, it all becomes easier to follow.
One of the best ways to learn is by enrolling in some online SEO training. And today, we’re going to take a look at some of the best SEO courses online so you can get your start no matter your experience level.
Best SEO Courses Online
We’ve broken our list into free, beginner, advanced, and SEO certification courses. Understandably, free SEO courses have much less of a barrier to entry — but if you’re looking to become a professional SEO marketer, you may need something more advanced.
SEO has been evolving since the very first search engine came out.
At first, search engines just looked at links — what did other people say this site was about? Then, search engines evolved to determine whether the content was readable, whether it was valuable, and whether it was properly and correctly formatted.
Now, search engine optimization has grown incredibly complex, and it’s still constantly changing.
Today, when we talk about search engine optimization, we are primarily talking about Google. While Google isn’t the only player out there, it’s about 90% of the market. Google changes its algorithms many times throughout the year.
So, the best online SEO course of 2024 isn’t necessarily going to have the information you need to move into 2024. It’s vital to look for online SEO courses that are frequently updated to ensure you learn the latest and most updated information possible. You can also look for online SEO courses with lifetime access, allowing you to go back and learn new information as it becomes available.
Related: Do you need some tools to do your SEO? Check out the best SEO tools available today. You can also try some free SEO tools if you’re starting on a budget!
Best Beginner SEO Courses
Some of these beginner courses walk you through the basics, while others will take you to the intermediate level, where you can decide on your next steps. Perhaps somewhat confusingly, you might find that an SEO course for beginners can be more advanced than expected. Choose wisely to ensure you get a good foundation in SEO!
Below, you’ll find our top contenders for best SEO course for beginners.
1. Udemy’s The Ultimate SEO Training 2024 + SEO for WordPress Websites
Key Information
- Instructor/Course Creator: Joshua George, ClickSlice Ltd
- Duration: 7.5 hours of video-on-demand
- Level: Beginner
- Free or Paid: Paid
- What Will You Learn?
- Everything you need to know about SEO, including the fundamentals of how it works
- Training strategies used by a leading SEO agency
- Competitor keyword research
- Link building strategies
- Internal linking strategy to rank on the first page for a keyword
- Keyword research
- Technical SEO
- Dealing with negative SEO attacks
The Ultimate SEO Training 2024 + SEO for WordPress Websites is a course for beginners. Course creator Joshua George, the owner of one of London’s most successful SEO agencies, states that this course was made for business owners, bloggers, aspiring SEO pros, webmasters, and online or digital marketers.
Within this program, you’ll find everything you need to know to get started with SEO — from the fundamentals and how it works to the technical aspects necessary for success. The course will teach you keyword research (including competitor keyword research), link-building strategies, and more.
2. UC Davis’ Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Specialization on Coursera
Key Information
- Instructor/Course Creator: University of California, Davis
- Duration: 4 weeks
- Level: Beginner to Intermediate
- Free or Paid: Free to Audit; Paid if you want a certificate and access to projects
- What Will You Learn?
- An intro to SEO
- SEO fundamentals
- How to optimize a website properly for search engines
- Advanced social and content strategies for optimizing
- Advanced SEO strategies
- A client report project (website optimization)
Dig deeper into SEO with UC Davis’ Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Specialization, free on Coursera. The SEO Specialization runs a total of four weeks and covers the ins and outs of SEO. You’ll take quizzes, perform interactive assignments, and discuss the course with others in the discussion forums. It’s as close as you can get to an actual SEO class!
While it’s a self-paced course (you can reset the timer at any time), you are linked to an online cohort for peer assignments, discussions, and help. This is arguably in contention for the best SEO course for those seeking information from a highly reputable source.
3. Moz Academy’s Insider’s Guide to Moz Pro: Your 4-Week SEO Game Plan
Key Information
- Instructor/Course Creator: Moz
- Duration: 4 weeks
- Level: Beginner
- Free or Paid: Paid
- What Will You Learn?
- How to create and implement an all-around SEO plan for practically any website
- How to use the Moz Pro SEO tool, including how to conduct your SEO research
- How to set up a tracking system to monitor your SEO results and progress
- How to figure out your site’s strengths/weaknesses
- How to analyze competitor strategies, data, and metrics and turn the resulting information into actionable steps that can give you an edge
- How to boost your website’s authority
This fast-paced course covers audience development, SEO analysis, page optimization, domain authority, and more. It’s a full course designed to serve as an introduction to SEO, tailored to complete beginners who need to learn everything from scratch.
Specifically, this course is perfect for those who don’t want to become an SEO marketer — they just want to build their business. While it will give you the information you need to become an SEO marketer, it’s tailored to those who want to learn SEO for a specific and grounded reason.
4. Udemy’s SEO Audit - Find & Fix the Most Common SEO Issues on a Site
Key Information
- Instructor/Course Creator: Joshua George, ClickSlice Ltd
- Duration: 2 hours of video-on-demand
- Level: Beginner to Intermediate
- Free or Paid: Paid
- What Will You Learn?
- How to audit your website’s SEO strategy manually
- Which tools to use for your SEO audits
- How to audit a website for issues in technical SEO
- How you can fix the issues you found during the audit
SEO Audit - Find & Fix the Most Common SEO Issues on a Site is a course also by Joshua George and ClickSlice Ltd. This shorter course supplements the 7.5-hour The Ultimate SEO Training 2024 + SEO for WordPress Websites course above, but it also stands well on its own.
In this course, you’ll learn how to perform SEO audits so you can fix any issues in your strategy and your technical SEO implementation. It’s a good course to learn for beginners who are picking up SEO on existing websites rather than starting from scratch.
5. Domestika’s Basic Principles of SEO
Key Information
- Instructor/Course Creator: Natzir Turrado
- Duration: 3 hours
- Level: Beginner
- Free or Paid: Paid
- What Will You Learn?
- An introduction to SEO and its fundamentals
- How search engines work
- Keywords and keyword research
- Creating content for SEO
- Good/best SEO practices
- How to measure your SEO strategy implementation progress
- A final project to help put what you’ve learned into practice
Domestika’s Basic Principles of SEO course covers all the fundamentals you need to know to get your start with SEO. You’ll learn how search engines work so you have the background knowledge necessary to better understand the SEO strategies you’ll learn. The course will also teach you good SEO practices, then show you how you can measure any progress or success your strategy implementation is getting.
Domestika offers a certificate of completion if you are a Plus member.
6. Distilled University’s SEO 101
Key Information
- Instructor/Course Creator: Distilled University
- Duration: Self-paced
- Level: Beginner to Intermediate
- Free or Paid: Paid
- What Will You Learn?
- This program covers topics suiting beginners and intermediates, teaching them all they need to become SEO pros
- It also covers advanced topics like mobile, video, analytics, SEO tools, outreach, and more
- The course also includes tests and interactive modules
Distilled University’s SEO 101 course covers search engine basics, on-page optimization, technical SEO, keyword research, information architecture, and more. It’s suitable for both beginners and those with intermediate knowledge. It’s a very robust course; not only are there over 133 hours of content in the video library, but it also includes interactive modules.
Because Distilled University has a monthly rather than a flat SEO course fee, the entire course is self-paced. While there’s a lot of information there, you can go through it at your leisure — ideal for those trying to boost their SEO knowledge while still working or going to school full-time.
7. Skillshare’s Introduction to SEO: Tactics and Strategy for Entrepreneurs
Key Information
- Instructor/Course Creator: Rand Fishkin
- Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes of video-on-demand and lessons
- Level: Beginner
- Free or Paid: Paid
- What Will You Learn?
- An overview of search engine optimization and SEO strategies
- Using analytics to measure progress and success
- SEO ranking factors
- Myths and misconceptions in SEO
- Keywords
- Content strategy
- Evaluating your strategy
The Introduction to SEO: Tactics and Strategy for Entrepreneurs course is a short one, but it covers what you need to know to begin. The course itself is targeted more toward entrepreneurs, though even non-entrepreneurs can find value in the lessons contained within. Here, you’ll learn about SEO ranking factors, keywords, content strategies, analytics, and even the myths and misconceptions in SEO.
Best Advanced SEO Courses
SEO is a broad discipline. Many people can understand the basics of SEO, but it takes years to master completely. SEO is more than just knowing current standards; it’s about learning how to uncover changes in the algorithm and adjust. Advanced SEO courses encompass deep dives into SEO, intended to make you an expert. If you’re looking for the best SEO program for advanced learners, consider the options below.
8. Blueprint’s Platinum Training
Key Information
- Instructor/Course Creator: The Blueprint Training
- Duration: 12 weeks
- Level: Advanced
- Free or Paid: Paid
- What Will You Learn?
- The Blueprint Training Modules cover advanced topics including data review, analytics, project planning, competitor analysis, audits and technical improvements, content planning and creation, link strategies (including research, link building, etc.), and more
This comprehensive course costs quite a bit, but it’s designed to ensure you know everything about SEO from start to finish. Once you complete the Blueprint training course, you should know what the top agencies in the world know about search engine optimization and marketing. And this is about more than just knowing about SEO — it’s also about the ins and outs of the SEO business.
This isn’t a course to take if you don’t know anything about SEO. Most people who take this course will already have at least several years of experience in the industry. If you do know SEO, however, this can be the best SEO training to help you command a far higher salary.
9. Udemy’s SEO 2024: Complete SEO Training + SEO for WordPress Websites
Key Information
- Instructor/Course Creator: Arun Nagarathanam
- Duration: Self-paced
- Level: Beginner to Advanced
- Free or Paid: Paid
- What Will You Learn?
- Basic to advanced SEO concepts
- Competitor analysis
- Keyword research and strategies
- Technical SEO
- User Experience SEO
- Getting rid of negative SEO
- …and more
Udemy’s SEO 2024 course is perfect for those who want to learn about modern SEO and WordPress optimization. Udemy’s SEO 2024 includes competitor analysis, keyword research, content, technical SEO, core web vitals, page speed, backlinks, UX SEO, and WordPress training.
This course has been fully updated for 2024, providing in-depth information about what tactics you need to use today. It’s one of the few courses that is updated frequently, with updates occurring on a nearly monthly basis.
Although this course begins from the basics, it also covers more advanced concepts typically learned by more advanced users.
10. LinkedIn’s Search Engine Optimization Courses
Key Information
- Instructor/Course Creator: Varies
- Duration: Varies depending on the course
- Level: Varies
- Free or Paid: Paid
- What Will You Learn?
- LinkedIn Learning offers a variety of courses covering different topics from basic to advanced
Similar to Coursera, LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda) provides access to several courses on a monthly basis. There are 26 SEO courses on LinkedIn, including “SEO Foundations,” “Become an SEO Expert,” and “Technical SEO.” Courses are organized into “Learning Paths” to make it easier to figure out what you need to know.
LinkedIn also has many other digital marketing courses. If you’re looking to shift your career (or grow it), your monthly entry fee can gain you access to numerous learning opportunities.
Best SEO Certification Courses
What’s different about an SEO certification course? An SEO certification course gives you a verifiable certification at the end — a qualification you can add to your resume. An SEO certification course can be a great way to establish your credentials, especially if you have limited experience in SEO.
11. HubSpot’s SEO Certification Course
Key Information
- Instructor/Course Creator: HubSpot Academy
- Duration: 3 hours
- Level: Beginner+
- Free or Paid: Free
- What Will You Learn?
- This certification course is for content creators and marketers, but it’s also great for anyone who wants to learn more about SEO. It teaches you how to evaluate your website’s SEO and improve it, how to create and implement a link building strategy, and more
HubSpot provides a free certification course that, once acquired, demonstrates that you know the basics of SEO, including website optimization, link building, keyword research, competitor research, and more. It covers not only Google but also Bing.
In addition to the free certification course, you can also look through HubSpot’s other classes and documentation. HubSpot maintains a tremendously extensive library of SEO and digital marketing data.
The HubSpot Academy is a trusted leader within the SEO space — and continually updates its information based on new changes to the Google and Bing algorithms.
12. eMarketing’s SEO Certification Course (Free)
Key Information
- Instructor/Course Creator: eMarketing
- Duration: Read and learn the e-book at your own pace
- Level: Beginner
- Free or Paid: Free
- What Will You Learn?
- Intro to SEO
- A background on search engines and how they work
- Designing and developing a search engine-friendly website
- Keyword research basics
- Link building
- SEO tools
- How to optimize your website(s)
This basic SEO marketing course and certification is free and comes in the form of a 156-page eBook. You can sign up on eMarketing’s site for more information and immediately learn about search engine optimization fundamentals. At the end of the course, you’ll receive eMarketing’s SEO certification.
This certification process isn’t extremely well-recognized, but it’s a great chance to test your SEO knowledge and learn more. With the free course and certification, you can decide whether this is a good career path.
13. Online Marketing Institute’s SEO Certifications
Key Information
- Instructor/Course Creator: OMI (Online Marketing Institute)
- Duration: Almost seven hours for the Digital Marketing Fundamentals Certification
- Level: Beginner+
- Free or Paid: Paid
- What Will You Learn?
- This course covers various types of digital marketing, including SEO
Online Marketing Institute has social media, Facebook marketing, digital marketing, and content marketing certifications. These certifications vary from 6-11 classes and cover everything from SEO to general digital marketing practices. Those interested in learning more about marketing and SEO should take the Digital Fundamentals Certification.
In reality, most marketers don’t just concentrate on SEO. They know about SEO, PPC campaigns, social media marketing, and content marketing. Online Marketing Institute is great for marketers who want more all-around knowledge about online marketing strategies.
14. MarketMotive’s Advanced Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Certification Training
Key Information
- Instructor/Course Creator: MarketMotive
- Duration: Over 25 hours
- Level: Advanced
- Free or Paid: Paid
- What Will You Learn?
- This in-depth advanced training program covers all you need to become a pro. You’ll learn more about keyword research and management, on-page and off-page optimization, analytics, etc. It also includes a chapter on content marketing, as well as chapters on web analytics and advanced SEO strategies
MarketMotive offers its advanced technical SEO course as either a self-paced lesson plan (pay for 180 days of access) or an online bootcamp (pay for 90 days of access).
During this advanced SEO certification course, you’ll learn more about basic SEO concepts, how to organically drive traffic to your site, perform basic keyword research, optimize pages, and perform detailed analytics.
Bootcamps are an excellent choice for those who find they can’t learn without a lot of structure. A bootcamp will give you tangible goals and firm deadlines to meet. But if you can self-motivate, you can save some money with the self-paced learning package.
15. ClickMinded’s SEO Certification
Key Information
- Instructor/Course Creator: ClickMinded
- Duration: Varies depending on the course
- Level: Beginner+
- Free or Paid: Free to start, then paid
- What Will You Learn?
- This course starts by setting you up with the fundamentals before moving on to topics like how SEO works, how search engines work, and more. Then, you’ll learn how to create a powerful and effective data-driven SEO strategy, technical SEO, SEO tools, creating an SEO-friendly website, and more
You can complete ClickMinded’s basic classes for free, but to get the certification (and to finish the more advanced coursework), you’ll need to pay. ClickMinded’s SEO certification will show you know the fundamentals of search engine optimization.
This certification course targets SEO marketers and companies and brands who want to perform SEO themselves. Companies who want their employees to learn more about search engine optimization can consider sending them through this certification path.
16. Bootcamp Digital’s SEO Master Certification
Key Information
- Instructor/Course Creator: Bootcamp Digital
- Duration: One year of access to about 20+ hours of learning content
- Level: Advanced
- Free or Paid: Paid
- What Will You Learn?
- Enrolling gives you a year of access to four courses: SEO training, websites, Google analytics, and copywriting for SEO. Each course dives deeper into its respective topic, helping you to learn all you need to know to become a well-rounded pro. For example, the SEO course teaches you how SEO works, how you can integrate SEO into your marketing strategy, keyword and competitor research, how to establish a backlink strategy, and more
Want to become an SEO master? Bootcamp Digital’s SEO Master Certification is an industry-accredited certification course, including one-on-one office hours with an instructor, downloads such as templates and checklists, and a private Facebook group where you can discuss what you’ve learned with others.
While this course is a little more expensive than many others, it also includes a free digital strategy workshop — and you can invest in an additional SEO crash course. This is the course you want to take to become an SEO expert fast.
Best Free SEO Courses
You might be wondering how to learn SEO free of charge. You might be glad to know that it’s entirely possible and that there are many free SEO courses available today!
But, before you enroll in just any program, remember that you need to be careful.
Anyone can post an SEO course online. SEO changes dramatically from month to month, let alone year over year. When choosing a free SEO course, look first at how recently they’ve been updated and how reputable their publisher is. Just because you are looking for free SEO training does not mean you should compromise on quality!
Below, you’ll see our top recommendations for free classes:
17. Semrush’s SEO Academy
Key Information
- Instructor/Course Creator: Varies depending on your chosen course
- Duration: Variable
- Level: Beginner+
- Free or Paid: Free
- What Will You Learn?
- Course topics vary depending on your selection, but you can learn things like how to hire a digital marketer or get hired as one, content marketing, mastering digital PR, how to start a small business and get more customers, and more.
Semrush is widely recognized as a leader within the SEO space, providing courses, certification exams, and the Semrush platform. Semrush’s SEO academy includes the Semrush SEO Toolkit Course and more focused lessons like Digital Marketing for SMBs and Growing Your SEO Agency with Semrush.
Semrush’s classes are an excellent choice for those who want to learn specifics about SEO, whether it’s the basics or how to integrate SEO into a business plan. They provide comprehensive video lessons — but interactivity is low. Regardless, it remains a top contender for best SEO course in 2024.
18. Google’s Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide
Key Information
- Instructor/Course Creator: Google
- Duration: One hour
- Level: Beginner
- Free or Paid: Free
- What Will You Learn?
- This Google guide will show you everything you need to learn about SEO, whether you’re a small business owner, an aspiring SEO specialist, or a website owner. You’ll learn things like how to tell Google which pages to crawl and which to avoid, how to use meta descriptions and heading tags for SEO formatting, how to best set up your website URLs, and more.
Who knows Google better than Google? If you’re just starting and need some free information, the Google SEO course is the ideal place to start. This will give you more information about the basics of Google’s Search Engine, how it works, and how Google would like you to optimize your sites.
But, of course, Google doesn’t want to give away everything. Many marketers have experimented over the years to determine things that Google doesn’t really “want” them to know. So, while this is the perfect place to start, you may need more profound knowledge later.
19. Yoast’s Online SEO Training Course
Key Information
- Instructor/Course Creator: Yoast and Yoast SEO team
- Duration: Self-paced
- Level: Beginner+
- Free or Paid: Free
- What Will You Learn?
- In the free tier, you’ll learn things like SEO for beginners, WordPress and WordPress SEO, Structured data
- If you pay for Yoast SEO Premium, you’ll learn things like keyword research, local and international SEO, eCommerce SEO, SEO copywriting, technical training, WordPress training, and more
Yoast is one of the most popular plugins for WordPress, providing everything that a marketer needs to easily optimize blog posts, articles, landing pages, and more. Yoast also offers several courses on SEO and WordPress, which you can access through the Yoast SEO page.
If you want to learn more, you can pay more. For a yearly subscription fee, you get access to all of their SEO academy courses (not just the basic ones) and the Yoast SEO plugin.
20. Moz’s Beginner’s Guide to SEO
Key Information
- Instructor/Course Creator: Moz (one of the most well-established SEO companies today)
- Duration: 7 Chapters
- Level: Beginner
- Free or Paid: Free
- What Will You Learn?
- This beginner’s guide covers all the major and important aspects of search engine optimization, including keyword research, how to make your content (and website) more search engine-friendly, link building, and even some marketing
Moz provides free SEO tools and a beginner’s guide to SEO — seven chapters of self-paced information that you can access for free. While there are premium versions of Moz’s classes, this Beginner’s Guide to SEO should be everything you need to learn about the basics. You can also start a free 30-day trial if you want access to premium content.
21. Mangool’s The Complete SEO Guide for Beginners
Key Information
- Instructor/Course Creator: Mangools / Vlado Pavlik
- Duration: 7 Chapters
- Level: Beginner
- Free or Paid: Free
- What Will You Learn?
- SEO basics
- Background on search engines
- Keyword research
- On-page and technical SEO
- Optimizing content
- Link-building and backlinks
- Analytics
Mangool’s SEO guide for beginners covers pretty much everything you need to know on the subject. The creators designed the program to be easily understandable by anyone, whether they’re new or at least somewhat experienced. However, though this is an effective introduction to SEO and its principles, it may not be as frequently updated as some others.
Getting Started with SEO Courses
There you go — the best SEO courses online. So how can you get started with the right SEO course? It depends on your experience level and your goals.
If you know nothing about SEO, you may want to start with a free resource such as Google’s Search Engine Optimization or Semrush’s SEO Academy. This will give you a broad overview of the SEO landscape. From there, other beginner SEO courses and advanced courses can round out your knowledge.
If you’re a business owner or entrepreneur looking to learn more about SEO, it may be better to take a beginner course targeting business owners or SMBs rather than marketers. Online Marketing Institute and LinkedIn both have numerous options. And if you’re a writer, you might want to take an SEO writing course instead.
Finally, if you’re interested in getting a career in search engine optimization, you should also take an SEO certification course. SEO certification courses prove that you have the real-world, working knowledge that it takes to properly search engine optimize content. Online Marketing Institute and ClickMinded both provide comprehensive SEO certification courses.
Ready to apply your SEO knowledge and get hands-on experience? Check out:
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What Course is Best for SEO?
There are many courses out there. Among them, HubSpot’s SEO courses tend to be the most recognizable. Udemy and Coursera also have several SEO classes, courses, and career paths that can make it easier to learn what you need to know. Ideally, you should find a course that fits your budget, learning style, and timeframe. If you learn best in person, you might want to look for the best local SEO course instead.
2. Is SEO Still Relevant in 2024?
Search engine optimization will be relevant as long as search engines are used to find content. But that doesn’t mean that the SEO of 2022 still applies to the SEO of 2024. SEO evolves considerably over time; strategies that worked in the past don’t necessarily work now.
3. Is SEO Certification Worth it?
SEO certification is primarily “worth it” for those new to SEO or who are pivoting into marketing from another field. You shouldn’t pay a lot for an SEO certification; it’s not something employers need to see, and there’s little material difference between many free and paid certifications.
4. Is SEO a Good Career?
SEO is integrated into nearly everything a business does today because most companies have gone digital with their marketing. As an SEO professional, you can work in many industries, ranging from non-profit organizations to FANG companies. SEO is a swiftly growing career, and its skill set can extend to other fields, such as general digital marketing and content marketing.
