Are Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Courses Worth It?

Search engine optimization, commonly called SEO for short, is the process marketers use to make their content top rankings of search engine results pages (SERPs) and algorithms.

SEO is a type of digital marketing that focuses on organic traffic. SEO professionals aim to provide quality content that appears in a Google search when potential customers look for it. This contrasts with paid advertising that will be shown to people regardless of their status as a potential customer.

Because the rise of SEO has been fairly recent, some marketers might not have all of the skills required to do advanced SEO work, but learning SEO has never been easier. Multiple SAAS (software as a service) companies and colleges offer classes for aspiring SEO specialists.

Are Online SEO Courses Worth It?

There are many metrics that you can use to gauge if an SEO-focused digital marketing course is worth it before you enroll.

First, you'll need to evaluate where you are at as an SEO professional. If you're very early into learning SEO, then more advanced SEO courses probably won't be worth your time. On the other hand, for SEO experts, courses that only cover SEO fundamentals aren't going to add any SEO skills.

Next, look at the cost. Although some SEO courses have costs, there are many free courses. If you have to pay out of your pocket, you'll want to make sure that the skills taught align with your goals. Cost evaluation should also include time considerations. If your course is too long and interferes with your work, you might be missing out on valuable hands-on experience. Finding a self-paced course can help you fit hours of video into your busy schedule.

The final, and arguably most important, criterion to consider is the source of the learning materials. Many highly reputable companies offer courses that will be respected on your resume, but there are also less reputable offerings.

Many SEO courses are worth it for SEO beginners and SEO experts alike, as long as they align with your goals and budget considerations.

What SEO Skills Do Courses Teach?

Although many courses cover the basics of SEO, multiple specialized courses cover more technical SEO topics. Some common SEO course offerings include the following.

Link Building and Backlinks

One of the most important skills for an SEO professional is knowing how to link build and get backlinks to your content. These links will add credibility to your site and help with search engine ranking.

Keyword Research

Another component of ranking is making sure your content marketing strategy involves good keyword research. Keywords are the words that people enter into a search engine triggering the algorithm to scan content across the internet containing those words. Knowing how to identify the tools SEO professionals use for keyword research will help set you up for success.

On-Page SEO and Off-Page SEO

SEO strategy is divided into two main categories: on-page and off-page. On-page SEO includes links using the right coding and formatting to make your page rank well. Off-page SEO is anything that happens on other web pages, such as backlinks, to improve your ranking. Both are essential to SEO success.

Marketing Strategies

Marketing strategies are the plans that marketers use to achieve their goals. An SEO marketing strategy involves a variety of best practices. Marketing strategy courses will cover SEO strategy, social media marketing strategy, and more in-depth information.

Local SEO

Local SEO is a subset of SEO that can benefit small business owners looking to capitalize on their local market. Although there will be many similar tactics between general SEO and local SEO, there are enough differences that learning the more specialized skills of local SEO is important.

SEO Tools

SEO professionals use a wide variety of tools to help with keyword research and link building, as well as specific programs like WordPress. Many of the SAAS companies that create these tools also offer classes that explain how to use their tools.

Best SEO Courses Offered Online

Many colleges and companies now offer online courses either for free or for a fee to cover the certification. SEO is a growing subsection of digital marketing and there are growing course offerings to teach SEO basics and even advanced SEO from a variety of companies.

Hubspot

Hubspot is a leader in SEO-related tools and offers multiple classes about best practices for using their tools and SEO in general.

MOZ

Another SEO SAAS company that offers free and paid SEO courses is MOZ. MOZ, especially compared to some other companies, offers a wide range of free tools and classes that can help small business owners and beginner markets get some SEO experience.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a social media platform that connects professionals and businesses, but they have also started expanding into online learning. LinkedIn has free courses available to users as well as more in-depth courses reserved for their premium members.

Yoast

Yoast has certification programs for multiple areas of SEO, including WordPress specifically. Most of Yoast's SEO courses are paid, but they do have a few free offerings.

Ahrefs

Ahrefs provides multiple paid and free courses about SEO as an industry as well as more information about their SEO tool offerings.

Semrush Academy

Semrush provides tools that help with keyword research, content gap analysis, and other aspects of SEO. Like some of the other companies, they offer free courses that cover their tools and SEO principles.

Coursera

Coursera stands out from some of the other SEO training courses that are offered because Coursera isn't an SAAS provider in the SEO space. Instead, they are a learning website that has courses broken up into modules with quizzes in coordination with multiple colleges to provide training and certification.

Are There Free SEO Certification Courses?

There are many free SEO courses available online. These courses cover multiple SEO topics ranging from fundamentals to in-depth SEO. Some of these free courses have certifications that can be earned, but some are just for personal development. Many courses that have respected certifications will have some kind of fee when you enroll.