If you are into an online business, own a website, or have a blog, you need to know about SEO for getting more organic traffic. SEO stands for “search engine optimization.” The full form itself explains the term. SEO is basically the collection of optimization tasks one needs to follow for getting better ranking in Google search results. So it is important to learn SEO.
If you are a beginner who is now thinking to start learning SEO, it can be frustrating. You may find several confusing terms and conflicting information on different blogs. There are also several blogs that publish techniques that are hard to implement or don’t work. This is the reason, I decided to write this guide.
I am a full-time blogger for a quite long time. I have seen several changes in the way Google evaluates websites. In the past 10 years, I have not just ranked my own blogs, but I have also helped several people in improving the SEO of their websites. Based on my experience, I am writing this guide to give you an idea of how to learn SEO in a better way.
How to Learn SEO
In this article, I will tell you to learn SEO step by step, how to handle contradictory information and what blogs or courses to follow. Read this article carefully and ask if you find it hard to understand anything written here.
Is it hard to learn SEO?
This is a popular question asked by newbies. And it is also an obvious question. I think it is hard to learn SEO because there are a lot of information to read and several complicated things to understand. There is no specific thing that works everywhere. Some tricks may work on a website but you need to find other ways to get things done on another website.
If you want to learn SEO, you need to understand a few things. SEO learning also never stops. The SEO world keeps changing with time. Google keeps on making changes to their algorithms and you have to keep learning these changes So, be ready to read a lot and keep yourself updated. You should always research a lot before applying any SEO trick you found on a random website.
How To Handle Contradictory Information?
As I already said, the SEO world keeps changing. So, the information that was relevant a year back may not be true today. Google changes its algorithm frequently, so SEO practices. Some SEO tactics work for one website but it may not work on some other. So, you need to understand what information to believe and how to handle contradictory information. I recommend you to believe only on credible sources. Try not to follow only a single resource. When you find a good SEO tactic to try, search about it and read what different blogs have to say about it. The last advice is don’t follow anything blindly.
Now when you are ready to learn SEO, you should follow this list.
- SEO Fundamentals
- On-Page SEO
- Technical SEO
- Off-Page SEO
- Keyword Research
This is a sorted list you need to follow in the given order. That means, you need to first learn SEO Fundamentals and then On-Page SEO.
1. SEO Fundamentals
In SEO Fundamentals, learn about SEO and SEO terms. You must know about essential SEO terms before you jump into reading advanced SEO topics. Until you are not aware of SEO terms like Canonical URL, Keyword Density, DoFollow link, Bounce Rate, etc, you will find it hard to understand SEO guides. So the first step of learning SEO should be the learning of SEO terms.
To summarise this section, here are the list of things you need to learn.
- Understand SEO
- Learn SEO terms
- Read how Search Engines work
2. On-Page SEO
On-Page SEO is the set of practices of optimizing each page properly to get good ranking in search engines. It includes the optimization of content and page structure. In On-page optimization, we optimize title, meta description, headings, and images. It also includes writing SEO-friendly content with proper keyword density.
After you have learned SEO fundamentals, you should learn about On-Page SEO and different ways to boost On-Page SEO.
3. Technical SEO
Technical SEO basically involves the structure of the website, URL structure, speed, mobile Friendliness, AMP, Robots.txt optimization and several other technical things. Google also wants a website with proper structure, so it can easily retrieve relevant information. This is the reason different kinds of Schema exist. All these things require knowledge of HTML, Database, and other things. Without understand technical things, you cannot improve website speed, it is hard to make pages mobile friendly and you won’t figure out issues with SSL. So, you should also learn Technical SEO. Before jumping to Off-page SEO practices.
4. Off-Page SEO
Off-Page SEO involves the promotion of a website to gain more trust, more backlinks, social media sharing, and promotion. It is done after publishing the article. It is more important than On-page SEO because backlinks is an important factor affecting the ranking of a web page. Social signals are also notable.
After you have learned On-page SEO, learn about Off-page SEO. Read how to build backlinks and how to promote your website on different social media platforms.
5. Keyword Research
Keyword Research is the last thing you should learn. It basically involves finding keywords to write about and include in your content. In Keyword research, you learn how to find profitable keywords that are easy rank for good organic traffic. I use SEMrush to finding profitable keywords. When you have learned what exactly SEO is and how to do SEO, you are ready to find profitable keywords to take the traffic your website to the next level. SEMRush is my all-time favorite Keyword research tool.
While performing keyword research, you will learn what keywords people are using to perform searches, how often keywords are being searched, how hard it is to rank on a specific keyword, and what pages are already ranking. If you know how to perform On-page and off-page SEO properly, you know what to do for making a good blog post to beat already ranking pages.
SEO Certifications and Courses
If you find it hard to search about SEO terms on by one and learn. You can enroll in an SEO Course. There are several institutes where you learn SEO and get SEO Certifications. If you want to learn online, you can use Udemy or Coursera for learning SEO. I also made a website where you can find SEO courses.
Here are some Recommend SEO courses and training guides.
- SEO Training Course by Moz
- Search Engine Land’s Guide To SEO
- Yoast SEO Training
- Serpstat Academy
- Google SEO Starter Guide
Best SEO Blogs & Resources to Learn SEO
Now when you know how to learn SEO, here are a few resources to read different SEO topics online. Here, I am listing some of my favorite SEO blogs to learn SEO.
1. The Moz Blog
The Moz Blog is one of the most popular SEO blogs you should follow and read regularly. This blog has in-depth guides on different SEO topics. So, you will surely learn a lot about SEO here. There’s also a forum where you can ask your queries and get a response from experts.
Search Engine Journal is one of the oldest SEO blogs you should start reading if you are not already doing. The blog was founded back in.2003 and is still offering high-quality blog posts, analysis, insights, and guides on SEO. The blog also provides the latest SEO news and offers articles on PPC and content marketing.
Search Engine Land is also an interesting SEO blog where you find articles on SEO by SEO experts. This SEO blog also offers detailed SEO guides, insights, analysis and SEO news.
Search Engine Roundtable is the SEO blog by a well know SEO expert Barry Schwartz. The blog is about brief daily updates and opinions on SEO, events and social media discussions. If you follow this blog, you will keep getting updates about changes in Google or in the SEO world.
5. SEMrush Blog
SEMrush is a popular keyword research tool. You will find a regular mention of this keyword research tool on my blog. SEMrush Blog is also a good online resource offering SEO, PPC, and content marketing articles by industry experts.
6. Backlinko
Backlinko is also a popular SEO blog by Brian Dean. This blog also has several in-depth guides to learn SEO. All the blog posts are detailed but easy to understand. Terms are properly explained for beginners. There are also several data-backed case studies for better learning.
Ahrefs is also a popular keyword research tool that also offers guides on SEO. The Ahrefs Blog is an SEO blog where you will find several detailed articles on different SEO topics. You can learn SEO basics, keyword research, link building, and more.
Matthew Woodward is also a popular SEO blog by Matthew Woodward. He writes in-depth guides on different SEO topics. He also posts several case studies for a better understanding of how SEO works.
It seems like boasting but I couldn’t stop myself from including my own blog on the list. I recently started writing on my personal blog about different SEO topics. The primary aim of this blog is to make SEO learning easy for beginners. If you are looking for good websites to learn SEO, you can follow my blog.
10. Google Webmaster Central Blog
This is the blog from Google where the company shared information about changes in Google’s way of crawling, indexing or evaluation. This blog is not for learning, but to get news of changes.
Facebook Groups to learn SEO
There are several active community of SEOs on Facebook. If you are interested in joining a community, here are a few links.
YouTube Channels to learn SEO
If you want some good YouTube challans to learn SEO, here are some YouTube channels to subscribe to and learn SEO.
Put SEO to work
When you have learned SEO, you need to start practicing things you learned. The best way is to start a blog and apply your learning there to see if the things you learned are working. Start a blog on any niche and try ranking it for relevant keywords. With time, you will properly understand how different things work and how much effort it needs to perform SEO.
Always have an action plan and checklist ready so you don’t miss anything.
Wrap up
Now you know how to learn SEO step by step. Start with learning fundamentals and keep learning step by step to keyword research. SEO is not limited to learning a few topics. It is basically a skill that you need to develop by learning. Learning SEO isn’t easy and it takes a lot of effort to master SEO. SEO world keeps changing, so you also need to know the new changes and learn about them. I have also included a list of popular SEO blogs where you can learn SEO and follow SEO news.
SEO related FAQs
Can I learn SEO by myself?
Yes, you can. Even if there are several paid courses that promise you to make an SEO expert, it is your dedication that can make your SEO expert. You will have to learn and try. You need to have a blog if you want to learn SEO by yourself. Follow good SEO blogs, learn SEO tricks, and apply to your blog. It will take time but you will learn things with time.
How quickly can you learn SEO?
If you follow a proper plan and practice things, you can learn the basics in 3-4 months. You can’t be expert in short time. For learning advanced concepts, you will need to put effort for the next 8-12 months. Always follow only bloggers who have a work to show, not a fictional work to boast.
Is SEO easy to learn?
SEO is not hard to learn, but is also not as easy as it looks. It will take time to understand Google’s complex algorithms and guidelines.
Does SEO require coding?
You can learn SEO concepts by reading guides. But you need HTML to understand the web page structure. For example, heading tag, ALT tag, title tag, canonical tag are some terms that are related to HTML. You should also know the basics of WordPress because most people use WordPress for their blogs and websites.
Can you make money with SEO?
Yes, you can either work on your blog and earn from it or start offering SEO services. You also get get a job in different SEO companies.
How much does SEO earn?
On an average, an SEO professional earns around $90,000 per year. But it varies from country to country. In some countries with high competition like in India, SEO professionals charge lesser to get clients.
Is backlinks good for SEO?
Yes, Backlinks are valuable for SEO.
How can I teach myself SEO?
I have already written a detailed guide on how to learn SEO. I also gave links to best SEO blogs to follow, websites where you can find SEO courses, YouTube channels to learn SEO and other resources. Follow this guide to learn SEO.
Deepanker
I am a tech blogger, traveler, and entrepreneur
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