New to search engine optimization? Want to learn but not sure where to start? Getting into search engine optimization (SEO) can be overwhelming if you have no knowledge, experience or a person to help guide you.
To be clear, the goal of this article is not to teach you everything you need to know about SEO, but rather how you can start your SEO adventure. Such as how to find resources that will teach you the knowledge and skills for SEO as well as which free tools you can start using to play around with.
Without further ado, let’s continue with how you should go about learning SEO.
Where do I begin learning SEO?
Just like any other subject; when you start learning something new, you tend to have a lot of questions right at the beginning.
More often then not, these questions are more “broad” in the sense that they are not really technical SEO questions, but rather something along the lines of: “How long will it take me to learn SEO?”
So, what kind of questions and concerns are we talking about here? The most common questions I get from people interested in learning SEO are typically these ones and I’ve given short answers for a few of them:
- How long will it take for me to be efficient at SEO?
It depends on the person and how long you spend refining your craft - How and where should I start learning SEO?
Honestly, Youtube is a great and free way to get started. - Will learning SEO cost me a lot of money?
Only if you want it to! - Do I need a powerful computer and the best tools to be good at SEO?
Not at all! Most SEO tools used are all in-browser. Your run of the mill laptop should be more than enough.
Of course, I get plenty of other questions too, as search engine optimization is a very deep subject with seemingly endless factors to consider. But these 4 questions are definitely the most frequently asked questions I get, so let me try to answer them here to the best of my abilities.
How long will it take for someone to be efficient at SEO? Well, efficient is quite a broad term. The first goal is to figure out what you need to learn SEO for. The amount of skill and knowledge needed for a person looking to optimize his person website a little here and there, will be different for a person who is looking to find a job at a SEO agency. Of course, an individuals ability to study and learn is also a factor, but let’s average it out for the sake of this article.
All in all, to understand the general concept of SEO should not take you all too long. There a plenty of good “understanding general SEO” videos and articles out there. A big issue (and I think it is a problem when learning anything that’s new and extensive) that I’ve noticed with people who have started learning SEO; is that they find an over abundance of information.
Overwhelming knowledge is definitely an issue, specially if you don’t have a shepherd to guide you. So, let me share with you some of the ones I find personally useful when introducing friends and family interested in learning search engine optimization.
The people from Ahrefs.com are among some of the best SEO specialists out there. SEO specialists who have been in the game for many years, Ahrefs.com has a lot of good advice out there (and rightfully so, as they are one of the leading SEO companies in the world). The video above does a fantastic job with starting people on their SEO journey as it covers much of the fundamentals of Search Engine Optimization. AND it’s not 8 hours long!
SEO Fundamentals and more in-depth learning
The above video is a “how to learn”. It spends 10minutes explaining the fundamentals and how to get yourself started. For those that are looking for a proper “beginners video”, take a look at the video below.
This more in-depth intro SEO video is presented again by Ahrefs SEO specialist; Sam Oh. Instead of just being a quick 10 minute introduction, this second video is around 2 hours long. Not to worry though, you don’t have to go through it all in one sitting. The Ahrefs youtube channel has done a good job of bookmarking each chapter within the video, so you can pause and come back to any part of the video with ease. The video bookmarks are as follows:
0:00 Intro
1:25 What is SEO and why it is important
7:54 What are keywords
15:39 How to analyze search intent
19:51 How to find keyword for your site
31:01 What is ranking difficulty
40:28 What is on-page SEO
46:26 How to optimize a page for a target keyword
59:39 What is link building and why it is important
1:04:38 How to get backlinks for your site
1:08:26 What makes a backlink “good”
1:16:23 What are link building tactics for beginners
1:30:50 How to do blogger outreach for backlinks
1:43:28 What is technical SEO and why it’s important
1:51:00 What are technical SEO best practices
As you can see from the timestamps listed, the video does a fantastic job of covering what I believe are the fundamentals of Search Engine Optimization. It covers important basics such as how to analyze search, finding keywords for your site, ranking difficulties and even gets into link building and backlinks. Now of course, videos on Youtube is free and you might find yourself wanting something a little more “professional” and/or insightful.
Paid courses can be found all over the internet. There are numerous and reputed platforms out there. But if you want a solid recommendation, then I would like to suggest ClickMinded.com. ClickMinded is one of the top paid courses out there. On their homepage, they even boast the following:
You can initiate a “free trial”. But their course starts at $997 USD. It does seem like a lot, but they teach you just about everything you need to know to be efficient at search engine optimization. And upon completion you get a SEO certification. Which is something users might be looking for, if they are looking to get a SEO job at a company themselves. Companies such as SEMRUSH (a top rated and respected SEO agency) even note: “Run by a “bunch of digital marketing nerds,” who have helped “8,702 startups, agencies, entrepreneurs and students learn SEO, get higher rankings, and more traffic.”
My conclusion
As you can see, you can find all sorts of knowledge and information from all corners of the internet. Whether it’s free or paid, there is a lot of good information out there and it’s quite easy to access.
If you’re not sure whether you want to spend money, it’s okay! Find some articles or videos on Youtube and start there. After, if you still feel like you want to know and learn more, then maybe you can look into premium courses. Either way, space yourself out. Don’t rush and embrace the world Search Engine Optimization!
Goodluck and have fun studying SEO!
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