Top 9 Online SEO Free Courses for Beginners With Certificates

With everyone in the digital scenario, it can be difficult to be visible to your target audience. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) can help anyone gain visibility by employing some practices and is almost like a magic tool that helps you gain a step over your competitors. Pursuing a specialized SEO course ensures that you are well-versed in the dynamic practice of SEO. As digital use increases, SEO also evolves and the need requires professionals to increase search engine rankings for any digital identity. While many SEO courses are being offered, here are a few SEO Free Courses that any beginner can enroll in.

What are Search Engines and How Do They Work?

Search Engines are web programs that search for and identify information according to the web search by the users. Today, search engines can be used to find any product or service for work or entertainment. While there are many search engines used globally, Google Search by Alphabet Inc. is the most widely available and thus, a popular search engine.

While Every Platform Has Its Process, Traditional Search Engines Take the Following Steps to Give Results for Any Web Search:

• Crawling: Using Internet bots who ‘crawl’ all over the internet using links and sitemaps, to identify relevant web pages.
• Indexing: This is the process of organization of a webpage’s content and data and adding them to the search engine’s database. While the search engine spreads out crawler bots on its own, website owners can also index their websites with the search engine.
• Ranking: The search engine uses several algorithms and factors to decide the priority of the web page to be shown to the users.

What is Search Engine Optimisation?

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the process of improving a website’s content, structure, and other elements to improve its visibility for search engines. SEO is done to increase search engine ranking organically.

It is a branch of Search Engine Marketing that seeks to rank a website without monetary compensation. SEO is an ongoing process as websites need to evaluate and make improvements daily for the continued visibility of the website or competitors will be benefited from the inaction.

A good SEO is capable of ranking your website for a longer period than paid visibility methods like advertisements and PPCs. Websites need to be search engine optimized to attract traffic and increase sales conversions.

Businesses have dedicated digital marketing teams to handle the brand image in the digital sphere. Even small businesses and start-ups should have at least basic SEO knowledge to attract the target audience to the business’ website. Several platforms offer SEO-free courses with knowledge about the concept, available online at no cost at all.

Importance of SEO

Today everything is available at a click or tap on digital devices but the audience will not go beyond the first few results of the search engine result page. Thus it is necessary to position our sites among those first few results. SEO-free courses come in handy while understanding the same.

Website Ranking

A business website’s main objective is to sell their products or services. It has been observed that users tend to click the first result on the search engine result page, which makes it a coveted position for all websites. When SEO is done correctly, it increases the visibility of the website for the search engine and if the content matches with the searched subject, the ranking of the website for that particular search.

Driving Traffic

A website gains at least 30% more traffic with each rising rank on the search engine result page. Thus SEO becomes necessary to improve the website’s content and interface with correct keywords to improve traffic to the site and ultimately increase sale conversions of the website.

Website Authority

Search Engines and users highly trust websites that can establish page authority. Google works on the E-E-A-T policy which stands for Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trust. An effective SEO lets the website convey that they have high-quality and relevant content to offer.

Improving User-friendliness

Conducting SEO improves the usability of the website for users across mediums. Be it on-page SEO of text and graphics or technical SEO for website load time and improving indexing of the site for search engines.

Must have a look at these high-ranked SEO Courses in India

Types of SEO

To make the most of SEO, it has to be done at all levels. SEO has to be done with a set strategy which can only be formulated after understanding the different types of SEO.

On-Page SEO

On-page SEO is the process of improving website elements of content and HTML Code. On-Page SEO includes the following techniques:

• Conducting targeted Keyword Research
• Posting original, Quality Content
• Linking web pages of the site internally to optimize the flow of the website
• Using HTML elements like title tags and heading tags correctly
• Including Meta Descriptions and titles for non-textual elements on a website
• The URL of the page should also be organized while keeping SEO in mind.

Off-Page SEO

Off-page SEO includes actions taken outside the website to increase the search engine visibility of the website. Largely, it is the practice of establishing backlinks to the webpages of the websites on other websites including Social Media platforms. Unlike On-Page SEO which focuses on content improvement, Off-Page SEO is done to increase the website authority, trust and credibility for the search engine which is the ranking model of search engines. Some practices under Off-Page SEO are:

• Guest Blogging: it is a backlinking technique where you write articles for other sites in exchange for a backlink back to your website. Guest Blogging works on the condition of mutual benefit.
• A.R.O: A.R.O stands for Help a Reporter Out. It is a platform connecting Journalists to subject experts for their sources. Responding on the platform can help you gain media exposure and earn backlinks.
• Directory Listings: Websites can register on online directories, e.g. Google. Doing this helps the audience find you easily.
• Backlinking Strategy: Website owners must also conduct competitors’ website analysis to identify the content, keywords, backlinks, and other improvements that can be made to their websites.
• Social Media: Building a presence on social media platforms and engaging with other users through posts, comments and other mediums can help drive traffic towards the website.

Technical SEO

Technical SEO focuses on improving the structure and interface of the site to increase the efficiency of internet crawlers and indexing of the site. It aims to increase the user-friendliness of the website for the customers and the search engines. This type of SEO requires technical knowledge of the digital medium which can be learned through quality SEO-free courses. Technical SEO includes:

• Identifying backend errors that may be hindering search engine ranking like duplicate content, and contrasting keyword use which may be internally attacking the visibility of the site on search engines
• Improving the website’s loading time, structure, and multi-device usability for increased traffic.

The first 3 types of SEO are widely covered in several SEO-free courses.

International SEO

Simply said, International SEO involves globalizing your website through different languages and for different areas. International SEO is all about creating a good web surfing experience for your audience and includes the following:

• Including content according to the target audience’s cultures and traditions
• Using the target areas’ date-time format and allowing for payments to be made in the audience’s currency and language.

Local SEO

Out of sight, out of mind is also true for websites. The websites should also focus on making their websites available for the local audience as people tend to approach businesses that are nearby. Thus, Local SEO involves websites placing their websites forward by mentioning locations so that your website ranks higher for the audience in the local area.

E-commerce SEO

To make maximum sales, your website should be highly ranked on search engine result pages. Though this is easily achieved through paid methods, SEO is as effective with low costs. E-commerce SEO, when done properly can drive high traffic and increase search volumes, resulting in more sale conversions.

Content SEO

To increase the visibility of a website, it must have unique, original content with keywords in all the right places. Content SEO is not restricted to merely the textual content but also includes images, videos, and other graphics. Websites must also keep track of their content by introducing newer relevant content and products to maintain and build the traffic flow.

Mobile SEO

With the increased use of mobiles since the 2000s, it has become necessary to improve a website’s user-friendliness for smartphone and portable device viewing. A business needs to make it easier for the audience to access its content anytime and anywhere.

White-Hat SEO

All the SEO practices adhere to the terms and conditions of usage of search engines. White-hat SEO improves the website’s ranking for search engines as the latter will prioritize platforms that follow their rules.

Black-Hat SEO

Using underhanded techniques like keyword stuffing, cloaking, spamming, etc websites can get better rankings instantly. At the same time, using these techniques may get your website under scrutiny by search engines. Thus, it is beneficial not to use this type of SEO.

Gray-Hat SEO

Grey-hat SEO involves techniques that are riskier than those involved in White-Hat SEO. The principles around Grey-Hat SEO are unclear because the terms and conditions regarding the same are not clearly defined. All Gray-Hat SEO can do is keep you from losing traffic but you must be aware of the negative consequences that this type of SEO may have on your website.

Negative SEO

Negative SEO lands you in trouble. While the other SEO techniques aim towards improving the search engine ranking of your site, Negative SEO is all about lowering the ranking of the competitor’s sites by employing underhanded techniques including hacking. It is the most unethical SEO practice and in an ideal situation must not be termed as a type of SEO.

Must check here the top-ranked Digital Marketing Courses in India

Career in SEO

With technological advancements, SEO is also gaining importance for other mediums like images, videos, and even voice queries. Specialized SEO-free courses can help you delve deeper into the widening scope of the field as a career. SEO-free courses help you gain market insights and keep you prepared for any market scenarios.

The SEO-free courses also let you make an informed decision about the tools and techniques in practice for search engine optimization for various mediums and platforms.

Some of the Careers That You Can Pursue That Are More Seo-centric Than Digital Media Marketing Are:

• SEO Specialist with an average salary of INR 5 Lakhs annually
• Content Strategist with an average salary of INR 7 Lakhs annually
• Technical SEO Manager earning an average salary of INR 8.5 Lakhs annually
• Link Building Specialist may draw up to INR 10 Lakhs salary per year
• Local SEO Specialist may earn up to INR 8 Lakhs even at the beginning of their career
• E-commerce SEO Manager with an average salary of INR 8 Lakhs per year
• SEO Consultant may earn up to INR 12 Lakhs per year
• SEO Data Analyst draws an average salary of INR 3 Lakhs at the junior level annually
• SEO Trainer can expect an average salary of INR 2.5 Lakhs annually at entry level
• SEO Manager with an average salary of INR 9 Lakhs annually

 

SEO Free Courses Available for Beginners

 

1.    Great Learning

Started in 2013, Great Learning aimed to teach all its students about the data as it exists and evolves with the times. The award-winning platform has formed partnerships with various prestigious institutions and ed-tech platforms like The University of Texas, Stanford University, and BYJU.

With several courses offered in recent career options including Big Data, UI/UX Design, and Digital Marketing, Great Learning also offers specialized SEO-free courses that have been studied by over 70,000 individuals.

Course Name: SEO for Beginners

Duration: 1 Training Hour

Mode of Study: Pre-recorded Video Lectures

Course Programmes:

• What is Digital Marketing?
• Why Digital Marketing?
• Types of Digital Marketing
• What is SEO?
• Why SEO?
• Types of SEO
• Demo for platform-specific SEO

Course Highlights:

• Free Lifetime Access to study material
• This can be understood by beginners in the field
• Easy sign-up is possible with Google
• Includes demonstration of the SEO process for Google and YouTube.

Certification: Yes

Contact Information:

Phone: 080 47111120

If writing is your passion, must check out these practical-oriented Content Writing Courses in India

 

2.    Simplilearn

Established in 2010, Simplilearn is a prestigious digital skills ed-tech platform. SimpliLearn has partnered with various industry leaders like Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud to launch SkillUp, a free online course provider in subjects like AI and Machine Learning, Cloud Computing, Web and Programming, Business and Leadership, and SEO free courses.

Simplilearn and SkillUp’s SEO-free course makes the students’ career ready for various job opportunities in SEO and is trusted by employees of various renowned organizations including Microsoft, Bosch, Amazon, and Dell.

Course Name: Advanced Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Programme

Duration: 36 Hours

Mode of Study: Self-paced Video Lessons

Course Programmes:

• SEO Foundation including SEO types, Keyword Research, and Algorithms
• Advanced SEO and Analytics
• Advanced Content Marketing for fulfilling business objectives
• Advanced Web Analytics with Management and Market Insights
• Privacy and Ethics in SEO

Course Highlights:

• 90 Days access to study material
• The course specifically tailored for careers as SEO Managers, SEO Analysts, and SEO Specialists
• Crack into a job-producing industry

Certification: Yes

 

3.    Udemy

Udemy has been focused on skill development for individuals and organizations’ personnel since the start of its operation. The platform boasts an ever-increasing course catalog of over 210 courses offered in 75 languages.

Udemy boasts of having more than 75,000 instructors who are passionate about the subjects they teach. The SEO-free course is offered on Udemy by Moz, an SEO software and analytics company promoting new-age marketing for businesses.

Course Name: SEO Training Course by Moz

Duration: 3 hours 26 minutes

Mode of Study: On-Demand Videos

Course Programmes:

• SEO Strategy Development
• Site Auditing and Structuring
• Basics of Keyword Research
• On-Page SEO
• Off-Page SEO
• SERP Features
• SEO Reporting

Course Highlights:

• Learn from Industry professionals
• Study at your own pace

Certification: No

 

4.    Semrush Academy

Semrush was started in 2008 by a group of SEO and IT Specialists to bring transparency to the competition in the digital space. Today, it aims to equip clients with making their website more visible without it becoming a chore. Semrush as a platform is all about nurturing passion and creativity in the field of digital marketing.

The instructor of their SEO-free course is Greg Gifford, the COO of SearchLab who specializes in Local SEO, Email Marketing, Graphic Designing, web analytics, and more.

Course Name: SEO Fundamentals Course with Greg Gifford

Duration: 1 Hour 45 Minutes Training Time

Mode of Study: Pre-recorded video modules

Course Programme:

• Search Engines and their working
• Sitemaps
• Site Auditing
• On-page and Off-page SEO
• Link Analysis and Technical SEO
• All About Local SEO

Course Highlights:

• Learn from a leading industry expert
• Included material on unique SEO techniques like Duplicate content and rel=’canonical’, HTTPS, AMP, and PWAs

Certificate: Yes

Also Read: Tally Courses in India

 

5.    HubSpot Academy

HubSpot is the developer of software and products for inbound marketing and customer service. The HubSpot Academy was started to educate businesses and individuals in efficiently using the HubSpot software and take high advantage of their inbound marketing expertise.

HubSpot Academy also offers several courses for upskilling individuals, enabling them to upgrade their careers including SEO-free courses. The SEO course has been tailored to be easily understood by marketers, content creators or any interested person alike.

Course Name: SEO Certification Course

Duration: 3 Hours 51 Minutes

Mode of Study: Pre-recorder video modules

Course Programme:

• Basics of SEO
• On-page SEO
• Off-page SEO
• Link Building
• Website Optimisation for High Results
• SEO Reporting

Course Highlights:

• Learn practical career skills
• Course built for industry use
• The course platform is recognized globally.

Certificate: Yes

 

6.    Yoast

Yoast has been dedicated to making SEO available for everyone. Their SEO software is active on more than 13 million websites including WordPress. Yoast SEO seeks to be a helpful mediator between websites and search engines.

It optimizes the website for easy indexing and understanding by the search engine. Yoast is one of the most used SEO software because it keeps improving itself. The platform offers various SEO-free courses and related courses like:

• SEO for Beginners Training
• Yoast SEO for WordPress Plugin Training
• WordPress for Beginners Training
• Block Editor Training
• Structured Data for Beginners Training

The SEO for Beginners Training Course is a crash course for all looking at SEO as a career option.

Course Name: SEO for Beginners

Duration: 2 Hours of instructional videos

Mode of Study: Self-paced training videos

Course Programme:

• Introduction to SEO
• Content SEO- Keywords, Copywriting, and Site Structure
• Technical SEO- Crawlability, Rich Results

Course Highlights:

• Includes Quizzes for Self-Assessment
• Downloadable PDFs of Notes
• An exclusive SEO vocabulary sheet
• Joost de Valk, founder of Yoast is also an instructor for some videos

Certificate: Available with an additional badge

 

7.    Ahrefs Academy

Ahrefs is a SaaS company that was started in 2010 to be an all-in-one SEO solution for businesses. It makes SEO tools that are now considered irreplaceable by many marketing professionals. Ahrefs also has its search engine by the name of Yep Beta, an achievement not earned by many.

The search engine is made to share profits of the same with content creators. Ahrefs has multiple courses that they offer for free for the efficient use of their services including SEO free courses.

Course Name: SEO Training Course- Learning How to Get Organic Search Traffic

Duration: 2 Hours of Video Modules

Mode of Study: Self-paced Videos

Course Programme:

• SEO Basics
• Keyword Research
• On-page SEO
• Link Building
• Basics of Technical SEO

Course Highlights:

• Available in 5 languages
• Taught by the VP of Marketing at Ahrefs, Oh

Certificate: No

 

8.    Shopify Learn

Shopify is a well-known platform that helps businesses set up their online store and website. It lets businesses start, sell, manage, and market their products and services for maximum sale conversion.

In this spirit, it also started the Shopify Learn platform to educate businesses and individuals about growing their businesses digitally. Shopify Learn’s SEO-free course seeks to teach businesses and individuals to use the Shopify Store to its maximum advantage.

Course Name: SEO Training for Beginners

Duration: 1 Hour 1 Minute

Mode of Study: Video Modules

Course Programme:

• SEO Set-Up
• Keyword Research
• On-page SEO
• Off-page SEO

Course Highlights:

• Learn to set up Google Search Console
• SEO Demos on Shopify Store
• Tailored for E-commerce entrepreneurs

Certification: No

 

9.    WordPress

WordPress is an open-source publishing system that seeks to give users the freedom to express themselves. Originally designed as a blogging platform, it has now evolved to let contributors modify the program and redistribute the modified version ahead.

WordPress seeks to give its users a voice. Among the several free WordPress courses, is an SEO free course that gives the students a basic understanding of SEO and the usage of its most important aspect: Keywords.

Course Name: Intro to SEO

Duration: 1 Hour + Activities

Mode of Study: Self-guided Content

Course Programme:

• What is SEO?
• Finding and Applying Keywords
• Formulating effective content with the Keywords

Course Highlights:

• Includes access to the WordPress Community Forum
• SEO Glossary

Certificate: No

 

Frequently Asked Questions

1.     What is Keyword Research?

Keyword Research is the process of identifying the search phrases most used by a business’s target audience. It is done to study the market trends and work towards increasing traffic to websites and growing a customer base. It is included in On-page SEO and is a focus module in several SEO-free courses.

2.     What is Cloaking in SEO?

Cloaking is a technique that shows two different versions of the same website to a search engine and netizens respectively. It is part of Black Hat SEO which may even go as far as showing something rankable to the search engine in contrast to showing a website that may have illegal content, products, or services.

3.     What is Page Authority?

Page Authority is a score that a webpage can hold from 1 to 100. The score rates how visible a webpage can be on a search engine results page. Page Authority is to a single webpage what Domain Authority is to the whole website or its sub-domains.

Conclusion

SEO is a practice that can be the make or break factor for a website and a business’s success. Thus, marketers need to have at least a basic knowledge of the concept so that they can optimize their site for results. Pursuing an SEO course can build the skill set of a working professional and lead to higher career and remuneration packages for individuals.

The several SEO-free courses let individuals gain a self-paced introduction to the new-age concept that still needs to be understood by many working professionals. Due to this, SEO is also a career field that is generating employment opportunities for many.