Free Self-Paced Course
SEO and Search Strategy
9 Weeks · 307 Sections · Business — Marketing & SEO
This free, self-paced course provides a structured 9-week syllabus for learning SEO Strategy. Each module builds on the previous one, guiding you from foundational concepts through advanced topics with 307 pages of in-depth reading material. All content is drawn from our comprehensive SEO Strategy textbook, organized into a clear weekly schedule that you can follow at your own pace.
Weekly Syllabus
- Part I — How Search Engines Work
- Chapter 1: How Google Actually Works — Crawling, Rendering, Indexing, and Ranking
- Chapter 2: The Ranking Algorithm — What We Know, Think We Know, and Are Guessing
- Chapter 3: Search Intent — Understanding Why People Search, Not Just What
- Chapter 4: Entities, the Knowledge Graph, and Semantic Search
- Chapter 5: E-E-A-T — Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness
- Chapter 6: Google Updates — Core, Helpful Content, Spam, and Surviving Algorithm Change
- Part II — Keyword Research and Content Strategy
- Chapter 7: Keyword Research — Finding the Terms People Search (and the Ones You Can Rank For)
- Chapter 8: Content Strategy — Planning What to Publish, When, and Why
- Chapter 9: Writing for Search — Content That Satisfies Both Humans and Algorithms
- Chapter 10: Content Formats — Blog Posts, Guides, Tools, Videos, and What Ranks for Different Queries
- Chapter 11: Image, Video, and Visual Search SEO
- Chapter 12: Content Updating, Pruning, and the Lifecycle of Published Content
- Chapter 13: AI Content and the Future of Content Creation for Search
- Part III — Technical SEO
- Chapter 14: Technical SEO Fundamentals — Crawlability, Indexability, and Making Sure Google Can See Your Site
- Chapter 15: Site Architecture — How Your Pages Are Organized Determines How Authority Flows
- Chapter 16: Core Web Vitals — LCP, INP, CLS: Page Speed as a Ranking Factor and a User-Experience Imperative
- Chapter 17: Mobile SEO — Mobile-First Indexing, Responsive Design, and the Reality That Most Search Happens on Phones
- Chapter 18: Structured Data and Schema Markup — Helping Google Understand What Your Content IS
- Chapter 19: JavaScript SEO — When Your Site Is Built with React, Vue, or Angular and Google Can't See Your Content
- Chapter 20: International SEO — hreflang, ccTLDs, and Ranking in Multiple Languages and Countries
- Chapter 21: Site Migrations — Changing Domains, Redesigning, or Moving CMS Without Losing All Your Traffic
- Part IV — Authority and Link Building
- Chapter 22: How Links Work — PageRank, Authority, and Why Links Are Still the Strongest Ranking Signal
- Chapter 23: Earning Links — Creating Content That People Want to Reference, Cite, and Share
- Chapter 24: Link Building Tactics — Guest Posting, Resource Pages, Broken Link Building, and What Still Works
- Chapter 25: Local SEO — Google Business Profile, the Local Pack, and Being Found When People Search "Near Me"
- Chapter 26: Toxic Links, Disavow, and Recovering from Manual Actions
- Part VI — Specialized SEO
- Chapter 31: E-Commerce SEO — Product Pages, Category Pages, and Ranking Against Amazon
- Chapter 32: SaaS and B2B SEO — Content Marketing, Topical Authority, and Ranking for Commercial Intent
- Chapter 33: Programmatic and Enterprise SEO at Scale
- Chapter 34: Publisher and Media SEO — News, Evergreen Content, and the Discover Feed
- Chapter 35: YMYL SEO — Health, Finance, Legal, and the Sites Where E-E-A-T Matters Most
- Chapter 36: AI Search, SGE, and the Future — How AI Overviews, Chatbots, and LLMs Are Changing Search
How to Use This Syllabus
- Read at your own pace. Each module is designed for roughly one week of study, but there are no deadlines. Spend as much time as you need on each topic.
- Follow in order or jump around. The modules are arranged sequentially for a structured learning path, but feel free to skip to any topic that interests you most.
- No sign-up needed. Every page in this syllabus links directly to free, open-access content. Just click a topic and start reading immediately.
Ready to Start Learning?
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