What Is SEO Training?

SEO training teaches you how to increase your website’s online visibility and traffic from search engines. More website traffic means more potential sales. Search engine optimization is a specialty, but every type of digital marketing job now requires some level of SEO knowledge. It’s that foundational.

Now more than ever, professionals and businesses are looking to level up their digital marketing. Marketers want to sharpen their SEO skills to make them better candidates and to create more business value. Businesses want to learn more about SEO to better compete in the search results and drive more revenue from it.

That’s when they turn to SEO training. But what exactly is SEO training — what are the choices in 2021, and how do you choose the best way to learn?

As someone who has been helping people learn SEO for more than two decades, I’ll provide the answers AND a long-awaited announcement, so read on!

In this article, let’s discuss:

• Why take SEO training
• What types of SEO training exist
• What’s new in SEO training
• What will you learn in SEO training
• How do you choose

Why Take SEO Training?

Answer me this: What’s the biggest reason someone would take an SEO training course rather than just go it alone? I mean, there are lots of website articles you can read with how-tos and advice from many different sources. So why take a course?

The answer: The best SEO training course organizes the chaos, filters out the wrong information, and educates you in record time.

Training should present concepts layer upon layer, in an organized way. An SEO course should give you a solid foundation before advanced techniques. And when you finish the course, you should have a solid understanding and feel confident to apply what you’ve learned.

What Types of SEO Training Exist?

There are a lot of ways you can obtain an SEO education in 2021.

Online training: Online SEO training has been growing in popularity. This includes everything from introductory to technical content and can range from single webinars to virtual conferences to complete courses that take a deep dive into how to do SEO.

When it comes to online courses, there are a variety of formats as well, including:

• The prerecorded course that may or may not have live interaction
• The live, interactive course with real-time instruction
• The free online video course (a la YouTube)
• The paid online course
• Some combination of the above

Classroom training: Things are a little different now than they were a year ago, to say the least. Prior to 2020, our popular in-person SEO training was the primary format for how we delivered SEO training, be it in our SEO classroom here in Southern California, at a conference somewhere in the U.S., or our global on-site training.

The classroom setting offers advantages like personal interaction with experts, a tailored training experience and even networking opportunities.

If in-person learning is more your style, not to worry: we’ll see classroom training come back soon. In fact, I’m tentatively planning to hold a small SEO training class later in 2021, all things permitting. But that doesn’t stop you from getting trained sooner through virtual learning opportunities.

Books: It’s worth mentioning books as a category of SEO training. SEO books can be a great way to introduce yourself to SEO, supplement what you already know or serve as a reference guide when you get stuck. (Shameless plug: Check out my 700-plus page SEO for Dummies book as a primer.)

You can mix and match these formats throughout the year to stay on top of SEO. Or, you can find an all-inclusive training option — which leads me to an announcement …

What’s New in SEO Training?

I am excited to announce that for the first time ever, Bruce Clay SEO Training is now available online!

What’s new is that we’ve expanded SEO training into more than just a course. Our new site, SEOtraining.com, is membership-based to provide a comprehensive, ongoing SEO training experience.

Members get the full training course with online benefits such as on-demand access and self-paced learning. In addition, membership includes resources such as ebooks, deep-dive mini-courses, a discussion forum, new content as its released, a subscription to our SEO tools, and even live events such as a monthly Q&A session with me.

Watch the trailer and then head over to SEOtraining.com if you’d like to learn more.

What Will I Learn in SEO Training?

SEO training can teach you everything from the very basics on how to understand search engines to more technical SEO strategies that will keep your website primed for organic traffic.
As an example of what you should expect to learn in an SEO training program, I’ll share the sections that I cover in our curriculum:

1. The Importance of SEO
2. SEO Concepts
3. Meet the Search Engines
4. Website Anatomy
5. Search Now & In the Future
6. Content for SEO
7. Mobile SEO & Page Experience
8. Local Search
9. Linking Strategies
10. Siloing Concepts
11. Technical SEO
12. Best Practices

SEO Training: How Do I Choose?

Of course, there is no standardized way of doing SEO training. The same goes for actually doing SEO. So your SEO education will vary widely depending on who you’re learning from. That’s why it’s important to vet your instructors.

Especially when you are investing money into training, make sure to:

• Get to know the reputation, expertise and authority of the instructor(s) and company leading the training.
• Look at attendees’ reviews and testimonials, which are usually featured along with the course. (If there are no reviews or so-so reviews, move on.) If you’re curious, you can even check out our SEO training reviews.

Even if you aren’t investing money, you want to make sure you are getting sound SEO advice. Bad SEO advice will ultimately cost you in the long run in the form of poor rankings and possibly even search engine penalties.

If you want to be the person who understands exactly what to do to improve your organic rankings and traffic, you need solid SEO training. Check out our new SEOtraining.com today!

Bruce Clay is founder and president of Bruce Clay Inc., a global digital marketing firm providing search engine optimization, pay-per-click, social media marketing, SEO-friendly web architecture, and SEO tools and education. Connect with him on LinkedIn or through the BruceClay.com website.

See Bruce's author page for links to connect on social media.