Whether you’re a beginner at SEO or have years of experience under your belt, brushing up on your knowledge of the subject can be vital for yourself or your clients. With that said, we’ve pulled together the best SEO courses that you can enrol on for free.
Whilst most of these courses are designed for beginners, some of them are suitable for those already well versed in SEO techniques, covering more advanced topics.
We’ve pulled together six of the best free SEO courses that you can complete online, with an in-depth look at what they cover, who the course is provided by, how long it lasts and more.
Take a look at our pick of the best SEO courses online that you can begin today and update your SEO training from the comfort of your own home.
1. Moz on Udemy
Nearly 300,000 students have enrolled in this free SEO course, and it has a rating of 4.4 out of five stars. It’s a popular one for good reason.
Who created the course?
The Moz team have created this course, with one of their founders, Rand Fiskin presenting the online videos that you can work your way through. There are seven sections to the course, with a total of 18 lectures that toal 3 hours and 25 minutes.
What the SEO course covers
The topics of this course include: SEO strategy and development, site audits and structure, the basics of keyword research, on-page fundamentals for SEO, link building and off-page SEO, SERP features and reporting on SEO.
The downside to this course
Whilst the course is wide-ranging and covers all the aspects needed for a strong SEO strategy, it must be noted that this course hasn’t been updated since it was launched in 2017, so some of the content is outdated and not really relevant anymore.
Why should you enrol on this course?
Even though some of the course information is outdated for 2021, it’s still a great starting point for those wanting to learn the common practices of SEO. It’s a wide-ranging course that takes just three and a half hours to complete.
The presenter of the course knows what he’s talking about, makes the topics fun and interesting and explains everything in a clear and concise manner.
You can take this course here.
2. Yoast
The Yoast free SEO course is another one you might consider as a starting point for learning SEO. The two-hour course consists of instructional videos that are clipped into 20 bitesize clips. There is further reading recommended which typically takes the course to 16 to 20 hours long, but this is optional.
Who created the course?
Yoast experts put together this course, and present the videos that you go through. There are also a few videos from Joost de Valk, the founder of Yoast. It’s a highlight getting his knowledge as he’s engaging and well-versed in presenting it as he does so in conferences internationally all-year round.
What the SEO course covers
The free course is designed for beginners of SEO, you’ll get an introduction to SEO, find out details on the content side of SEO and then the technical side of SEO.
The introduction to SEO explains how search engines work and how they see your website.
The content side of SEO looks into keywords, copywriting and site structure.
The technical side of SEO covers how you might be blocking Google from crawling your website and how you can ensure that you stand out for Google.
The downside to this course
This course is designed for beginners, so if you have a knowledge of SEO practices then it might be best to skip this course. They do offer a paid for course that is better suited for those who already have a knowledge of SEO.
Why should you enrol in this course?
You should consider enrolling in this Yoast free SEO online course if you’d like to learn how to rank higher in search engine results, and get a certificate to prove you’ve completed the course with a badge that can be displayed on your website too.
The course is simply designed with easy to follow instructions and videos, and there’s optional extras to help broaden your knowledge on the subject. If you’re just starting out with SEO this is a great way to introduce yourself to the basics to learn SEO.
You can visit the Yoast academy here.
3. HubSpot SEO Certification course
The HubSpot SEO course is another great free online course that you might want to complete. The course is designed for marketers, content creators, and anyone else looking to enhance their skills of SEO.
There are six modules in the course, with 24 videos to watch in total, five quizzes to help you evaluate your learning and the course comes in at two hours and 21 minutes to complete.
Who created the course?
Hubspot Academy is a globally recognised certification, and they have created this free online SEO course.The leading worldwide academy offers free training courses in a number of different markets, including marketing, sales and customer service.
Hubspot Academy aims to help people further their knowledge, careers and businesses with their useful courses that cover singular topics or through their more comprehensive courses.
What the SEO course covers
Like we said above, there are six modules that are covered in this course, they are: SEO basics, on-page and technical SEO, keyword research, link building, optimisation and SEO reporting.
The downside to this course
This is a thorough beginner course to learning SEO principles, so if you’ve already completed a similar course then it’s not something you’ll need to go through again.
Why should you enrol in this course?
If you enrol in this course then you’ll get a vast knowledge of SEO helping you to improve and evaluate your website’s SEO, build backlinks to your website, improve your search performance with keyword research and reporting.
The course offers quizzes to allow you to assess your learning and find out what weak spots you have. As well as offering additional resources for you to take your learning further.
There is also an exam to complete at the end of the course, which offers you the chance to earn a SEO certificate.
Another great point is that this course doesn’t focus on just one software platform that you can use whilst carrying out SEO tasks. So you get a varied approach of carrying out SEO practices.
You take your SEO certification course here.
4. Ahrefs
The Ahrefs SEO course is another free learning tool that you might want to consider. This course is designed for novices who know nothing about SEO, it starts from the beginning and ensures that you’ll understand how you can apply the basics of SEO to your website and rank higher in search results.
Who created the course?
The course from Ahrefs has been put together by Sam Oh, the VP of marketing at Ahrefs. The course he has put together is easily digestible and provides simple actions that everyone can put to use.
What the SEO course covers
There are four modules in this course, with 14 lessons to cover and it takes just two hours to complete. First up is an introduction, then the first module is keyword research, then on-page SEO, link building and then a look at the basics of technical SEO.
The downside to this course
This is a beginner course for those starting out in SEO, so if you have been doing it a while you might not learn anything new from this course. If you’d like to further your knowledge of SEO and how to use Ahrefs to do so, there is a course that is target to that.
Why should you enrol in this course?
This course is a great choice for explaining the fundamentals of SEO, allowing you to see how it works and why it’s important. You’ll learn important skills like how to keyword research for your website and how to optimise your pages so that they rank higher in search engines. There’s even guidance on the best SEO technical practices for beginners.
The modules are easy to follow, and Sam Oh does a great job of ensuring that you understand everything that is being taught.
SEO Foundations with LinkedIn Learning
SEO Foundations is another great free SEO online course that you might want to sign up for. The course is from LinkedIn Learning, formerly known as Lynda, and covers the basics of search engine optimisation.
Who created the course?
SEO expert, consultant, instructor and co-founder of Cardinal Path, David Booth has put together this course and presents it in an engaging and understandable way.
What the SEO course covers
There are eight modules for this course, they are: an overview of SEO, keywords, content optimisation in terms of how people and search engines view your website, technical SEO, long-term content planning, link building strategies, how to measure SEO effectiveness and SEO considerations for ecommerce.
The downside to this course
You only have one month free for LinkedIn Learning access, after that you will have to pay. So if you’d like to complete this course for free, you’ll have to ensure that you complete it within a month.
The course was also created in 2018, and hasn’t been updated, so you might find that some of the course content is a little outdated to practices that are used today.
Why should you enrol in this course?
This is a great course choice if you want to understand how SEO and content marketing can and should work together. You can earn a shareable certificate from completing this course too.
You can visit the Ahrefs Academy here.
5. SemRush SEO Toolkit
This course is focused more specifically on using SemRush, helping you to make the most of the SEO Toolkit to drive better results for your websites.
So if you’re looking for more broad SEO training this probably won’t be the best option for you.
The course is three hours long with a series of video lessons to work your way through. There are 14 lessons in total to watch, and it’s possible at the end to get certified for free with an exam.
Who created the course?
Semrush professionals put together this course, the team all work together to provide the lessons. Together with the creators of the SEO Toolkit they have designed this course to ensure that you get the most out of Semrush tools to help you better your knowledge of the data it provides and how you can use that to your advantage.
What the SEO course covers
There are three modules to this course, they are: learn, build and measure. In the learn module you’ll cover things like keyword analytics, backlinks, organic traffic insights, organic research and traffic analytics.
In the build module you will cover how to manage a campaign that you’ve created and use the tools to maximise its effectiveness, with things such as the keyword magic tool, on page SEO checker and the SEO content template.
The final module is measure, where you’ll learn how to track your campaign and make adjustments to the campaign as and when it’s needed. This includes such things as position tracking, site audit, backlink audit and content analyser.
The downside to this course
This course is not for those looking for a broad knowledge of SEO training, but to hone your skills using Semrush tools to further your knowledge and get the most out of your SEO campaigns.
The course is free to complete, with the possibility of a certificate at the end, however, you will have to pay to have full use of the SEMRush SEO Toolkit for your campaigns.
Why should you enrol on this course?
You should enrol on this course if you’d like to boost your SEO training with specific knowledge on using the Semrush website to do so. The Semrush SEO toolkit is a wide-ranging tool that can really help you to understand how a website is running with SEO practices in place and how you drive better results for that website.
The video lessons are easy to understand, with expert tips provided by the professionals, there are even further materials that you can choose to read to help you better understand the topics covered.
You can take the SEMRush course here.
