10 Sites to Learn SEO

Developing your search engine optimization skills can seem intimidating. However, there are some excellent online resources to learn the basics, formulate strategies and launch your SEO campaign.

Here is a list of resources to learn SEO. All of these sites offer free content and tools. There are introductory how-to guides, SEO industry publications, SEO blogs, and advanced training resources.

Moz

Moz

Moz (formerly SEOmoz) offers a variety of free resources to learn SEO, including The Beginner’s Guide to SEO, Moz’s Whiteboard Friday video series, and helpful blog posts like The Beginner’s Checklist for Learning SEO and How to Rank: 25 Step SEO Master Blueprint. Moz also offers a premium subscription ($99 per month) that allows access to its Moz Academy and a suite of tools to initiate, track, and improve your SEO, social, branding, link building, and content marketing efforts.

—

Search Engine Guide

Search Engine Guide

Search Engine Guide is an educational website that seeks to translate the search marketing world into something that small business owners can understand. The site provides search engine news, strategies, and a directory of services, tools and resources. Beginners should read its 15-part series SEO 101.

—

SEO by the Sea

SEO by the Sea

The SEO by the Sea blog keeps an eye on information directly from the search engines (particularly on patents) to monitor how search engines rank pages and determine potential future trends. The site also offers SEO services, including site audits and recommendations, research, SEO training and coaching. SEO by the Sea was founded by Bill Slawski, director of search marketing at Go Fish Digital, a digital marketing firm.

—

Search Engine Land

Search Engine Land

Search Engine Land is a daily publication that covers all aspects of the search marketing industry. Coverage includes breaking stories, industry trends, feature announcements, and product changes at popular platforms used by search marketers to reach consumers online.

—

Search Engine Journal

Search Engine Journal

Search Engine Journal — “SEJ” — is a daily publication that covers the marketing world with guides, news, and posts by experts. Its Beginner’s Guide to SEO provides a framework for thinking about the current state of SEO, including strategies to get more value out of your SEO campaigns. The site covers SEO core information, mobile search, local search, international search, and tools.

—

WebmasterWorld

WebmasterWorld

WebmasterWorld is a site for the webmaster community to share and learn. In addition to free highlighted forum posts and free SEO tools, the site has an active forum where webmasters share specific experiences and visitors can learn from the pros. The forum boards include discussions on all things search, including Google SEO, local search, international search engines, and alternative search engines. Access to private Supporters Forums requires a paid subscription ($149 per year).

—

SEO Book

SEO Book

SEO Book is an SEO education site and training program, founded by Aaron Wall. The site offers a free seven-part course for SEO beginners, Seven Days to SEO Success, as well as free SEO tools. The site’s blog is another helpful resource for free SEO content. SEO Book’s premium training program ($300 per month) offers over 100 training modules, training videos, premium tools, and a private member’s forum.

—

High Rankings

High Rankings forum.

High Rankings is an SEO services site that has an excellent forum for SEO topics. Categories include SEO tips and techniques, search engine friendly design and usability, SEO no-nos, and SEM/SEO resources and advice. Get help and learn from an SEO community.

—

Google

The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine.

To learn about SEO, go to the king of search. Google provides several resources to help users learn to optimize their sites, such as its SEO Starter Guide, Webmaster Central Bog and forum. Another popular Google resource is the blog of Matt Cutts, who is currently the head of Google’s webspam team. Finally, if you really want to get into the core of the search engine, read The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Search Engine, written by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin during their early work at Stanford.

—

Practical Ecommerce

“SEO 101, Part 1: What Is SEO?”

To complete your SEO education, be sure to read Practical Ecommerce’s Contributing Editor Jill Kocher, an SEO professional who writes frequent articles on SEO topics to help merchants. Her current series, SEO 101, explores each area of SEO, explaining what it is and how to do it. The latest installment is “SEO 101, Part 8: Content Optimization.”

—