SEO Practitioner Course

SEO Practitioner Course is a self-paced or 12-week coached SEO training course.

Features include:

• Training Plans:
  • Self-paced plan: $299 per month.
  • Coached course: $3,500 12-week course (includes 90 days coached training).
• Web-based training.
• Streaming video lessons.
• Live interactive webinars.
• Weekly telephone calls with faculty and other students.
• 7 live monthly cross-discipline webinars.
• Cross training.
• Virtual office hours.
• Faculty mentoring.
• Structured curriculum schedule.
• Turn in weekly homework for personalized faculty feedback.
• Tackle a final, real-world project.
• Get faculty guidance and grading.
• Certification recognized industrywide.
• Use Todd's KOB formula for expert keyword optimization.
• Discover the four dimensions of SEO with Rand Fishkin.
• Master on-page optimization through perfect content.
• See Todd's three-part series on increasing inbound links.
• Review the top free SEO tools Todd recommends.
• Leverage the top 20 ranking factors for local search.
• Present your project in a live conference call to earn your faculty endorsement.
• Updated lessons keep you current on industry trends.
• Practical exercises let you try out what you're learning as you go.
• Regular quizzes let you test your growing knowledge.
• Graduates qualify for OMCP certification.
• Maintain your knowledge with ongoing membership.
• Instant access.
• User forums.
• Ask questions 24/7.
• SEO curriculum:
  • Introduction to SEO:
    • The fundamentals of keywords, traffic, and links.
    • How SEO processes differ in small, medium and large organizations.
    • How organic listings differ from paid listings.
    • The 4 important variables you need to focus on.
    • The 11 major changes in SEO history.
    • How duplicate content can be detrimental to your ranking.
    • Non keyword-based ranking factors.
  • Keyword research:
    • How to use keywords in your site navigation.
    • How to use keywords in content, without offending the search engines.
    • How keywords are used on YouTube, in PPC, and online PR.
    • What tools you can use for keyword research.
    • How long-tail keywords effect your conversion.
  • Design and architecture:
    • The Google guidelines for increasing your website's search visibility.
    • Why you should keep URL parameters to a minimum.
    • How site architecture and navigation can help visitors and search engines.
    • Where to draw the line between usability and SEO.
    • The importance of breadcrumbs to SEO.
    • Why you don't want your homepage to rank for your keywords.
    • Why you don't want to feed french fries to spiders.
    • Why body copy linking is more important than navigation links.
    • Why keyword cannibalization kills conversion.
    • Why you don't want to link to 80% of your products.
  • Competitive analysis:
    • How to measure keyword opposition.
    • How to set realistic SEO goals.
    • How to use SEO tools to measure potential for your business.
    • Why you shouldn't necessarily target the highest volume keywords.
    • What the keyword opposition to benefit score is and how it can help you target keywords.
    • Why you shouldn't fear competing against big brands in the search results.
    • How to develop a realistic timeline for ranking for keywords of varying degrees of difficulty.
  • On-page optimization:
    • The primary differences between on-page vs off-page optimization.
    • How to properly name your directories and pages.
    • How meta description tags are best used in today's search-based web culture.
    • How to dodge some common CMS problems in your header tags.
    • Why duplicate content is bad, and what to do about it.
  • Link-building strategies, techniques, and tools:
    • Why links are still so important.
    • Strategies for requesting links from 3rd party websites.
    • Equity education.
    • The ins and outs of purchasing paid links.
    • Researching and understanding competitor backlinks.
    • Engaging the blogging community for links.
    • Negotiating for links.
  • SEO for local search:
    • The top 10 local search ranking factors.
    • Improving the trust your business has with search engines.
    • Optimizing the pages that are most important to search engines.
    • Understanding Google local business center.
    • How to tag your listing.
    • How to make the Venice update work for you.
    • The importance of crawable NAP (Name, Address, Phone) on every page.
  • SEO tracking, planning, and performance:
    • Why tracking rankings is a double-edged sword.
    • Todd's favorite free and paid tracking tools.
    • How to perform a keyword cost benefit (KOB) analysis.
    • How to perform a strength-weakness-opposition-threat (SWOT) analysis.
    • How to integrate Google Analytics and Web Master Tools to see a whole new set of reports.
    • The secrets behind customizing SEO to fit anyones needs.
  • The SEO career path:
    • How different disciplines provide different career paths.
    • The top 10 jobs in demand that didn't exist ten years ago.
    • The hierarchy of titles within organizations.
    • How different personalities fit different disciplines.
    • Why 80% of hiring managers are Googling potential hires - and what you should do about it.
    • Why it's important to 'own your brand' online.
    • 10 extra ways to own your name.
    • How to avoid bad clients.
    • How to remove unflattering information.
    • What a BFRF is -- and why you should run away when you find them.
    • How to ensure you get a case study instead of a crappy reference.