A new session of each course opens each month, allowing you to enroll whenever your busy schedule permits!
How does it work? Once a session starts, two lessons will be released each week, for the six-week duration of your course. You will have access to all previously released lessons until the course ends.
Keep in mind that the interactive discussion area for each lesson automatically closes 2 weeks after each lesson is released, so you’re encouraged to complete each lesson within two weeks of its release.
The Final Exam will be released on the same day as the last lesson. Once the Final Exam has been released, you will have 2 weeks plus 10 days to complete the Final and finish any remaining lessons in your course. No further extensions can be provided beyond these 10 days.
Week One
Lesson 01 - History of Search Engines and Directories
Wednesday
SESR, SERP, PPC . . . do you know these terms? In this lesson, you'll learn important search engine terminology. The lesson will discuss the history of search engines and directories, and you'll learn about the differences between the two. Finally, you'll find out about current major players in the search industry.
Lesson 02 - Understanding How Search Engines Work
Friday
How do search engines decide which websites to include in search listings? In this lesson, you'll learn how search engines analyze websites and create results pages. You'll also learn how to search for sites that have linked to your website, and you'll discover some super-savvy search secrets!
Week Two
Lesson 03 - Creating Killer Keyword Lists
Wednesday
You want your website to appear at the top of the SERPs, but which keywords will people search for to find your site? This lesson will discuss ways to find potential keywords. You'll begin your research with offline methods and then you'll use online methods to expand your list. You'll also learn how misspellings can actually help you!
Lesson 04 - Presubmission Analysis: Figuring Out Which Keywords Are the Right Ones
Friday
You've created a site-wide list of potential keywords, but which ones should you optimize for? In this lesson, you'll learn about the all-important presubmission analysis. You'll determine how often people have searched for certain keywords, and you'll figure out how many other websites are optimized for each of those words. Then, using one simple formula, you'll be able to optimize your site the way the pros do.
Week Three
Lesson 05 - Important HTML Tags to Master
Wednesday
It's time to optimize your site! In this lesson, you'll learn about HTML tags that you must be intimately familiar with. The lesson will discuss why page titles and meta tags are important and how you can properly place and construct them. You'll also learn to include keywords in your header, paragraph text, and alt text.
Lesson 06 - Content Layout and Keyword Usage
Friday
In this lesson, you'll learn about HTML tags that you must be intimately familiar with. The lesson will explain why page titles and meta tags are important and how you can properly place and construct them. You'll also learn to include keywords in your header, paragraph text, and alt text. Then, you'll learn the secrets of creating quality content, legally and for free.
Week Four
Lesson 07 - Web Hosting, URLs, and Mobile Optimization
Wednesday
Filenames and the technical details of how your website is hosted play a big part in successful search engine optimization. In this lesson, you'll learn how to register domain names that lend themselves to top search engine positions. Similarly, it'll discuss filenames and how they can help you. You'll discover the importance of mobile optimization and page speeds. Finally, you'll learn how to responsibly create optimized landing pages.
Lesson 08 - Spamming Tricks to Avoid
Friday
People often use deceptive techniques to get search engines to list their sites. This lesson examines many of these techniques and discusses why you shouldn't use them. You'll learn about keyword overuse, invisible text, improper comment tag use, and web page cloaking.
Week Five
Lesson 09 - Submitting Your Site
Wednesday
You've optimized your web pages for top search engine placement, so now it's time to let the crawlers know that they exist. In this lesson, you'll learn how to submit your website to search engines! You'll learn how to manually submit your site to individual engines, explore multiple submission services, and create and submit XML sitemaps.
Lesson 10 - Track Your Progress With a Post-Submission Analysis
Friday
It's time to track your progress by completing a post-submission analysis. In this lesson, you'll examine the six steps of the SEO cycle. This lesson will discuss how to find your search engine rankings, and you'll delve into web server log files and referrer logs. You'll be introduced to Google Analytics, which can give you vital data—for free—about visitors to your site.
Week Six
Lesson 11 - Powerful Online Promotion Techniques
Wednesday
This lesson will discuss powerful online promotion techniques. You'll learn how quality inbound links can help you and about lots of other ways to promote your site, including newsgroups, question-and-answer sites, email signatures, online advertising, and social media.
Lesson 12 - Effective Offline and Online Promotion Techniques
Friday
Believe it or not, promoting your website offline can make a huge difference in your search engine rankings. In this lesson, you'll learn the importance of affiliate programs and word-of-mouth visits. This lesson will discuss ways of monitoring your offline promotions and will talk about "link baiting" techniques that are ethical and that work.