0015 - Achieving Top Search Engine Positions

Course Description

Course Details 
 
The vast majority of Web traffic comes from search engines. That means the most important thing you can do to increase your website's traffic is to improve its search engine ranking. To do that, you have to understand both the art and science of search engine optimization (SEO).  In this course, you'll gain the knowledge you need to boost your website's visibility. You'll discover how search engines crawl the Web, rank websites, and find previously undiscovered sites, and learn which HTML tags are key to getting sites on a search engine's radar. You'll also explore how to select keywords, why you should amass as many potential keyword choices as possible, and which keywords hold the most potential. In addition, we'll discuss why you should complete a pre-submission analysis, how to do a post-submission analysis using tools such as Google Analytics, and how to manage the SEO cycle to maximize results. By the end of the course, you'll have mastered proven, step-by-step SEO strategies that you can implement right away.    
 
How It Works 
 
This course is fully online, you require internet access and an email account. The course duration is 6 weeks, followed by a 2-week period to complete the final exam (online, open book). Lessons are released on Wednesdays and Fridays of each week, for a total of 12.   You are not required to be online at any specific time. In addition to the specific lesson content, there is a discussion board with each lesson and often there is an optional assignment to apply the learning. Following each lesson,   there is a short multiple choice quiz. Your score on these quizzes does not count towards the final mark but completing these helps solidify your learning as well as prepare you for the final exam. The final exam is an open-book, multiple choice exam   and you need to achieve a minimum of 65% on the final exam to pass the course. There is only one opportunity to pass the exam. A certificate of completion from WatSPEED is available within four weeks of successful completion of each course and can be accessed in your student portal. Many of the Ed2Go courses are eligible towards the various online certificates offered by WatSPEED. 
 
Requirements 
 
An interest in learning how to get more search traffic to a website. 

Syllabus

Lesson 1 - History of Search Engines and Directories. SESR, SERP, PPC . . . do you know these terms? In Lesson 1, you'll learn important search engine terminology. We'll 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 2 - Understanding How Search Engines Work. How do search engines decide which websites to include in search listings? In Lesson 2, 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 we'll discuss some super-savvy search secrets!

Lesson 3 - Creating Killer Keyword Lists. You want your website to appear at the top of the SERPs . . . but which keywords will people search for to find your site? In Lesson 3, we'll 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. And you'll learn how misspellings can actually help you!

Lesson 4 - Presubmission Analysis: Figuring Out Which Keywords Are the Right Ones. You've created a site-wide list of potential keywords, but which ones should you optimize for? In Lesson 4, 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.

Lesson 5 - Important HTML Tags to Master. It's time to optimize your site! In Lesson 5, you'll learn about HTML tags that you must be intimately familiar with. We'll 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 6 - Content Layout and Keyword Usage. We've talked about attracting people to your site, but how do you keep them interested? In Lesson 6, you'll learn the secrets of creating quality content . . . legally and for free. Also, you'll find out where to place a primary keyword within a Web page, and you'll use keyword density analyzers to determine how often your primary keyword should appear.

Lesson 7 - Web Hosting, URLs, and Mobile Optimization. Filenames and the technical details of how your website is hosted play a big part in successful search engine optimization. In Lesson 7, you'll learn how to register domain names that lend themselves to top search engine positions. Similarly, we'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 8 - Spamming Tricks to Avoid. People often use deceptive techniques to get search engines to list their sites. In this lesson, we'll examine many of these techniques and discuss why you shouldn't use them. You'll learn about keyword overuse, invisible text, and improper comment tag use. We'll also discuss Web page cloaking.

Lesson 9 - Submitting Your Site. 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! We'll discuss manually submitting your site to individual engines. We'll also explore multiple submission services, and you'll learn to create and submit XML sitemaps.

Lesson 10 - Track Your Progress With a Post-Submission Analysis. It's time to track your progress by completing a post-submission analysis. In Lesson 10, you'll examine the six steps of the SEO cycle. We'll discuss how to find your search engine rankings, and you'll delve into Web server log files and referrer logs. We'll also introduce you to Google Analytics, which can give you vital data&mdashfor free&mdashabout visitors to your site.

Lesson 11 - Powerful Online Promotion Techniques. In Lesson 11, we discuss powerful online promotion techniques. You'll learn how quality inbound links can help you. And we'll talk 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. 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. We'll discuss ways of monitoring your offline promotions, plus we'll talk about "link baiting" techniques that are ethical and that work.