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. By the end of the course, you'll have mastered proven, step-by-step SEO strategies that you can implement right away.
Mike Orsega has a Bachelor's Degree in Physics from Pennsylvania State University and a Master's Degree in Applied Math from the University of Georgia. He is currently working on a Ph.D. in Computer Science at the University of Tennessee. Mike teaches programming both online and in the classroom and has more than five years of online teaching experience in subjects ranging from basic computer literacy to C# and Alice programming.
The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.
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Lesson 1
History of Search Engines and Directories
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.
Understanding How Search Engines Work
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!
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? 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!
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 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.
Important HTML Tags to Master
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.
Content Layout and Keyword Usage
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.
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 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.
Spamming Tricks to Avoid
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.
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! You'll learn how to manually submit your site to individual engines, explore multiple submission services, and create and submit XML sitemaps.
Track Your Progress With a Post-Submission Analysis
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.
Powerful Online Promotion Techniques
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.
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. This lesson will discuss ways of monitoring your offline promotions and will talk about "link baiting" techniques that are ethical and that work.
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