Achieving Top Search Engine Positions

If you want to increase website traffic, you must understand how to improve your search engine ranking. This course will give you the knowledge you need to boost website visibility with proven, step-by-step SEO strategies you can implement immediately.

6 Weeks / 24 Course Hrs

Starting October 16, 2024

Offered in partnership with your preferred school

Florida International University

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Learning method

Self-Guided

$135

No instructor. Study on your own schedule

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Instructor-Moderated

$135

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Starting October 16 | November 13

Details + Objectives

Course code: se1

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.

What you will learn

Discover how search engines crawl the web, rank websites, and find previously undiscovered sites
Learn which HTML tags are key to getting sites on a search engine's radar
Explore how to select keywords, why you should amass as many potential keyword choices as possible, and which keywords hold the most potential
Learn why you should complete a pre-submission analysis and how to do a post-submission analysis
Learn how to manage the SEO cycle to maximize results

How you will benefit

Get better website rankings with knowledge you can implement immediately
Learn the ins and outs of SEO so you'll understand how and when to make improvements
Open the door to new opportunities in marketing and website development

How the course is taught

Instructor-Moderated or Self-Guided online course
6 Weeks or 3 Months access
24 course hours

Outline

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.

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!

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Instructors & Support

Mike Orsega

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.

Instructor Interaction: The instructor looks forward to interacting with learners in the online moderated discussion area to share their expertise and answer any questions you may have on the course content.

Requirements

Prerequisites:

An interest in learning how to get more search traffic to a website. It is highly recommended that you have a website or building a website to get the most out of this course.

Requirements:

Hardware Requirements:

This course can be taken on either a PC or Mac.

Software Requirements:

PC: Windows 8 or later.
Mac: macOS 10.6 or later.
Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred. Microsoft Edge and Safari are also compatible.
Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

FAQ

Instructor-Moderated: A new session of each course begins each month. Please refer to the session start dates for scheduling.

Self-Guided: Your course begins immediately after you enroll.

Instructor-Moderated: Once a course session starts, two lessons will be released each week for the 6 week duration of your course. You will have access to all previously released lessons until the course ends. You will interact with the instructor through the online discussion area. There are no live sessions or online meetings with the instructor.

Self-Guided: You have 3 months of access to the course. After enrolling, you can learn and complete the course at your own pace, within the allotted access period. You will have the opportunity to interact with other students in the online discussion area.

Instructor-Moderated: The interactive discussion area for each lesson automatically closes two weeks after each lesson is released, so you're encouraged to complete each lesson within two weeks of its release. However, you will have access to all lessons from the time they are released until the course ends.

Self-Guided: There is no time limit to complete each lesson, other than completing all lessons within the allotted access period. Discussion areas for each lesson are open for the entire duration of the course.

Instructor-Moderated: Students enrolled in a six-week online class benefit from a one-time, 10-day extension for each course. No further extensions can be provided beyond these 10 days.

Self-Guided: Because this course is self-guided, no extensions will be granted after the start of your enrollment.

Reviews

Enjoyed the course very much! It was my first exposure to on-line education and I was very impressed with the knowledge I felt able to absorb, and the pacing of the classes. Thanks so much.

Good Course. I have taken a number of internet courses. I enjoyed this one too, perhaps more than some.

Good course! Some of the lessons were quite long, but due to the nature of the material probably necessarily so.

Great course! Everything I expected and more.

I really learned a lot from this course. I am in the process of developing another web site which will need to have a very high search position and this class will help me achieve this goal. I didn't realize there was so much to achieving high position ratings. Thank you for all your knowledge and expertise.

I would never have guessed what it takes to achieve top search engine positions. The course was a lot of work, but very helpful to me as I launch a web based business. Thanks!

Thanks, this was very valuable information, not generally available.

The instructor was very knowledgeable and had a great way of expressing the information. He made everything very understandable and did a very good job of using examples to illustrate the lesson information. He was VERY in-depth and thorough on every single topic that was covered. I plan on keeping all of the lessons as a reference guide for the future.

Very good course and teacher. I never realized the amount of work necessary to obtain top search engine results. Assignments were tough but necessary.

My reasons for participating in this course was to understand the workings of search engines and what companies offer in managing your website and it's difficulties...This course has giving me the best understanding of how to optimise and maximize my company's website for the best search results...We had a meeting yesterday with a company who we are considering to take control of this area for us and was surprised that all the information you have given me is exactly what they are using to market/manage of our website. I felt like I was listening to someone who had just finished your course. I am more confident now that I could have the ability to look after this area myself and I thank you for the opportunity to participate in what was an informative and user friendly course.