If you’re a blogger struggling to begin or master search engine optimization (“SEO”), learn about the ONE best SEO course for bloggers I recommend based on my many years of experience learning SEO from a large variety of resources, including several courses, podcasts, videos, and articles — SEO Jumpstart.
Background
I have also learned some of the top hacks out there by way of my husband, who owned an eCommerce business for which he paid world-renowned SEO consultants thousands of dollars each month. And, I am also, admittedly, an SEO nerd who can do it all day and never get sick of it.
But, not only can SEO be incredibly overwhelming, there are also SO many SEO training blogs, videos, and courses out there for everyone from newbies to advanced marketers. It can be both time-consuming and costly to try your best to pick and choose from them.
Believe me, I’ve been there too, and I get where you’re coming from. The first time my husband mentioned that his eCommerce business relied on SEO to succeed, I had NO IDEA what those letters even stood for, and I felt so stupid! Little did I know it could actually be stupid simple — and life-changing for me too!
Being a lifelong learner, I became intrigued and started learning about it beginning at step one with the most basic of all searches: “What is SEO?”
Then, I became downright fascinated with the concept of optimizing content for search engines. As a writer, avid reader, and former lawyer, researching and analyzing words to write about really felt like something I could master like a formula, unlike social media, which is known to chew content creators up and then spit them out.
So, when I started my blog in 2019, I KNEW that SEO would be my number one focus to grow it. And after just 2.5 years of working on SEO for my blog part-time while I was a full-time lawyer, I was able to quit my law job to work on my blog full-time.
And just a few months after that, as I first wrote this post, my blog was bringing in 250,000+ page views per month (and growing), about 90% of which is Google traffic from having SEO-optimized content on an SEO-optimized website. SEO has literally changed my life, and it has provided my business with the kind of stability I just know I could never get with another focus like social media.
For example, there are posts I have written years ago that still make me money every single day — and I can’t say that for an Instagram post!
(But if you already are succeeding on social media, first, congrats! And second, I definitely still think SEO can work really well for you as a great diversification strategy, especially as many social platforms are and will continue to be more and more driven by search.)
SO, with all of that background information in mind, here’s what’s in it for you.
After nearly ten years of learning everything I could about SEO and having it change my life, but ALSO understanding the complete OVERWHELM bloggers can feel about it, I have narrowed it all down for you, and I now recommend just ONE blogging SEO course that I truly believe is: (A) the most comprehensive of all SEO courses for bloggers and (B) the easiest to actually follow step-by-step and implement on your own.
It’s called SEO Jumpstart by Eb at Productive Blogging.
And when you’re done with SEO Jumpstart, you will have accomplished ALL the basics of SEO on your blog in one shot. Yes, really.
Anything you choose to learn or not learn beyond the simple SEO Jumpstart course will just be the gravy on the turkey or the sprinkles on the ice cream (depending on whether you are a sweet or savory person – LOL!).
Below I will share all about the SEO Jumpstart and why I think it’s (the best course for bloggers), the one training I think can be expanded upon, and exactly for whom this course is best suited.
Review of the Best SEO Course for Bloggers
SEO Jumpstart is the most comprehensive of all SEO courses for bloggers, as well as the easiest to actually follow step-by-step and implement on your own. It covers everything from site structure to site speed, keyword research, how to write blog posts, getting backlinks, and more in a variety of content formats, from articles to images, worksheets, spreadsheets, and videos.
Before I dive into details about the lessons in SEO Jumpstart, let’s quickly de-brief what SEO is, so you have an idea of why I find SEO Jumpstart to be the most comprehensive course on the topic.
What SEO Is and Why It’s Important
SEO is all about actively trying to convince Google to place YOUR blog posts at the top of the search results for key terms you write about because this will get you more traffic and more traffic = more money.
So, how exactly do you convince Google that your posts should be #1?
- Keyword research: finding the best specific topics to write about that aren’t too competitive but also have a good chance of bringing your site traffic
- Keyword optimization: where to place that topic throughout your blog post so that Google understands what the post is about
- Readability: making it easy for readers to see and understand your post
- Site structure: setting up your menu, categories, tags, and internal links, so that Google understands both what your site and your posts are about
- Backlinks: getting others to link your blog and blog posts to show your credibility on the topic
- Master technical SEO: doing things on the back end of your site to help Google find your site, as well as setting up a site that’s fast and performs really well for the user
So, YEAH… that’s A LOT to master…
(For more details about these 6 major SEO components, check out the SEO Jumpstart course instructor Eb’s free beginner’s guide to SEO.)
What SEO Jumpstart Covers (Hint: ALL of it)
The SEO Jumpstart course covers it ALL and it does so in a way that won’t make you sweat or cry — trust me on that one, as someone who has pulled all-nighters implementing technological features on my blog. There are much better ways to be a productive blogger!
Let me show you what’s included…
SEO Jumpstart is on the popular Teachable platform, which many bloggers may already be familiar with from other courses.
SEO Jumpstart includes:
- 10 main modules that are then broken down into many bite-sized lessons
- 6 bonus modules you really can’t miss to complete your SEO training
- Printables, videos, images, written content, downloads, spreadsheets, and more for a really comprehensive learning experience
And the specific content that SEO Jumpstart teaches includes the following, (with my notes about certain topics in italics):
- Module 0: Welcome To SEO Jumpstart
- Module 1: What Exactly Is SEO?
- Module 2: Installing And Setting Up The YOAST Plugin (It’s crucial both to have YOAST and also to set it up right!)
- Module 3: Module 3: Site Structure (so your categories, tags, and internal links make sense to Google…not just you)
- Module 4: Keyword Research (which you MUST do and do right for every single post your write if you want to get traffic from Google)
- Module 5: Writing SEO-friendly blog posts (putting it all together)
- Module 6: Optimizing Your Blog Posts (making it even better)
- Module 7: Cornerstone Content (how to further optimize the top posts that drive the most traffic to your site)
- Module 8: Site Speed (This is really, really important to Google so it should be to you too.)
- Module 9: Backlinks (something many people don’t work much on, but can provide massive growth if you do)
- Module 10: SEO Maintenance (as important as keeping your home in good shape over time)
Bonus Courses:
- Bonus 1: Google Analytics For SEO (how to track your statistics)
- Bonus 2: Google Search Console For SEO (See how your posts perform in Google searches and learn how to make them even better with search hacks– crucial to maintaining high search rankings.)
- Bonus 3: Recipe Cards For SEO (the ONE thing I wish I knew when I started posting recipes on my blog… I still can’t believe how much time and money I lost.)
- Bonus 4: The E-A-T Crusher (simple ways to prove to Google that YOU can be trusted in your field)
- Bonus 5: How To Leapfrog The Competition By Winning Featured Snippets (how to get in the “People Also Ask” section at the top of Google search results — a total gamechanger that can really skyrocket your growth)
- Bonus 6: How To Get Google Sitelinks For Your Blog (how to get one of those really big search results with lots of links in it when someone searches for your site)
(Still curious about the instructor Eb’s background and exactly what’s included? Read more about what the SEO Jumpstart instructor Eb wrote about the course.)
As I said, SEO Jumpstart covers it ALL, and it is, without a doubt, the most comprehensive SEO course I have taken, in addition to being the easiest to understand.
Pros
Now that you know what’s included in SEO Jumpstart, let me expand upon why I think this is the best SEO course for bloggers.
I took SEO Jumpstart on a whim, actually, when I was already pretty advanced in SEO. However, I thought, “Why not?” when I was taking Eb’s other course on email marketing.
I figured I would speed through it in an hour or two and maybe pick up one or two new tips to implement, then call it a day. However, I ended up spending a whole weekend with it and was FLOORED by the amount of SEO content included and how EASY it was to follow.
Even as someone with a robust knowledge of SEO, the instructor Eb forced me to go back and take a closer look at things on my site, and I discovered a few things that I had actually done WRONG and needed to fix, as well as a few things that needed to be updated. And I did also pick up some new tricks as well.
When I finished, I wrote Eb an email stating the following:
“I know a lot about SEO, and I thought [in SEO Jumpstart] you nailed it in a comprehensive, yet easy-to-digest format.”
To summarize, the biggest pros of SEO Jumpstart are:
- Extremely comprehensive and no added fluff at the same time — it’s just exactly everything you need in a one-stop-shop
- Very practical tips you can and will actually implement (and will also deliver real results you can track)
- Complex SEO jargon is explained one step at a time in really plain English that you can follow with the greatest of ease
- Reasonably priced (much less than many other comparable courses)
- Access to a helpful Facebook group filled with big bloggers (I’m in it too!)
(Read more SEO Jumpstart success stories.)
Cons
I am really particular about what courses I promote. Out of dozens and dozens I have taken, I only promote a handful. So, it always pains me to talk about the cons of courses I loved. But, it’s still a necessary component of an honest review.
There was one thing that felt just not quite right to me in SEO Jumpstart. I’m not sure how else to describe it, but I’ll explain: Eb uses a really unique keyword research strategy that relies on Google, and she does not use any keyword research tools, which most people in the space do.
I thought she made a really good case for her methods, and they obviously work for her, but I have become so skilled at getting the most out of keyword research tools that it just didn’t feel quite right to me to test different methods.
So, if you take SEO Jumpstart, you may choose to play around with keyword research tools to find low-competition, high-volume keywords, either in addition to or instead of, Eb’s keyword research methods.
Who Should Take the SEO Jumpstart Course
Now that you know all about the best SEO course for bloggers now, let’s confirm whether SEO Jumpstart is right for YOU. I like to make these types of recommendations by skill level:
Beginner: I couldn’t recommend SEO Jumpstart any more highly to bloggers who are looking to create a high-traffic, monetized blog. It truly is a massive jumpstart that I wish I had years ago instead of making mistakes and learning in dribs and drabs over time.
Intermediate: If you already have a blog but are struggling with getting traffic and/or implementing all of the technical aspects of SEO, I also recommend SEO Jumpstart to you. SEO was the #1 driver of 90% of my blog’s growth and the only reason I was able to make it my full-time job. And SEO Jumpstart covers it ALL really simply.
Advanced: If you are advanced at SEO, you may know a lot of this material already. But, you still may gain some practice pointers from SEO Jumpstart, which may or may not feel “worth it” to you at the end of the day. I would encourage you to review the course contents closely and see whether there are any topics you feel your knowledge is lacking.
If you’re still unsure…
Then, I HIGHLY recommend you download the instructor Eb’s free DIY SEO Audit. It’s kind of like a checklist of everything covered in the course, so you can see really clearly exactly how much you know or don’t know about SEO.
Buy SEO Jumpstart:
Now you know what the best SEO course for bloggers is, why it’s the best, and exactly for whom it’s best. If that’s YOU…