How many sales do you lose through poor SEO
Attempting to promote your website online, often against stifling competition, can seem an impossible prospect especially if you only have limited knowledge of the techniques required. Learn what it takes to get to the top.
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SEO Scotland
Be Your Own SEO Expert
Introduction To SEO Part 4
Who will this SEO course will suit? Of course, any form of instruction makes demands on students in the form of required or ‘background’ knowledge. You may be an IT professional with considerable knowledge of coding, HTML, and so forth, or, alternatively, you may be a relative newcomer to web-design and HTML. This course does not require an in-depth knowledge of HTML as it will show you how to understand and use the relevant code. All we expect of you is a very basic familiarity with HTML in the sense that you know roughly what a HTML page looks like and does (numerous guides to HTML are available online). Naturally, this course also assumes that you currently maintain a website or plan to develop one in the near future! We also expect you to have access to the following:
- an Internet connection.
- an Internet Browser, e.g. Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, Firefox.
- a programme which you can use to edit HTML, e.g. Dreamweaver, Microsoft Frontpage, Windows Notepad or one of the may free editors that are available online.
In the long term, you will also require hosting for your website (the computer that acts as a server for your website) and a domain name (e.g. www.yourdomain.com) as this will allow you to test and implement your Search Engine Optimization efforts. If you already have these things or if the site you plan to optimize is already live, you will have to make sure you have necessary administrative rights and ftp access to your hosting server. If you plan to SEO an existing site that has been developed by an external web-design company, you should contact them to make sure that they do not retain the copyright to this site and that it is also okay for you to alter individual web pages.
This course, therefore, does not require a lot of background knowledge. Ultimately, this course is a Basic SEO course aimed at individuals who are entirely new to search engine optimisation. This course is designed to suit a broad range of people, including the following:
- webmasters
- web-designers
- website owners
- students
- those who are simply taking their first steps in moving towards a career in SEO
While we cannot tailor this course to the specific needs of each of these individuals (even within this range there will be a diversity of needs, abilities and experience), we have attempted to ensure that even the novice will be able to understand the methods associated with SEO and put them into practice. Experienced IT professionals may find some of the material familiar, but they are still encouraged to work through this material as it is presented in a context that will most likely appear unfamiliar. For example, an experienced web-designer will probably know what an HTML Title tag is and does but may not understand its crucial significance for search engine optimization. Individuals with some prior knowledge of Search Engine Optimization are encouraged to consider our more advanced tuition, although the systematic approach of this course will still be of some benefit to them.
Note: Although this SEO course makes frequent reference to products, marketing, and so forth, we do not assume that you are in some way involved in e-commerce. We realise that not all website owners and webmasters will be involved in online selling. The principles outlined in this course are applicable to ALL websites even if the ‘product’ you offer is simply a service or free information.
Course Content and Layout
The Basic course is comprised of eight units. These units are divided logically into four broader sections devised to take you progressively through the fundamentals of SEO. Section one (Units 1 and 2) introduces you to search engine optimization and search engines. Section two takes a slightly more advanced look at the search process in terms of how search engines retrieve information (Unit 3) and how the average searcher searches (Unit 4). Section 3 moves us on to the crucial ‘research’ phase of the SEO process, during which you learn how to find the right keywords for your web pages (Unit 5) and how to analyse online competition (Unit 6). Finally, section 4 allows you to put your research to use and actually start optimizing your website by altering the ‘on-page’ code (Unit 7), write optimized copy (Unit 8), and start link building (Unit 9).
Each unit consists of more or less the same layout, and includes various tasks and illustrations aimed at helping you understand the material under discussion. Each unit also ends with a ‘SUMMARY’ of main points and an opportunity to ‘REFLECT’ on the key concepts or terminology used in that part of the course. These are included to help you ‘pull together’ the key SEO points of each unit and should be used in conjunction with your own notes.
A Note on Conventions
Certain formatting conventions have been adhered to throughout this SEO course. Where technical terms or common terminology is first introduced (e.g. ‘latent semantic indexing’) it appears in bold type. Paragraphs that contain important points to note also appear in bold type, prefixed with the term ‘Note:’
HTML code appears in a different font style in order to distinguish it from other prose, e.g.
<title>Page Title</title>
Technical discussions and further information that is useful to know (but not entirely central to the main point of a section) appear in coloured boxes. References to external sources and other websites are footnoted - students are not required to refer to these sources, although some may wish to do so.
Further SEO Information and Support
Because SEO is a dynamic industry, the material in this course will necessarily be updated from time to time. Students should periodically visit the Design Insite website (www.design-insite.co.uk) to check for course updates (please note that we cannot take responsibility for any use of information that has become obsolete following your downloading the course). It is also a good idea to visit the website to try out some of our free search engine optimisation tools. We think that you will find these tools of great use when optimising your site.
If you have an individual question about any aspect of the Search Engine Optimization course, you can email the Design Insite team by visiting the contact page located at
Our staff will be only too happy to assist you. We strive to make our course as beneficial, accessible, and useful for the user as possible and also welcome any feedback you can provide on any aspect of course content or layout.
Finally, we would like to thank you for downloading this course and wish you the best of success in your Search Engine Optimization efforts. Welcome to the world of SEO!
For more information about our Search Engine Optimisation Training Courses contact Syllabus or call +34 693 475 142.