Practical notes on SEO.
Internal 301 redirects aren't necessarily bad for SEO, but your internal links should point directly to the final URL. Here's why and how to fix them.
Crawl anything from small websites to sites with up to 1,000,000 URLs — even with the free version of the SEO Web Spider.
Is it legal to crawl a website? Learn how robots.txt, website terms, copyright, access controls and responsible crawling affect SEO website crawlers.
An XML sitemap helps search engines discover, crawl and index your website. But a good sitemap should do more than simply list every URL found. Images, videos, redirects, duplicate and non-indexable pages must be handled correctly, while larger sites need careful sitemap structure. This guide explains best practices for creating accurate, search-engine-friendly XML sitemaps.
Search is changing. People can now receive detailed answers directly from AI systems as well as discovering information through traditional search results. In this module, you will learn how AI Overviews, AI search engines and other emerging technologies are changing the way information is discovered online. We also look at what this means for SEO, content creation and the way businesses can improve their visibility in both traditional and AI-powered search.
SEO produces a huge amount of data, but collecting data isn't the same as understanding performance. In this module, you will learn how to use Google Search Console and Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to measure organic visibility, traffic, leads and sales. We also look at how to turn that information into useful reports that help you understand what's working, what isn't and where to concentrate your SEO efforts next.
Local SEO helps businesses appear when people search for products and services within a particular geographical area. In this module, you will learn how Google determines which businesses appear in local search results, Google Maps and the local pack. We look at Google Business Profiles, reviews, citations, location pages and the other signals that can influence local visibility.
Technical SEO ensures that search engines can efficiently access, crawl, render and index your website. Although technical SEO can initially sound complicated, you don't need to be a web developer to understand the fundamentals. Many of the technical features we cover are already built into modern websites and content management systems. The important thing is understanding what they do, why they matter and how to check that they are working correctly.
Creating excellent content is only part of SEO. Search engines also need signals that indicate whether a website is established, trusted and authoritative. In this module, you will learn how backlinks, brand mentions, digital PR, citations and other external signals can contribute to a website's authority. We also look at how to build authority legitimately and why manipulative link-building techniques can do more harm than good.