SEO isn’t something you can learn in one night. And although it can take several years to become an expert, there’s a lot of space between knowing nothing and knowing everything. So, how long does it take to learn SEO? Or, more specifically, how long does it take to learn enough SEO to grow an audience for your own blog?
Start with an Online Course to Learn the Basics (2-4 weeks)
To start off, take an online SEO course. This is a nice way to introduce yourself to the topic and get an overview. That way, you’re more familiar with the terminology and the basics so you can start putting some skills into practice. It also can help you understand what specific aspects of SEO you want to dig into deeper.
ClearPath Online offers a free How To Do SEO Yourself course. It is completely self-paced. There are ten lessons that come out each weekday. So, it’s at least two weeks. However, if you implement each lesson before proceeding it will take more time. Expect it to be about a month to complete the entire process.
Each course you find will vary. With the ClearPath Online course it will be about 2-4 weeks until you start to learn and understand the basics. When selecting a course make sure it’s self-paced so you can take the time you need to digest and comprehend the lessons.
Actively Maintain a Blog to Improve Skills (6 months – 2 years)
After you take a course to introduce yourself to the basics, start putting your new skills to use. The best way to learn is to do it. If you want to learn SEO, create a blog and optimize it.
This does more than help you learn. It allows you to identify when you have reached a point where you understand SEO enough to grow an organic audience. You can do this by using digital analytics data, such as Google Analytics. Digital analytics allow you to gauge how successful your efforts have been. Instead of making guesses, Google Analytics data will allow you to see the exact number of people you’ve been able to reach from search engines. Additionally, you can see if those people are converting and making a positive impact towards your goals.
While you’re learning, leverage the ClearPath Online DIY SEO Tool to guide you through what to do and how. The tool provides a pre-populated task list that you can follow to grow your organic audience. The tasks are staggered out so any given day doesn’t feel overwhelming. And you can click on each task to see how to do it. This is helpful when first learning, but also helpful as a quick refresher when it’s a task you don’t do often.
To see results from SEO efforts it can take anywhere from six months to two years. It often starts out slow, but once you start to get traffic it picks up momentum. And once you see good traffic numbers, stick with it. It will only continue to improve. You’ll want to blog for at least six months to two years to see the results. At that point, you’ll know you understand SEO and can grow an organic audience. But, once you have good results keep building that momentum and continue to post regular blog articles.
Stay Current on SEO Tactics (Ongoing)
One of the tricks to learning SEO is understanding that SEO is always changing. You have to stay current on new SEO trends. A true SEO expert understands that there are no SEO experts because the game is always shifting.
This is another area where the ClearPath Online DIY SEO Tool can assist. The digital marketing tasks are current with tactics that work today. That way you aren’t stuck repeating tasks that worked when you learned them, but may not apply today. Instead of a constant guessing game wondering if you’re wasting time on outdated SEO tactics, the DIY SEO Tool allows you to stay current. And without having to spend hours researching SEO every week.
In Summary
It’s possible to learn the basics of SEO in as little as one month. It can take years to become fluent in SEO and it will be a topic that you will always have to stay current on. If you’re looking for a shortcut, that is where the ClearPath Online DIY SEO Tool can help.
No matter how you choose to learn SEO, make sure you have a plan in place to put some of these lessons to use. That way you can improve your SEO expertise and see exactly what you’re capable of.
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