Course Offerings

Achieving Top Search Engine Positions

Course ID: OST-3100ALE
Overview
Course Outline
Requirements
Intended Audience
More Details

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.

Course Objectives

Gained the knowledge you need to boost your website's visibility.

Discover how search engines crawl the Web, rank websites, and find previously undiscovered sites, and learn which HTML tags are key to getting sites on a search engine's radar.

Discuss why you should complete a pre-submission analysis, how to do a post-submission analysis using tools such as Google Analytics, and how to manage the SEO cycle to maximize results.

Outline of Instruction

Wednesday - Lesson 01

SESR, SERP, PPC . . . do you know these terms? In Lesson 1, you'll learn important search engine terminology. We'll 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.

Friday - Lesson 02

How do search engines decide which websites to include in search listings? In Lesson 2, 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 we'll discuss some super-savvy search secrets!

Wednesday - Lesson 03

You want your website to appear at the top of the SERPs . . . but which keywords will people search for to find your site? In Lesson 3, we'll 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. And you'll learn how misspellings can actually help you!

Friday - Lesson 04

You've created a site-wide list of potential keywords, but which ones should you optimize for? In Lesson 4, 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.

Wednesday - Lesson 05

It's time to optimize your site! In Lesson 5, you'll learn about HTML tags that you must be intimately familiar with. We'll 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

Friday - Lesson 06

We've talked about attracting people to your site, but how do you keep them interested? In Lesson 6, you'll learn the secrets of creating quality content . . . legally and for free. Also, you'll find out where to place a primary keyword within a Web page, and you'll use keyword density analyzers to determine how often your primary keyword should appear.

Wednesday - Lesson 07

Filenames and the technical details of how your website is hosted play a big part in successful search engine optimization. In Lesson 7, you'll learn how to register domain names that lend themselves to top search engine positions. Similarly, we'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.

Friday - Lesson 08

People often use deceptive techniques to get search engines to list their sites. In this lesson, we'll examine many of these techniques and discuss why you shouldn't use them. You'll learn about keyword overuse, invisible text, and improper comment tag use. We'll also discuss Web page cloaking.

Wednesday - Lesson 09

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! We'll discuss manually submitting your site to individual engines. We'll also explore multiple submission services, and you'll learn to create and submit XML sitemaps.

Friday - Lesson 10

It's time to track your progress by completing a post-submission analysis. In Lesson 10, you'll examine the six steps of the SEO cycle. We'll discuss how to find your search engine rankings, and you'll delve into Web server log files and referrer logs. We'll also introduce you to Google Analytics, which can give you vital data-for free-about visitors to your site.

Wednesday - Lesson 11

In Lesson 11, we discuss powerful online promotion techniques. You'll learn how quality inbound links can help you. And we'll talk about lots of other ways to promote your site, including newsgroups, question-and-answer sites, email signatures, online advertising, and social media.

Friday - Lesson 12

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. We'll discuss ways of monitoring your offline promotions, plus we'll talk about "link baiting" techniques that are ethical and that work.

Contact Hours

CEUs

Industry Standard, State or National Certification

Certification

None

Website

None

Certification Learning Outcomes/Requirements

CE or CU Articulation

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.

Learning Supplies Needed

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.

Clinical Site/Special Facilities

None

Requirements for Successful Completion

90% attendance
• Students must successfully pass 10 quizzes with a minimum grade of 70% by the second quiz attempt.
• If all quizzes are not passed with 70 or better by the second attempt, the final exam score must be 70% or higher on the first attempt for successful completion.
• The Final Exam must be taken by the Wake Tech course end date