3 No-Bullshit SEO Courses I Recommend Taking in 2025

I’ve been working in SEO since 2019.

I got started by taking beginner SEO courses and general digital marketing courses. Back then, that was enough to land my first role. I figured I’d just pick up the rest on the go.

Luckily, the company I worked for at the time appreciated my motivation and gave me the opportunity to work on SEO projects.

But once I actually started… I quickly realized how much I didn’t know.

I had no idea how to make solid decisions. There were so many gaps in my knowledge and no one around to guide me. I had to figure things out on my own, mostly by trial and error.

That’s when it hit me: most SEO trainings just talk about stuff. They explain what SEO is, but they don’t show you how to actually do it or what results you can expect.

Sure, you’ll learn the basics, like what SEO means and why it matters, but no one really teaches you how to analyze competitors, do keyword research, or build an SEO content strategy. And those are exactly the things you’ll be expected to do in a real job.

Since I didn’t have a mentor, I turned to online SEO courses to fill in the gaps. I’ve gone through numerous paid and free courses on SEO. Honestly, most of them were a waste of time. I didn’t need another course full of theory. But a few really stood out, and I still refer to them today when working on my site or with clients.

So, if you’re looking to learn real SEO, here’s a list of online courses I actually recommend.

3 best courses for learning SEO

Here are some of my favorite search engine optimization courses for marketers, product managers, and content writers:

Tech SEO Pro course by Kristina Azarenko
Affiliate marketing course by Omid G
SEO Strategy course by Kevin Indig

I’ve taken quite a few SEO and online marketing courses over the years. These ones stood out, they’re straight to the point and full of practical tips you can actually use.

That’s why the list is short for now. But I’ll keep adding more as I come across other solid, no-fluff courses.

1. Tech SEO Pro

Course duration: 13 modules, 20+ hours
Author: Kristina Azarenko, an international speaker, experienced SEO, and technical SEO coach
Level: For advanced SEOs
Pricing: $997 for lifetime access, but you can often catch a 50% discount (that’s how I got it)
What you’ll learn: This technical SEO certification covers everything you need to know about technical SEO, but most importantly (at least to me), it is that Kristina teaches you her proven way of doing a technical SEO audit.

The Tech SEO Pro training has 13 in-depth modules, plus recordings from live masterminds with students and 3 expert-led SEO sessions.

I shared a sneak peek of some modules in the screenshot above (yep, I’m a proud student of Kristina’s course!). But here’s a quick breakdown to make it easier for you:

Module 1: Welcome
Module 2: Falling in love with technical SEO
Module 3: How Google works
Module 4: Control crawling and indexing of a website like a pro
Module 5: Internal linking
Module 6: Page experience from a technical point of view
Module 7: Advanced page speed optimization
Module 8: JavaScript SEO
Module 9: Technical SEO website audit
Module 10: Prioritizing technical SEO recommendations
Module 11: Final steps
Module 12: Working with headless CMS successfully
Module 13: Technical SEO for news websites

Keep in mind that this is a relatively long and self-paced course. If you’re planning to take notes (which I definitely recommend), you may want to spend a few hours on some of the modules.

I suggest setting aside a few hours a day or tackling it on the weekends. This way, you can go through everything at your own pace without feeling rushed.

One of my favorite parts of the course is a module that guides you through controlling which pages on your site are crawled and indexed. That’s a significant issue in technical SEO as if your page isn’t indexed, it won’t appear or rank in search results.

Kristina does a great job showing different ways to check if a page is indexed. By the time you’re done with the course, you’ll know exactly how to check and fix it yourself.

Module 13 is one of the most valuable ones for me personally. It walks you through how to do a technical audit step by step and, more importantly, how to figure out which recommendations matter most based on their impact. It really helped me learn how to organize and present technical audit results clearly for my clients.

The Tech SEO Pro advanced course isn’t the only product I’ve bought from Kristina.

I’ve also read her “Ecommerce SEO Mastery” book and took her quick “Get SEO Implemented” SEO training.

What makes her products stand out to me is:

She shares real, hands-on experience from working on different SEO projects. Even if you haven’t run into those issues yet, you’ll know how to handle them when the time comes.
She shows exactly how she does things, and that’s what I really appreciate.
None of her courses is just theory. They’re practical and useful right from the very first lesson.

Overall, I can say with confidence that this is the top technical SEO course you’ll find out there.

2. Affiliate marketing course

Duration: 4 hours YouTube course
Author: Omid G, a marketer, writer, no-code enthusiast, and founder of Marketer Milk
Level: Beginner
Pricing: It’s a free SEO course
What you’ll learn: You’ll learn how to build a website with Webflow and get it to rank on Google. Omid also walks you through how to choose a niche, find good content ideas, write and optimize your posts for SEO, and even start making money through affiliate marketing.

If you’re thinking, “This is an affiliate marketing course, not SEO,” just check Omid’s course first.

In four hours, Omid walks you through his method of analyzing and selecting a cycling niche, as well as creating, optimizing, and monetizing a content website called “Cycle Cope.” Unlike many courses on the web about SEO writing, this one’s actually worth watching all the way through.

It’s broken down into four easy-to-follow modules, starting with the basics of picking a niche and ending with content strategy and how to make money from your site:

Module 1: Niche/Idea
Module 2: Your problems
Module 3: Products $$
Module 4: Content strategy
Module 5: Content creation (blog posts)
Module 6: Publishing + Analytics

Omid says his affiliate marketing course is for beginners, but honestly, I think it’s helpful for anyone building a website with SEO and planning to make money through affiliate links.

Although my website generated $14,500 in affiliate income in just the first six months of 2025, I still picked up some really useful tips from the course that helped improve my site and grow my affiliate income even further.

One key takeaway for me was shifting my approach to SEO. I’m now focusing more on understanding my audience instead of just chasing keywords.

It’s one of the top SEO courses with affiliate marketing essentials. It’s free on YouTube. Definitely worth checking out!

3. SEO strategy course

Duration: 7 short lessons, about 45 minutes total
Author: Kevin Indig, one of the Semrush Academy lecturers
Level: Beginner-friendly
Pricing: It’s a free SEO course
What you’ll learn: You’ll get a clear idea of what goes into an SEO strategy and how to tie it to business goals. Kevin also walks you through a real example, so you’ll see exactly how to organize your work and present your findings.

to take all my SEO research and ideas and turn them into a clear and easy-to-follow strategy with defined priorities.

I had my own system, but I kept wondering… is there a better, more effective way to lay out an SEO strategy that actually makes sense to clients and teams?

So I started looking for SEO strategy courses online. Honestly, most of them didn’t feel worth the time. But one short course by Semrush Academy stood out.

It’s a quick 45-minute training that walks you through 5 simple but powerful steps to building an SEO strategy:

Goal
Problem
Resources
Metrics
Leverage

Even though I already knew a lot of what Kevin covered in the course, one slide really stood out to me. The slide you see below shows a simple way to organize your SEO strategy using just an Excel sheet.

If you’re unsure how to present your strategy to a client, this could be a great option to consider.

And once you complete SEO training, you’ll get a certificate you can use to show off your skills—perfect for adding to your LinkedIn profile.

FAQ

Are SEO courses worth it?

Honestly, it depends.

Not every SEO training course out there is worth your time and money. Many are packed with fluff and outdated info.

In my opinion, the ones that are truly valuable teach you how to do something specific, like how to write SEO-optimized blog posts, fix technical issues, or set up tracking. If a course helps you solve a real problem or reach a clear goal, then yes, it can be 100% worth it.

I strongly believe that any SEO beginner or experienced professional should keep working on their SEO skills, either by taking courses, listening to SEO podcasts, reading SEO newsletters, or SEO books.

Especially now, when AI SEO is changing the game and technical SEO is becoming even more important. You can’t afford to stay behind.

Can you learn SEO in 3 months?

The honest answer is you’ll get some idea of what SEO is and how it works.

You can definitely finish a few courses, watch YouTube videos, and read blogs. However, simply completing a course doesn’t necessarily mean you have real, hands-on experience. That only comes when you actually apply what you learn.

My suggestion is to use your knowledge to do some DIY SEO, whether that’s for your own website, blog, or even a small side project. It’s the best way to test things and see results (or not).

That’s how you build confidence and proof of expertise, something your future clients will care about much more than a course certificate.

What’s the best SEO course?

If you ask me, the best SEO course is the one that goes deep and walks you step by step, whether it’s doing an SEO audit, building a strategy, finding the right keywords, or optimizing content to rank better.

By the time you finish the course, you should feel confident that you know how to actually do a specific SEO task, not just understand the theory.

I’d skip the generic SEO or online marketing courses that barely scratch the surface. They might sound good, but they don’t give you any real hands-on experience. Honestly, they’re just a waste of time.