We cannot talk about Search Engine Optimization without talking about proper keyword research neither can we talk about any successful digital business without talking about SEO.  To this effect, Google has made available to us one of it’s tool known as Adwords Keyword Planner to enable us find the right keywords for our SEO & PPC campaigns.

Does the availability of this tool alone bring in the expected result to our marketing strategy? This course primarily addresses how proper keyword research can be applied in any online activity at all levels to drive targeted traffic to your offer page or increase Return on Investment. 

I’m a Digital Marketer/SEO Specialist with several years of experience in the profession. I believe in contributing to the existing knowledge to make the world a better place that’s why I chose to be a Udemy Instructor with passion. I had previously taken some projects but not limited to ones below that are in alignment with the course topic you’re about to learn. They are as follows:

• Researched commercial intent keywords with high monthly search volume and low competition rate used in optimizing web content.
• Uncovered profitable long tail keywords used to drive targeted traffic in content marketing.
• Conducted on-page & off - page SEO while considering factors such as but not limited to proper URL formatting, optimized headings, page speed, pages restricted from indexing, content length, keyword-rich title which improved click-through rate and high ranking.
• Developed and implemented successful link building strategy that resulted in improved search engine ranking.
• Initiated and managed content marketing plan that attracted traffic, engaged audience, and delivered sales from high page rank directory such as ezine articles.

The course you’re about to take is divided into three sections namely:

• Section One: Keyword Research
• Section Two: Content Marketing
• Section Three: Search Engine Optimization – White Hat Methods

In section one you’ll understand that keyword research is very important at the beginning of every SEO Campaigns since your potential clients’ turn to search engines when looking for a particular product or service on the internet.Your responsibility is to invest some resources into finding profitable keywords that will drive targeted traffic to your website and increase conversion rate or return on investment (ROI).

This section went ahead discussing the various types of keywords and their very practical applications in the real business environment. Using a website for instance, some keywords are applied at the domain name level; some are used at the category page level while some others are used at the product page level. Examples of each of these types of keywords were given in the course for proper understanding.

Under this section some useful questions that’ll definitely make you successful when conducting keyword research were asked. These questions included but not limited to: knowing your products and services very well, your target market and competitors operating in the same niche with you.

The course also discussed in a detail manner about the five core methodologies for conducting a very perfect keyword research. Finally at this point, the answers to the questions raised previously in the course were provided.

Section one ended with quizzes and course project designed primarily to test your level of understanding of the course. Successful completion of this project will enable you to take off immediately as a keyword research specialist.

In section two the course started with the concept of content marketing and how it has been used by organizations to build lists, increase sales, reduce investment costs, as well as build customers' loyalty and brand awareness.

Section two also talked about the various optimization strategies for article and blog writing such as uniqueness level, content length, and keyword appearance in the body, link, titles etc.  This very act will enable your content to appear higher in Search Engine Result Pages (SERP).

You were provided with an already written content known as “Anatomy of a Perfectly Optimized Content” which will enable you to have a bird eye view of the practical applications of the very optimization strategies previously mentioned.

Section two of this course made characteristics comparison of some selected content marketing tools for automating your content marketing task while focusing on other needs that matter.

The concept of content marketing strategy which is expected to be unique to your business goals was also discussed under this particular section. Further to this, the building blocks of every content marketing strategy were examined which include:

• Goals
• Audience
• Plan
• Content
• Measurement

Section two of this course ended with a project designed to test your level of understanding of content marketing. Practical applications of the above project into your business will lead to greater brand awareness.

Finally,the section three of this course talked about Search Engine Optimization using the White Hat Approach. The first consideration under this approach is the website audit which is known as the analysis of all the issues and factors that are capable of affecting website's appearance in search engines.

This will not be complete without mentioning the three aspects of website audit being:

• Technical SEO
• On-Page SEO
• Off-Page SEO

These three aspects of the audit were carefully examined in great details for proper understanding. Some of the issues looked into were but not limited to:

• Indexing and Crawlability Factors
• Redirects
• Coding Factors
• Links and URLs
• Title and Meta Description
• Keywords Usage in URLs
• Image Alt Texts
• Uniqueness of Content
• Backlink Profile Analysis
• Harmful Backlink Detection
• Disavowing Harmful Backlink

Section three also discussed about the concept of link building which is the most challenging and important aspect of SEO while adopting the white hat approach. The four core steps involved in building search engine friendly backlink were considered in this course as follows:

• Deciding on your link building strategy
• Considering the value of the links to be built
• Relating with your prospective links partners
• Managing and verifying the status of your backlinks

Section three of this course ended with quizzes and link building project designed to test your level of understanding in building quality backlinks to your website that’s in conformity with search engine best practices. Successful completion of this course will enable you to take up SEO project using the white hat techniques for any business that has online presence.