How Long Do SEO Courses Take?

When choosing an SEO class, it’s important to keep in mind how long that course will take. Course lengths can vary widely and require varying amounts of your daily time. You’ll want to choose a course that helps you optimize your time, providing you with the most value both financially and logistically. Below, you’ll learn about different class types, what they entail, and how long they take. By the end of this article, you should be armed with the knowledge to choose the class that works best for you. 

Lengths of Classes

There are three crucial ways SEO determines search engine success: technical SEO, on-page SEO, and off-page SEO. Each aspect focuses on different areas to optimize a website's ranking in search engine results, so class length may be determined by how many of these ways the course covers. Learning SEO typically takes one to three months for the basics and up to a year to fully master. Factors affecting this include time available for study, the rate of information absorption, and whether you're learning independently or in a class.

Introductory classes

The shortest classes you’ll find will be introductory level courses. These classes typically can be completed in just a day or two. You’ll learn what SEO is, how it’s used, and the fundamental techniques and tools associated with it. These classes are often held live, either in-person or online, allowing you to participate in conversation with your instructor and receive feedback in real time. It’s important to keep in mind that these classes won’t cover advanced subjects, so if you want to learn more than just the basics, an introductory class may not be the best option for you.

Advanced Courses

Advanced courses will teach higher level, more challenging topics while still being relatively short. Because you’ll have the basics established, advanced level courses can easily be completed either live or on-demand. Self-paced courses allow you to spend as much time as you need mastering the materials, which can be especially helpful while learning advanced techniques. Much like introductory classes, these are often just a few days long, allowing you to improve your skills in a short amount of time. These classes tend to focus on specific tools or skills though, so you could miss out on the more in-depth knowledge of an immersive program. 

SEO Bootcamps 

SEO Bootcamps, certificate programs, and professional development classes combine several benefits from the above options. They are immersive and encompass a wide variety of skills, from beginner to advanced. While they do take more time to complete, they also better prepare you for a career in SEO with a more in-depth curriculum, the opportunity to create a portfolio, individual mentorship, and the ability to network with established professionals. Held live online or in-person, bootcamps are led by expert instructors that can provide in-the-moment feedback and industry insights you wouldn’t find elsewhere. 

Marketing Degrees

If you’re willing to invest even more time and money, an undergraduate or graduate degree in marketing may be a good fit. These can range in length from two to four years and consist of hundreds (if not thousands) of hours of coursework. These programs require you to apply and get accepted, and ‌have prerequisites involving SAT and ACT scores, foreign language requirements, and a minimum acceptable GPA. College is substantially more expensive than other training options, too, costing between $27,000 and $100,000 per year. Of course, scholarships and financial aid are available, and community colleges can help make a degree more affordable. 

On-demand classes

If your schedule is complicated or you prefer to learn at your own pace, on-demand classes offer the most flexibility and freedom. All lessons are prerecorded and there’s no due dates or class times to worry about. You can skip any lessons you’ve already mastered or spend more time on more difficult subjects. It’s important to remember that with more freedom comes less accountability. On-demand classes can work for independent learners who can keep themselves on task and motivated, but may not be the best fit for those who find motivation through accountability. Without the right level of motivation, you can easily fall behind or lose interest in completing the training altogether. 

Part-time or Full-time?

When choosing an SEO class, it’s important to decide if full time or part time is better for you. Are you between jobs or able to take vacation time to complete a full-time training course? Or, are you only free in the evenings and need a class that can accommodate your schedule? For most students, a part-time course will be the best option, allowing you to master a new skill set without interfering with your day job. These courses can take longer, as your hours of class time will be spread out over more days or weeks, but that means they also offer you more time to master SEO. Full-time courses, while requiring a larger commitment of time up front, can often be completed in half the time of part-time courses. This means you can begin your new career or advance your current one much quicker. Choosing which option is right for you will come down to your schedule and how quickly you wish to gain mastery. 

Learn SEO Skills with Noble Desktop

Noble Desktop offers a variety of classes, both live online and in-person in New York City. Their SEO Bootcamp covers the fundamentals of SEO with hands-on lessons in search engine optimization and competitive keyword analysis Led by an expert instructor, this class offers small class sizes, setup assistance, and a free retake should you wish to revisit any of the material. The course also includes a seven-day free trial of SemRush, the top keyword research tool.

If you’re looking for something more robust, Noble also offers a UX & UI Design Certificate that covers design concepts, industry tools like Figma, and research methodologies for creating successful user experiences. UX (User Experience) focuses on designing apps, websites, and other products that are easy and pleasant for people to use. UI (User Interface) focuses on the appearance of apps, websites, and other products, so they are beautiful and visually effective. UX/UI and SEO are complementary fields; having a better understanding of the user’s experience can help guide your SEO strategy. 

Additionally, their Digital Marketing Certificate will provide you with a holistic understanding of all parts of marketing, including SEO. You’ll develop an actionable, multi-tiered campaign and optimize it through search engine optimization (SEO), social media, paid search, content marketing, and email marketing. You’ll also learn to increase your return on investment by using technology to determine key performance indicators, monitor web analytics, track conversions, and create reports with Google Analytics. Tracking your successes and failures will be hugely important as an SEO professional. 

Google Analytics Bootcamp will teach you how to use Google Analytics and its applications for marketing, including tracking data, interpreting reports, and optimizing performance. Google Analytics is often used by SEO experts to help identify content and pages on a website that is ranking well or getting shared a lot. This course will cover setting up an account and understanding what you should be tracking. You’ll also discover the exciting features of GA4, including its data model and advanced methods for tracking events that matter to you. (This course is part of the Digital Marketing Certificate, but can be taken as a standalone course.) 

While not specifically focused on SEO, Web Development with HTML & CSS is a valuable course for any SEO professional, as they’ll often have a hand in website development. This class offers hands-on experience coding websites from scratch, all the way through uploading to make the site live. You’ll learn best practices for structuring and tagging the content of your webpages with HTML, and styling the content with CSS. Using HTML, you’ll learn how to create webpages with text, images, and more. With CSS you’ll style the content, create centered page layouts, add background images, style navigation, and make the page responsive. Optimizing HTML and CSS is paramount to ensuring not only an attractive design but also excellent SEO performance.