How Much is a SEO Course?

When exploring your options for SEO training, cost will be an important deciding factor. You’ll want to make sure that the price is within your budget, but you’ll also want to make sure that the cost of the course is worth the knowledge and skills you will learn. While attending a professional development class is a good way to advance in your career and increase your earnings, you might not want to (or be able to) pay any price to further your SEO skills, and you may find there aren’t enough benefits to enrolling in the most expensive training option possible.

Overall, the cost of an SEO course will vary depending on the depth of knowledge, course length, and whether it’s live or on-demand. Typically, the most immersive courses are the most expensive. A college marketing degree can cost tens of thousands of dollars and take four years to complete, but will provide in-depth learning. Alternatively, a bootcamp or on-demand training course will cost substantially less, but these will only provide you with entry-level skills. So, when considering cost, you also need to consider how much you want to learn and the value of the long-term benefits of the courses on your list. 

College Marketing Programs: The Most Expensive Option

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. This length means that you will learn much more than in other shorter training programs. 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.

Pew Research surveyed the public and found that only one-in-four U.S. adults say it’s extremely or very important to have a four-year college degree in order to get a well-paying job in today’s economy. Only 22% say the cost of getting a four-year college degree today is worth it even if someone has to take out loans. So, while a college degree still holds value, there are disadvantages to this pathway that need to be considered. 

Professional Development Programs: Immersive Career-Focused Classes

Another option is to attend professional development programs like bootcamps, certifications, or certificate programs. Certifications are often required by various employers to prove that you have continuing competency in ever-evolving tools and technology. They are a tried-and-tested method of proving one’s competence in a chosen field and, because of this, some employers will often cover the cost of these certifications and exams, eliminating the need for you to financially invest in this continuing education. But, if you’re attempting to transition into a new field, a certificate may not be the right choice, especially if cost is a concern.

Certificate and certification programs can be lengthy as well. They typically fall somewhere between a bootcamp and a four-year degree, taking up to a year or two to complete. While their curriculum is robust and a certificate of competency will look good to potential employers, they aren’t the best option for folks looking to change careers quickly. A bootcamp can be completed in a much shorter time frame and also typically comes with a certificate of completion that can be added to your resume or LinkedIn to showcase your knowledge. Then, once you’re established in your new field, you can pursue a certificate as a means of continuing education. 

Certificates and certifications cost slightly more than bootcamps, but both are much more affordable than a four-year degree. You can expect to pay a few thousand dollars or fewer for these and as previously mentioned, sometimes employers will help pay for these classes.

Live Training Classes: Ideal for Beginners and Unsure Students

The most affordable 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 (unless you attend an advanced live training) so if you want to learn more than just the basics, an introductory class may not be the best option for you. Live training classes typically cost a few hundred dollars or less, making them a great way to begin your education without financially over-investing. 

On-Demand Classes: Excellent Supplements at Reasonable Prices

A self-paced course, also known as an on-demand course, is offered online and can be completed at the time and pace of your choosing. Self-paced courses are ideal for those with complicated schedules as they allow you more flexibility with no set class times or assignment due dates. These classes are also a great way to learn the ins and outs of SEO from whatever angle you find to be the most interesting, so if you want to learn about keywords, Google Analytics, on-page SEO, or off-page SEO, there are plenty of SEO experts with their own tutorials and blogs that can help.

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 pre recorded and there are 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. With this comes the disadvantages of no live collaboration with other students or instant feedback from an expert instructor. While you’ll have more time to master challenging subjects, you won’t have someone to help walk you through those challenges or provide additional insight. 

It’s also 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 scheduled class times and due dates, you may fall behind or take longer to complete your training. And without the right level of motivation, you can easily lose interest in completing the training altogether. These courses cost about as much as a live introductory course, but you can find some very affordable options through platforms like Udemy and Coursera. 

Free Resources: What are They Good For?

Free resources are available for learning SEO. YouTube boasts a wide range of tutorials and informative videos on all kinds of SEO subjects: from short five-minute episodes on the fundamentals to more in-depth breakdowns of advanced topics. YouTube is a great way to explore your initial interest or get answers to specific questions on SEO. Other websites like WordPress, Google, and LinkedIn offer short free tutorials and trainings designed to help you grasp the history and basic principles of SEO. Free resources are often your fastest option and can last anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of hours. Their brevity is one reason they are so valuable, but the drawback of these courses is that they will lack the in-depth knowledge and real-time interaction with an expert instructor that more immersive programs offer. With that in mind, it’s best to use these resources as a brief introduction to make sure you’re interested in the subject as opposed to the sole source of your education. 

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.