Learning SEO – A Roadmap with Free Resources

Version 3

Do you want to start learning or expanding your SEO learning process and don’t know how? I’ve created this SEO learning roadmap for you to make it easier (with free SEO resources to follow it below):

Roadmap to Learn SEO For Free

If you’re also looking for free reliable resources to follow this SEO learning roadmap (there’s a lot of excellent free information but also a lot of noise so it’s sometimes difficult to identify them) I’ve aggregated free guides, checklist and courses that you can use to learn:

Learn SEO

AREA / STAGE	RESOURCE NAME	TYPE	AUTHOR
Introduction to SEO	How Google Search Works	Guide	Google
	Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Starter Guide	Guide	Google
	Overview of (Google's) guidelines	Guide	Google
	The Beginner's Guide to SEO	Guide	Moz
	SEO Basics: Beginner’s Guide to SEO Success	Guide	Ahrefs
	The Beginner’s Guide to SEO	Guide	ContentKing
	The Complete SEO Guide for Beginners	Guide	Mangools
	SEO Fundamentals Course with Greg Gifford	Course	Greg Gifford / SEMrush
Keyword Research	How to Do Keyword Research for SEO	Guide	Tim Soulo / Ahrefs
	The 2021 Keyword Research Guide for SEO	Guide	Rob Woods / SEMrush
	How to Do Keyword Research for SEO: A Step-by-Step Guide	Guide	Mark Traphagen / Search Engine Journal
	Keyword research for SEO	Guide	Mangools
	Keyword Research: The Definitive Guide (2021)	Guide	Backlinko
	How To Do Keyword Research in 2020	Guide	Nick Eubanks
	Keyword Research Course with Greg Gifford	Course	Greg Gifford / SEMrush
	Keyword Research for SEO Today: Guide, Steps, Tips, Tools, Mistakes and more!	Video	Crawling Mondays
Content Optimization	The Complete Guide to Content Optimization In 2019	Guide	Frase
	How to Create Perfectly Optimized Content: 16 Essential Elements	Guide	James Brockbank / Search Engine Journal
	SEO Copywriting: The Definitive Guide	Guide	Backlinko
	SEO Copywriting Guide: A Smarter Approach To Ordering Content	Guide	Maria Kalyadina / SEMrush
	Role of Content Course with Eric Enge	Course	Eric Enge / SEMrush
	Content Marketing Fundamentals Course with Ashley Segura	Course	Ashley Segura / SEMrush
	Strategical Content Optimization in an SEO Process	Video	Crawling Mondays
Technical Optimization	Overview of crawling and indexing topics	Google	Guide
	What is Technical SEO? 11 Best Practices	Guide	Joshua Hardwick / Ahrefs
	What Is Technical SEO? Your Ultimate Guide To Getting Started	Guide	Kevin Indig / SEMrush
	Technical SEO Guides Hub	Guide	ContentKing
	The Ultimate Guide to Technical SEO	Guide	Christina Perricone / Hubspot
	Technical SEO Library	Guide	Deepcrawl
	Technical SEO course with Bastian Grimm	Course	Bastian Grimm / SEMrush
	Large site owner's guide to managing your crawl budget	Guide	Google
Link Building	The Beginner’s Guide to Link Building	Guide	Tim Soulo / Ahrefs
	Link Building for SEO: The Definitive Guide (2021)	Guide	Backlinko
	The Beginner's Guide to Link Building	Guide	Paddy Moogan / Moz
	7 Golden Rules of Link Building for 2021 and beyond	Guide	Christoph Cemper
	60+ link building techniques checklist [2021 update]	Checklist	Mangools
	The Link Building Book	Guide	Paddy Moogan
	How to Find Sites That Will Want to Link to Your Content	Guide	Gisele Navarro
	Backlink Management Course with Greg Gifford	Course	Greg Gifford / SEMrush
	Link Building & Outreach in an SEO Process: Common Mistakes & Tips for Success	Video	Crawling Mondays

Deepen Your SEO

AREA / STAGE	RESOURCE NAME	TYPE	AUTHOR
JavaScript SEO	Understand the JavaScript SEO basics	Guide	Google
	JavaScript SEO: What You Need to Know	Guide	Patrick Stox / Ahrefs
	JavaScript SEO Best Practices Guide for Beginners	Guide	ContentKing
	The Ultimate Guide to JavaScript SEO	Guide	Onely
	How JavaScript Rendering Affects Google Indexing	Guide	Sitebulb
	The Definitive Guide to JavaScript SEO (2021 Edition)	Guide	Pierce Brelinsky / Moz
Web Speed Optimization	Core Web Vitals	Guide	web.dev
	Google’s Page Experience Update and Core Web Vitals: Everything you need to know	Guide	Builtvisible
	A Beginner’s Guide to Website Speed Optimization	Guide	Kinsta
	Google Page Experience Audit (15 Steps + Free Audit Template)	Guide	Olga Zarzeczna
	Optimizing For Performance in SEO and Speed	Video	Joe Hall
Mobile Optimization	Mobile Optimization Guidelines	Guide	Google
	Mobile-first indexing best practices	Guide	Google
	Mobile SEO: The Definitive Guide	Guide	Backlinko
	Mobile First SEO	Presentation	Aleyda Solis
	Mobile SEO: The ultimate guide	Guide	Edwin Toonen / Yoast
	Preparing for Google’s Mobile-Only Index	Guide	Patrick Hathaway
	Mobile SEO Course with Greg Gifford	Course	Greg Gifford / SEMrush
Structured Data	Understand how structured data works	Guide	Google
	A Practical Introduction to Structured Data for SEO	Guide	Geoff Kennedy
	Beginner's Guide to Structured Data for SEO	Guide	Yauhen Khutarniuk
	Structured data in SEO	Guide	Mangools
	Automating Structured Data	Guide	Patrick Hathaway
	The Beginner's Guide to Structured Data for Organizing & Optimizing Your Website	Guide	Allie Decker / Hubspot
E-A-T	E-A-T and SEO for Google: Everything you need to know	Guide	Marie Haynes
	What is E‑A-T? Why It’s Important for SEO	Guide	Joshua Hardwick / Ahrefs
	E-A-T: Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness	Guide	Lily Ray
	Google's E-A-T / Content Quality Questions	Checklist	Google
	What's Google's EAT and How to Optimize Your E-A-T in SEO	Video	Crawling Mondays
Image Optimization	Google Images best practices	Guide	Google
	11 Important Image SEO Tips You Need to Know	Guide	Anna Crowe / Search Engine Journal
	Image SEO: 12 Actionable Tips (for More Organic Traffic)	Guide	Joshua Hardwick / Ahrefs
	Image SEO: the Ultimate Guide	Guide	ContentKing
	How to optimize your Ecommerce for Google Images and Visual Search	Guide	Gianluca Fiorelli
Video Optimization	Video best practices	Guide	Google
	Video SEO: The Definitive Guide	Guide	Backlinko
	Video SEO: How to Rank YouTube Videos on Google	Guide	Joshua Hardwick / Ahrefs
	Video SEO In Google & YouTube Search: Making the most out of it	Presentation	Aleyda Solis
	YouTube SEO Today: Video Optimization Tips, Tutorial and Tools for YouTube	Video	Crawling Mondays
SEO For Web Migrations	The Ultimate Guide to Successful Website Migrations	Guide	ContentKing
	The Website Migration Guide: SEO Strategy, Process, & Checklist	Guide	Modestos Siotos / Moz
	The SEMrush Website Migration Checklist	Checklist	Nikolai Boroda / SEMrush
	A Domain Migration Checklist And Ultimate Google Data Studio Dashboard	Checklist	Kristina Azarenko
	URLs Changes & Web Migration within same Domain Minimum Viable SEO Validation Checklist [In Google Sheets]	Checklist	Aleyda Solis
	Winning SEO when Migrating International Websites	Presentation	Aleyda Solis

Execute an SEO Process

AREA / STAGE	RESOURCE NAME	TYPE	AUTHOR
Developing an SEO Audit	A 16-Step SEO Audit Process To Boost Your Google Rankings	Guide	Joshua Hardwick / Ahrefs
	The 15-Step SEO Audit Checklist for 2021	Checklist	Backlinko
	242 Point SEO Audit Checklist	Checklist	Andy Drinkwater
	The Only SEO Checklist You Will Need in 2021: 41 Best Practices	Checklist	James Brockbank / SEMrush
	How to Develop Actionable and Impactful SEO Audits	Guide	Aleyda Solis
	Getting Tech SEO Implemented	Guide	Areej AbuAli
	Rethinking Technical SEO Audits	Guide	Andrew Charlton
	Let's never talk about SEO audits again	Guide	Tom Cricthlow
Establishing an SEO Strategy	Creating an SEO strategy from scratch	Guide	Kevin Indig
	How to create an Effective SEO Strategy (2021 Guide)	Guide	Jonas Sickler / Terakeet
	How to Create an Effective SEO Strategy	Guide	Erika Varagouli
	How to Set A Winning SEO Strategy: Concepts, Steps, Do's & Dont's and Mistakes to Avoid	Video	Crawling Mondays
Setting SEO Goals	How Do You Set Smart SEO Goals for Your Team/Agency/Project?	Video	Rand Fishkin / Moz
	How to Set SEO Goals for Your Team (That Actually Drive Action)	Guide	Elise Dopson
	The ROI of SEO – how to predict traffic and revenue	Guide	Kevin Indig
	How to Use Data Forecasting for SEO [Scripts Included]	Guide	Patrick Stox
	SEO Forecasting in Google Sheets	Guide	Tom Capper
Monitoring and Reporting SEO	The Mini Guide to SEO Reporting	Guide	Moz
	The Anatomy of the Perfect SEO Report	Guide	Melissa Fach / SEMrush
	Steal Our SEO Report Template (and Make It Even Better)	Template	Jake Sheridan / Ahrefs
	SEO Reporting: How To Build Meaningful Analytics Reports	Guide	Bill Sebald
	SEO Reports: Which Metrics Matter & How to Use Them Well	Guide	Helen Pollitt
SEO Process Management	Tips for effective SEO Project Management	Guide	Sam Mangialavori
	What Makes your SEO Fail (and how to fix it)	Presentation	Aleyda Solis
	Presenting to the CEO in 5 slides	Guide	Tom Critchlow
	Integrating SEO within the Product Triangle To Align Efforts & Maximize Impact	Guide	Aleyda Solis

Specialize Within SEO

AREA / STAGE	RESOURCE NAME	TYPE	AUTHOR
International SEO	Managing multi-regional and multilingual sites	Guide	Google
	The Ultimate Guide to International SEO	Guide	Onely
	International SEO for E-Commerce Websites	Presentation	Aleyda Solis
	7 Ways to Fail at International SEO	Guide	Aleyda Solis
	An Hreflang Implementation Guide: How to add and Implement Hreflang Tags	Guide	Aleyda Solis
News SEO	Help Google News discover your web crawled content	Guide	Google
	How to Get Into Google News	Video	Barry Adams / Moz
	Google News SEO - Everything Publishers Need to Know 2020 Edition	Guide	John Shehata / NewzDash
	The Ultimate guide to Google News SEO	Guide	Vahre Arabian and Carlos Alonso
	SEO for News Publications or Media Websites	Video	Crawling Mondays
E-commerce SEO	Ecommerce SEO: A Simple (But Complete) Guide	Guide	Joshua Hardwick / Ahrefs
	The 8-Step eCommerce Framework to Elevate Your SEO Game	Presentation	Kristina Azarenko
	eCommerce SEO Guides Hub	Guide	ContentKing
	SEO for E-commerce in 2020 - Top Technical SEO Challenges & How to Fix them	Presentation	Aleyda Solis
	When Your Inventory Changes: SEO Tips For Changing Product Pages	Presentation	Aleyda Solis
	How Online Stores Can Quickly Build Sub-categories Targeting Long-tail Keywords	Presentation	Kristina Azarenko
	Optimizing Content in Category Pages while Keeping its Commercial Nature	Guide	Aleyda Solis
SaaS SEO	SaaS SEO: An Actionable Strategy for Growth	Guide	James Brockbank / SEMrush
	SEO For SaaS: The Ultimate Guide	Guide	Chris Long
	3 Advanced SaaS SEO Strategies & Best Practices	Guide	Kevin Indig / Search Engine Journal
	SEO for SaaS (Software as a Service) Websites	Video	Crawling Mondays
Travel SEO	The Ultimate SEO Travel Marketing Guide	Guide	Dan Taylor
	Travel SEO & Marketing	Guide	Joe Robinson
	The Ultimate Guide on How to SEO your Travel Website	Guide	Alex Chris
	Travel SEO Trends and Pivots from 2020 (and What to Carry into 2021)	Guide	Rachel Vandernick / Moz
Local SEO	The Essential Local SEO Strategy Guide	Guide	Moz
	Local SEO: A Simple (But Complete) Guide	Guide	Joshua Hardwick / Ahrefs
	Local SEO: The Complete Guide	Guide	Brightlocal
	Local SEO: The Definitive Guide (2021)	Guide	Backlinko
	E-A-T LOCAL for SEO	Guide	Local SEO Guide
	Claire’s Guide to UTM Tagging For Google My Business	Guide	Claire Carlile
	How to do Local SEO Today: Top Do's and Dont's, Tools, and Guide to Grow	Video	Crawling Mondays
	Local SEO Course with Greg Gifford	Course	Greg Gifford / SEMrush

Automate SEO Tasks

AREA / STAGE	RESOURCE NAME	TYPE	AUTHOR
Python for SEO	An Introduction to Python for Technical SEO	Guide	Ruth Everett / Search Engine Journal
	Python for SEO: Complete Guide (in 6 Chapters)	Guide	JC Chouinard
	How to Use Python to Analyze SEO Data: A Reference Guide	Guide	Hamlet Batista / Search Engine Journal
	Agency Automators' SEO How-Tos Videos	Video	Agency Automators
	SEO Pythonistas: Python SEO Contributions from Hamlet & Python SEO community	Resources	SEO Pythonistas
BigQuery & SQL for SEO	How to Leverage SQL for SEO Automation	Guide	Cody West
	BigQuery & SQL for SEOs	Presentation	Areej AbuAli
	How to Use BigQuery for Large-Scale SEO (Or Whenever Excel Fails)	Guide	Dominic Woodman
App Scripts for SEO	Apps script for SEOs	Presentation	Dave Sottimano
App Scripts for SEO	Automated Intent Classification Using Deep Learning in Google Sheets	Guide	Hamlet Batista / Search Engine Journal

Keep Up w/ SEO

AREA / STAGE	RESOURCE NAME	TYPE	AUTHOR
Search Engine Official Publications	Google Search Central Blog	Blog	Google
	Microsoft Bing Blogs	Blog	Bing
	Yandex Blog	Blog	Yandex
Search News Publications	Search Engine Journal	Website	Search Engine Journal
	Search Engine Land	Website	Search Engine Journal
	Search Engine Roundtable	Website	Search Engine Roundtable
Search News Aggregators	tl;dr marketing	Website	Saijo George
Search News Aggregators	SparkToro Trending	Website	SparkToro
SEO newsletters	#SEOFOMO	Newsletter	Aleyda Solis
	The Weekly SEO	Newsletter	Andrew Charlton
	SEO for Lunch	Newsletter	Nick LeRoy
	SEO Notebook	Newsletter	Steve Toth
	#WTSNewsletter	Newsletter	Women in Tech SEO
	Marie Haynes' SEO Newsletter	Newsletter	Marie Haynes

Use Free SEO Tools

AREA / STAGE	RESOURCE NAME	TYPE	AUTHOR
Keyword Research Tools	Google Ads Keyword Planner	Web Based	Google
	Google Trends	Web Based	Google
	Bing Webmaster Tools Keyword Research	Web Based	Bing
	Keyword Generator	Web Based	Ahrefs
	AlsoAsked	Web Based	Candour
	QuestionDB	Web Based	QuestionDB
	Free Keyword Tool	Web Based	Wordstream
	#SuggestMrx	Web Based	Merlinox
	The Reddit Keyword Research Tool	Web Based	Higher Visibility
	Keyword Surfer	Browser Extension	Surfer
On-Page SEO Tools	Google Search Console Coverage, URL Inspection & Crawl Stats Reports	Web Based	Google
	Bing Webmaster Tools Site Scan and SEO Report	Web Based	Bing
	Screaming Frog SEO Spider	Desktop Based	Screaming Frog
	Greenflare: The Open Source SEO Crawler	Desktop Based	Greenflare
	SEOlyzer: Crawler & log analysis for all SEO	Web Based	SEOlyzer
	Ahrefs Webmaster Tools	Web Based	Ahrefs
	Siteliner: Explore your website, revealing key issues	Web Based	Siteliner
	Checkbot: SEO, Web Speed & Security Tester	Browser Extension	SEO Minion
	SEO Minion: On-Page SEO, Broken Link Checker, Hreflang Checker & more	Browser Extension	SEO Minion
	Detailed SEO Extension	Browser Extension	SEO Minion
	SEO Pro Extension	Browser Extension	Marketing Syrup
	SEOInfo	Browser Extension	Weeblr
	Spark Content Optimizer	Browser Extension	SEOClarity
	Yoast SEO	Wordpress Plugin	Yoast
	Rank Math SEO	Wordpress Plugin	Rank Math
Link Building Tools	Google Search Console Links Report	Web Based	Google
	Bing Webmaster Tools Backlinks Report	Web Based	Google
	Ahrefs Backlink Checker	Web Based	Ahrefs
	Free Backlink Checker	Web Based	Rankwatch
	Broken Link Checker	Web Based	Ahrefs
	BuzzStream Free Link Building Tools	Web Based	Buzzstream
	Hunter: Find email addresses in seconds	Web Based and Browser Extension	Hunter
	Google Alerts: Monitor the web for interesting new content	Web Based	Google
Monitoring and Rank Tracking Tools	Google Search Console Performance Report	Web Based	Google
	Bing Webmaster Tools Search Performance Report	Web Based	Bing
	Ahrefs Webmaster Tools	Web Based	Ahrefs
	thruuu: Awesome SERP Analyzer	Web Based	thruuu
	SERP Checker	Web Based	Accuranker
	SEO Search Simulator by Nightwatch	Browser Extension	Nightwatch
	SEOminion: SEO Extension with Multi-Location SERP Simulator	Browser Extension	SEOminion
	MobileMoxie SERPerator: Google Mobile Rank Checker	Web Based	MobileMoxie
Web Speed Optimization Tools	Measure from Web.dev	Web Based	Web.dev
	PageSpeed Insights	Web Based	Google
	Web Page Test	Web Based	Catchpoint
	GTmetrix	Web Based	GTmetrix
	Wattspeed: Free synthetic Speed monitoring tool	Web Based	Wattspeed
	PageSpeed Compare: Compare performance metrics of your pages against each other	Web Based	Sander Heilbron
	Experte: Bulk Core Web Vitals Check	Web Based	Experte
	Batch Speed: Bulk speed test multiple urls using Google's Page Speed checker	Web Based	Batch Speed
	Fast or Slow: Global Web Speed Profiler	Web Based	Wordfence
	Dareboost: Test, analyze and optimize your website performance	Web Based	Contentsquare
	Lighthouse	Browser Extension	Google
	Web Vitals Extension	Browser Extension	Addy Osmani
	Core SERP Vitals	Browser Extension	Chris Johnson
Structured Data Tools	Google's Structured Data Testing Tool	Web Based	Google
	Google's Rich Results Test	Web Based	Google
	Structured Data Viewer	Web Based	Classy Schema
	Schema.dev's Structured Data Testing Tool	Web Based and Browser Extension	SEOClarity
	Ryte Structured Data Helper	Browser Extension	Ryte
	Structured Data Testing Tool	Browser Extension	3WhiteHats
	Schema Markup Generator (JSON-LD)	Web Based	technicalseo.com
	The Schema Markup Generator	Web Based	RankRanger
Mobile SEO Tools	Google's Mobile Friendly Test	Web Based	Google
	Mobile Friendliness Test Tool	Web Based	Bing
	MobileMoxie Page-oscope	Web Based	MobileMoxie
	Mobile-Friendly Test (Bulk Testing Tool)	Web Based	technicalseo.com
	Mobile-First Index Tool (Mobile vs. Desktop Test)	Web Based	technicalseo.com
	Mobile First Index Checker	Web Based	Zeo
Local SEO Tools	Google My Business	Web Based	Google
	BrightLocal's Free Local SEO Tools: Local Listings Health Scanner, Local Search Results Checker, and more!	Web Based	BrightLocal
	Postamatic: Build your Google My Business Posts, Q + As, and manage GMB Reviews via the Google My Business API.	Google Sheets	Two Octobers + AgencyAutomators
	PlePer Local SEO Tools	Browser Extension	PlePer
	GMBSpy: View Google My Business "Categories"	Browser Extension	George Nenni
	Whitespark Local Citation Finder	Web Based	Whitespark
	Google Review Link Generator	Web Based	Whitespark
	Local Search Results Tool	Web Based	technicalseo.com
International SEO Tools	Google Search Console International Targeting Report	Web Based	Google
	The Hreflang Tags Generator Tool	Web Based	Aleyda Solis
	Free Hreflang Generator	Google Sheets	Relgrowth
	hreflang Tags Testing Tool	Web Based	technicalseo.com
	Hreflang Validator	Web Based	Sistrix
	Locale-Adaptive Pages Testing Tool	Web Based	technicalseo.com

Access, Copy and Share the Free SEO Resources in Google Sheets

In case you want to easily copy to use or share these free SEO resources, I’ve also created a Google Sheet that you can also copy here:

Do you have any feedback or input about this free SEO roadmap of the resources? Get in touch with me via twitter or my site.

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