How to Learn SEO Online: For a Beginner

When I first dipped my toes into the world of SEO, the landscape was a lot simpler. Back then, a handful of tricks could make your website grow to the top of search results. Fast forward to today, and things are far more complex. The sheer volume of advice available online is overwhelming, and a lot of it, frankly, is outdated or comes with strings attached.

I remember the frustration of sifting through blog posts that promised “quick wins” but delivered nothing but empty traffic. I also spent hours digesting tips that worked brilliantly – five years ago.

And let’s not even get started on the advice straight from the search engines themselves. It took me a while to realize that search engines have a vested interest in keeping the SEO game opaque. They want us guessing, hypothesizing, and running on a treadmill of assumptions.

“Write content for humans”

“Just focus on delivering value”

– they say. Thanks, I guess.

That’s when it hit me: the real challenge of learning SEO today isn’t just understanding the algorithms – it’s navigating the minefield of outdated tactics and conflicting interests.

It’s about finding advice that’s both current and genuinely useful.

This post is my attempt to help you do just that, without falling into the traps I did.

Where to look for SEO advice then?

Over the years, I’ve started to rely on three main sources:

YouTube channels, in-depth blogs, and quality courses.

YouTube channels are your go-to for fast, up-to-date insights. They’re often the first to cover algorithm updates and new trends, giving you a real-time pulse on the SEO world.
In-depth blogs dive deeper, offering comprehensive guides and detailed analyses that are invaluable for mastering specific strategies.
Finally, quality courses and online knowledge bases provide structured, reliable education that’s both current and practical.

Here are my specific recommendations:

Top YouTube channels for SEO advice

No particular order:

Matt Diggity

I like Matt’s content because it’s always well produced and not obvious in any way. He’s not the kind of person to tell you to “create quality content,” but will instead get into the nitty gritty of SEO and various advanced techniques.

Julian Goldie

Julian seems to be posting every day or even more often. He doesn’t hold back when sharing techniques that have been working for him, revealing it all. He also makes his advice available for free through handy operating procedures in Google Docs.

Kasra Dash

Kasra’s content is all about interesting case studies, commenting on recent algorithm changes, and answering viewer questions on topics related. He also shares niche-specific SEO advice.

Actually valuable SEO blogs

There are just two for me, but I’m not an avid SEO-reader:

Ahrefs blog

The Ahrefs blog can be great if you’re looking for opinionated advice based on the recent developments in SEO. It’s not a place to learn specific techniques, but more of a resource that’s going to give you a higher-level understanding of all the moving parts and what it takes to do SEO right. What also sets the Ahrefs blog apart is that they use their own data a lot to support their insights, often pulling from their own powerful toolset.

Detailed.com

Detailed.com is a true goldmine of information, offering super in-depth case studies, and research pieces so deep that you’re going to get lost in them for weeks. Glen’s (the author’s) regular quarterly analysis of the big sites in SEO and what they’ve been doing is the stuff of legends. It’s literally a read you cannot miss.

Online courses worth your money

I have just one recommendation here:

SEO Blueprint by Detailed.com

SEO Blueprint opens its doors every X months and sells a limited number of spots for around $500 a piece. Not cheap, right. But totally worth it. I came on board when SEO Blueprint 2 was released, and I have to admit that this is the real deal, no nonsense, just stuff that everyone who’s serious about SEO should learn. (I’m not affiliated.)