Many online course developers launch their courses on a tight budget, and when they consider marketing, their first inclination is to resort to paid advertising. Of course, paid advertising on websites like Google, Facebook, or Instagram may produce fantastic results. However, they also need a recurring investment. These lead sources disappear the instant you cease paying for advertising space.
Search engine optimization is a different strategy for growing an audience (SEO). You want to appear at the top of a learner’s Google search for a course similar to the one you instruct. To get there, you must ensure that your material is structured so that Google can quickly determine whether the content on your site corresponds to the learner’s search criteria.
There are many SEO misconceptions, and it’s simple to be misleading, especially by those who are using it incorrectly or who have used it incorrectly in the past, were burnt, and now think it doesn’t work. So let me first dispel some of those myths and misconceptions before we go on to recommended practices.
Top 4 SEO Myths
- MYTH: SEO could be more effective. If you use the proper approach, it does work. It also needs to be more certain and accurate. Although you might not appear in the rankings for the precise phrases you desired, you will appear for related terms.
- MYTH: I have a right to be listed at the top of Google. Not at all, no. Despite doing everything correctly, you may still need to catch up on a site with greater authority and financial resources that have invested more time and effort in ranking for that phrase. It’s alright. There are several keywords available.
- MYTH: SEO occurs immediately. It takes time to optimize a website, not just for Google to crawl it but also for user behaviour to impact numerous ranking variables. Results might only be seen for a few months. Be patient and trust the process in the interim.
- MYTH: Ranking in SEO may be purchased. We’ll discuss it on your behalf if you’re paying a professional to handle the task. In any case, SEO rankings are different from search advertisements. Your ranks must be earned.
After clearing everything out, let’s go into some practical tips for obtaining content rankings for your online course.
Choose your keywords
What words would someone use in a Google search to find your course? Keywords like “online pottery course,” “compliance certification,” or “writing support group” are examples of what they may be. Although some of these keywords will be more crucial to you than others, they should all apply to your e-learning firm.
Now do two things with that list
1. Any too-broad keyphrases can be used to generate keyword variants. Examples of variants on the word “writing support group” include “online writing support group,” “writing support group for women,” and “sci-fi and fantasy writing support group.” Consider other terms like “women-led writing support group” or “speculative fiction writing support group” as alternatives.
2. Check your list for keyphrases that might not imply what you thought they meant or might draw in readers outside your target demographic. If you search for a speculative fiction writing group, you may want to take the “literary fiction writing club” out of your keyphrase list.
Create a broad cloud of search phrases that you want to rank for with the help of this list. Your reputation with Google will grow when you start to rank for some of the lengthier, more specialized phrases, increasing the likelihood that you’ll rank for other related terms. Additionally, you’ll rank for keywords that aren’t even on your list.
Focus on rich content.
Now that you have your keywords, it’s time to consider your content. Most people’s main concern is how extensive and in-depth SEO material should be. Is writing many short posts more effective than writing fewer, lengthier pieces?
The quick response is that a longer, more thorough response is preferable. Longer posts provide you more room to add keywords naturally. They also provide Google with extra context for the subject of your post. Most crucially, a student seeking information on the Internet needs your article. If you concentrate less on producing brief material, you avoid omitting important information students need to discover a comprehensive solution to their problem.
And yes, I have heard the objections:
- “But people don’t have the attention span for long content!”
- “People want your answer to get to the point!”
- “You’re a content writer, of course you think more content is better!”
The data support this. Longer content not only performs better in search results but also has a larger chance of being shared and getting comments on social media. Despite this, there is still a strong argument for brief content in some situations. After all, SEO isn’t everything. Feel free to add words to make an article longer if you are happy with what you wrote after 300 words. Long material is valuable because it includes essential information, not because it is long. Move on if you need to contribute something worthwhile.
3. Incorporate keywords strategically.
Look for methods to naturally include keyphrases in the article once you start creating the material. For instance, you could want to publish a blog article on “How to Give Constructive Feedback in Your Writing Group” or “5 Tips for Finding a Speculative Fiction Writing Group.” The longer text makes it simpler to use keywords more frequently without becoming monotonous.
Google will place more weight on words in some copy areas than others.
If you can, try to use your key terms in places such as:
- The URL and page title. Your page’s title and URL should coincide, but they can differ. It suffices if a reader can compare your page’s title and URL and recognize that they are identical. Concerning eliminating stop words from your URL (and, the, etc.), don’t worry. This recommendation has been retired.
- Headers. To style your content for easier reading, always use header tags. Try to incorporate your keywords in these locations wherever natural. Headers are largely intended to assist readers in skimming and navigating material, so it’s more natural for them to be centred on significant key phrases.
- Link text. The words underlined when a link is added to a post are known as the anchor text. For accessibility purposes, it’s imperative to utilize descriptive anchor text; nonetheless, it’s always preferable if a keyword also makes sense in that context.
- Structured text. When we want to draw attention to something essential, most people utilize formatting (bold, italics, bulleted or numbered lists). It’s unclear how important this is in rankings, although it matters in some way.
- Alt coding. Screen readers may interpret descriptions from alt tags to help blind or visually impaired people understand what is in a picture. Although they should primarily define an image’s content, a key term could be appropriate in this context.
- Description tags. A few phrases that briefly summarise the topic of the page’s content should be included in the meta description. Although it isn’t a ranking criterion, this will show up in Google’s search results and give users access to more information.
To rank for a phrase back then, you had to be quite precise with your wording, which resulted in stiff writing that was painful to read. Google’s most recent algorithm upgrades have resolved this issue, and it is now much better at identifying keyword variants or synonymous terms. Or, to put it another way, “women’s writing support group” and “writing support group for women” need to function similarly.
4. Create a linking strategy.
We’ve talked extensively about keywords and their significance in raising your search engine rankings to this point. What transpires, though, if you create a website that is flawlessly optimized and a competitor then creates an optimized page on the same subject? Why do search engines favour certain things?
The response relates to the general trustworthiness of your website, as determined by how other people engage with it. Google looks for websites that have a positive reputation among other Internet users and those with the best keyword density. The backlinks pointing at your site are one of the signals that let Google know it is important. Many links pointing to your website indicate that you are well-liked.
Consequently, having a tonne of material on your website is crucial. It indicates that there are more pages for people to link to and more ways for users to access your website.
This may be irritating for eLearning sites with a lot of information behind a paywall or login page. However, if you have information-rich subject pages or blog material on the front end of your site, such pages can draw backlinks and strengthen your domain.