Learn

Learn SEO, step by step.

Plain-English guides for people new to SEO: what each technique is, why it matters and how to do it on your own site. Each one links to the in-depth article for when you want the detail.

Open the SEO glossary

Start here

Begin with the basics.

1How to read the Search Console Performance report Learn what clicks, impressions, click-through rate and average position really count, how to set the report up, and how to check for known data… Open the guide → · 45 minutes 2How to create, submit and check a sitemap Find out whether your site already has a sitemap, make one if it does not, tell Google where it is, and check that Google… Open the guide → · 30 minutes 3How to set and check a canonical URL Learn to tell Google which address of a page you prefer, make your site agree with that choice, and see in Search Console which… Open the guide → · 30 minutes 4How to check your new site is ready for Google A launch checklist built from Google's documentation: make sure your pages can be found, crawled and read, then add Search Console so you can… Open the guide → · 1 hour 5How to check your links are crawlable by Google Learn how to tell whether the links on your pages are written in a way Google can follow, and how to check in Search… Open the guide → · 30 minutes 6How to redirect pages and move a site safely Learn what a redirect is, which type to use, and how to map old addresses to new ones and check they work before and… Open the guide → · 2 hours

All guides, by topic.

Technical SEO

How to create, submit and check a sitemap Find out whether your site already has a sitemap, make one if it does not, tell Google where it is, and check that Google… Open the guide → · 30 minutes How to set and check a canonical URL Learn to tell Google which address of a page you prefer, make your site agree with that choice, and see in Search Console which… Open the guide → · 30 minutes How to check your links are crawlable by Google Learn how to tell whether the links on your pages are written in a way Google can follow, and how to check in Search… Open the guide → · 30 minutes How to add and check structured data on your pages Learn what structured data is, how to add it to a page, and how to test that Google can read it, without expecting it… Open the guide → · 45 minutes How to check if crawl budget is a problem for your site Learn what crawl budget means, how to test whether your site is big enough for it to matter, and where to look in Search… Open the guide → · 45 minutes How to check your hreflang return tags Learn what hreflang does, and how to check by hand that every language version of a page points back to the others, so Google… Open the guide → · 40 minutes How to check for technical errors after a traffic drop Learn to use Search Console and your browser to check whether server errors, a broken robots.txt file, a stray noindex tag or soft 404s… Open the guide → · 45 minutes How to check for security and spam problems after a traffic drop Learn to check two Search Console reports that show whether Google has flagged your site as hacked or as breaking its spam policies, and… Open the guide → · 30 minutes How to check your site for hidden or injected links Learn what Google counts as hidden links and cloaking, and how to use your browser and Search Console to look for links on your… Open the guide → · 45 minutes How to choose sponsored, ugc or nofollow for outbound links Learn what Google says each link qualifier is for, how to decide which one an outbound link needs, and how to check that it… Open the guide → · 30 minutes How to check your outbound links for expired domains Learn to spot links on your pages that now lead to an expired or repurposed domain, check a domain's registration, and decide what to… Open the guide → · 1 hour How to tell a real broken link from a 403 or 429 Learn to sort a broken-link report by status code, confirm by hand which links are really dead, and check that your own site is… Open the guide → · 45 minutes How to turn SEO audit findings into fixes that ship Take a long list of audit findings and turn it into a few clear tickets with evidence and a test, so your developer can… Open the guide → · 1 hour

Search

How to read the Search Console Performance report Learn what clicks, impressions, click-through rate and average position really count, how to set the report up, and how to check for known data… Open the guide → · 45 minutes How to find the cause of a drop in Google search traffic Learn to read your Search Console chart and rule out the simple explanations first, so you know whether a fall in clicks is a… Open the guide → · 45 minutes How to check whether a search traffic drop is real Learn the checks to run before you treat a fall in search traffic as a problem with your site: unfinished data, known Google data… Open the guide → · 45 minutes How to check a traffic drop against a Google update Learn to line up a fall in search traffic with Google's announced ranking updates, judge whether the drop is small or large, and avoid… Open the guide → · 45 minutes

AI Search

How to check a page can appear in Google’s AI Overviews Learn what Google says a page needs to be a supporting link in AI Overviews and AI Mode, how to check each requirement yourself,… Open the guide → · 30 minutes How to check the five fundamentals of AI search visibility A self-check of your own site across five areas (who you are, access, structured data, content and authority), using what Google's documentation says about… Open the guide → · 60 minutes How to decide which AI crawlers to allow or block Learn what Google-Extended, GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot and PerplexityBot are each documented to do, then write, upload and check a robots.txt file that reflects your choice. Open the guide → · 45 minutes How to find AI-driven traffic in Search Console and Analytics Learn where visits from Google's AI features and from AI assistants are recorded, how to read each report, and how to write down what… Open the guide → · 45 minutes How to review AI-written content before you publish it Use Google's published guidance as a checklist: confirm the page has a purpose, check facts and metadata, test for originality, and decide how to… Open the guide → · 45 minutes per page

Development

How to check your new site is ready for Google A launch checklist built from Google's documentation: make sure your pages can be found, crawled and read, then add Search Console so you can… Open the guide → · 1 hour How to redirect pages and move a site safely Learn what a redirect is, which type to use, and how to map old addresses to new ones and check they work before and… Open the guide → · 2 hours How to check a traffic drop after a site move or release Learn to tell a normal, temporary dip after changing your URLs from a real fault, and work through the common mistakes Google lists when… Open the guide → · 1 hour How to check a WordPress site before launch for SEO Run a short set of checks on a new or rebuilt WordPress site before and just after it goes live, so nothing is quietly… Open the guide → · 45 minutes

Strategy

How to review your site’s URLs and links against Google’s guidance Check a sample of your web addresses and links against what Google documents, and write down the structural choices Google leaves to you, such… Open the guide → · 60 minutes How to check a content plan against Google’s helpful content questions Use the questions Google publishes about people-first content to test each planned page before you commission it, and write down the reason it exists. Open the guide → · 60 minutes How to use Search Console and Analytics together for SEO Compare Search Console clicks with Analytics sessions, find pages worth a closer look, and learn what the two tools cannot tell you about your… Open the guide → · 45 minutes How to check your links against Google’s link spam policy Learn what Google counts as link spam, how to review the links to and from your site against that list, and how to label… Open the guide → · 60 minutes How to keep your outbound links checked over time Learn why a one-off link check goes out of date, and how to set up a simple routine that records your decisions, re-checks the… Open the guide → · 60 minutes How to sign off risky SEO changes before release Learn which website changes can affect a whole site at once, and follow a simple routine to test, approve, release and watch them so… Open the guide → · 1 hour How to prioritise SEO fixes in the right order Turn a long list of SEO to-dos into an ordered plan: find what blocks Google first, spot what depends on what, record a starting… Open the guide → · 1 hour How to judge whether an SEO strategy is working Review SEO results fairly: record what you expected, look at the right Search Console views, rule out other causes of a change, and write… Open the guide → · 1 hour How to read an SEO report as a client Check that an SEO report is clear and honest: which figures it uses, what the Search Console numbers mean, how missing data should be… Open the guide → · 45 minutes How to show missing data honestly in an SEO report Learn to tell a real zero from a gap in the data, check why a figure is missing in Search Console and Google Analytics,… Open the guide → · 45 minutes

New to SEO and not sure which guide you need?

Tell Dean what the site is, what you have noticed and which guide you got to. You will get a reply from Dean, not a sales sequence.

Talk to an SEO specialist