You need to whip your local SEO knowledge to shape so you can maximize your efforts from this strategy.
Below are some of the best free and paid courses out there talking about local SEO.
We’ll talk about their respective features, pricing, and who should sign up for which one. This way, you’ll have all the details you need to make an informed decision as to which course to take.
What Are the Best Local SEO Courses?
Before we begin listing down which among the local SEO courses is right for you, we must define what makes these courses the “best” out there.
Truth be told, the answer may vary depending on who you ask, but a few key factors are important when considering any type of local SEO training:
- The quality of the content and whether or not it is up-to-date. There is no point in paying for an SEO course that covers outdated information because the tactics being taught will be less effective or, in some cases, completely obsolete.
- It should be taught by an experienced instructor. Someone who can provide real-world examples and answer any questions you might have.
- Consider the delivery method. Some people prefer to learn by watching videos, while others prefer reading text or listening to audio. There is no right or wrong answer here, and it simply comes down to personal preference.
- The price of the online course. It is essential to find an affordable course that still delivers quality content. Unfortunately, there are a lot of courses out there that are overpriced and offer very little value.
With all of that in mind, let’s look at some of your options for the best local SEO course that would be a good match for you.
1. Pigzilla Local SEO Training
Pigzilla offers one of the best local SEO courses. They’re focused on helping you learn how to optimize your website for search engines with their ‘Bring Home the Bacon’ program. It provides coaching and mentorship throughout all stages of development, from beginners to experts!
Top Features:
- New local SEO training documents added regularly
- For Agency Owners: This course includes step-by-step documentation that you can use as your training guides for your SEO team.
- For a Local SEO Specialist: Bring Home the Bacon is the perfect fit for those who want to improve their knowledge and step up their game.
- For a Local SEO Specialist: Bring Home the Bacon is the perfect fit for those who want to improve their knowledge and step up their game.
- For Web Developers: There is a ton of overlap between SEO and web development. BHB can help you learn how SEO can affect a website's performance.
- One-Click Copy Templates effectively reach out to your target audience and potential customers.
- Downloadable Asana SEO Task List
- Access to a private Slack Community
Pricing Plans
- Bring Home the Bacon: Community Only – Access to Private Slack Group Only // Cancel Whenever You Want for $5/month.
- Bring Home the Bacon: Content + Community (7 Days Free) – Access to SEO Training Guides + Private Slack Group // Cancel Whenever You Want for $49/month.
Joe's Take:
I have to say that I am incredibly impressed with Pigzilla.
Pigzilla offers comprehensive SEO services for small and large businesses. No matter what kind of website or campaign size we are talking about – they’ve got something right. They also give you the best of both worlds: expertise without the hefty price tag! Try their local SEO training program free for 7 days.
Pricing: Prices range from $4-$49 per month.
2. Bright Local Academy
Bright Local Academy will help you learn how to use local keywords to your advantage with this free, hands-on local SEO training. A local search expert teaches you the fundamentals of local keyword research before moving on to more advanced tactics to put you ahead of the pack.
Top Features:
- Great for beginners, as it covers a wide area of SEO, so you’ll know what to do.
- Master how to research for local keywords to help your website rank higher.
- Learn multi-location local SEO audits for businesses, a great way to better understand your clients and develop a local SEO strategy that makes the most impact.
- Learn how to claim, optimize and maintain a Google Business Profile successfully.
- Understand how to find local SEO clients.
Pricing Plans
All local SEO courses offered by BrightLocal are free of charge.
Joe's Take:
Bright Local is a good place to start with your foundational understanding of local SEO. Their simple explanations make it an excellent opportunity for beginners to maximize SEO for businesses.
The courses allow you to get a certificate to start your career as an SEO specialist. Check out their free SEO courses.
3. Local U Local University
Local U Local University believes everyone should have access to the best marketing techniques.
Their local SEO courses are geared toward professionals from all walks of life, including small business owners. Their local SEO training provides great insights to marketing professionals to learn how they can take their business or agency’s reach beyond what was possible before.
Whether you’re an individual looking into basic training options or someone with big aspirations who want hands-on experience in all aspects of local SEO.
Top Features:
- They bring you a new training series designed to help move your agency’s knowledge forward in Local Search and SEO tactics.
- Each module is taught live by one of the members of the Sterling Sky Dream Team™️
- Their local SEO course is designed to show you the tactics and strategies they have tested repeatedly, with great success.
- Module delivery at your pace, with the option of having them all completed in a week
- Get a chance to ask questions during and after each live training session.
- Each session is recorded, and the video will be made available to your team after the event.
- Course offerings that mainly focus on SEO, GBP optimization, spam fighting, keyword research, solving GBP problems, local algorithms, local services ads, and a lot more.
Pricing Plans
- Premium – 12 sessions for $10,000
- Plus – 6 sessions for $7,500
- Lite – 1 session for $1,500
Overall
Local U is the only course on the list that offers live training the latest, which makes it one of the most useful and valuable. The interactivity between trainers and attendees regarding the lesson paves way for a more dynamic way of learning local SEO. Get in touch with one of their experts by signing up!
4. Local SEO Training By Yoast
Yoast’s Local SEO Course contains five modules covering all you need to start or improve your website’s performance in Google Maps listings. The videos provide plenty of examples as well. This program will inspire anyone who wants more success with their online presence by ensuring they are at the top spot on those first few pages where traffic comes from.
Top Features:
- A comprehensive 2-hr course that will teach you everything from keyword research to local SEO – perfect for beginners who want a quick start or experienced marketers.
- PDF files brimming with examples that can inspire you and tips to get you started on your local SEO journey.
- Helpful quizzes to help you get the most out of your local SEO knowledge.
- A cheat sheet with the vocabulary used throughout the course.
- Learn how to create unique content that gets shared and clicked on.
- Link and citation-building strategy to boost your online visibility.
- Get your business online and include it in the most relevant directories to increase credibility and visibility online.
- Be able to use social media and get people talking about your business.
Pricing Plans
- Free – Basics of SEO, WordPress, and the free version of the Yoast SEO plugin.
- Premium – Access to all Yoast SEO academy courses and premium SEO plugins for $99/year.
Overall
When choosing between the two packages, go with Premium instead. You get to unlock all of Yoast’s training materials and access its premium plugin which you can use to implement all its teachings on your WordPress site.
5. Local SEO Fundamentals By Moz
Moz’s resources always deliver when it comes to the ABCs for SEO. Its Local SEO Fundamentals course is no different. It consists of various courses covering the different aspects of local SEO. It’s a practical, skills-building workshop that covers essential topics in an easy-to-understand way.
Top Features:
- Helps you to quickly audit web pages and business listings for SEO.
- Shows how to assess local search results and identify common challenges facing most businesses.
- Provides you with a Local SEO checklist you can tailor for your clients.
- Lets you navigate throughout the module since this is a self-paced course.
- Teaches the different local SEO business types and the issues commonly experienced by each.
- Troubleshoots any issues that develop, such as duplicate listings, conflation, and other common problems.
- Walks you through a hands-on section on conducting a Local SEO Audit.
- Receive a Moz SEO Certification for each of the courses you finish.
Pricing Plans
- Starter Pack, three courses for $149
- SEO Essentials Certification, six courses for $595
- Technical SEO Certification, five courses for $395
- SEO Competitive Analysis Certification, six courses for $395
- Other packages they offer
Overall
Moz’s local SEO courses are ideal for agencies and marketers who are knowledgeable on different aspects of local SEO but need to brush up their skills with the rest.
Best of all, each course grants you an SEO Certification, which is proof that they passed Moz’s rigorous training with flying colors. They can use it as a way to showcase their local SEO knowledge to attract new clients.
Browse Moz’s full catalog of courses by clicking here.
6. Local SEO By Fiverr
Fiverr’s Local SEO: Put Your Business on The Map will help you discover how to improve a company’s local SEO performance. It is jam-packed with real-world examples, doable activities, and downloadable materials.
The training course is easy to understand and will allow you to use them to optimize a website for local search immediately.
By the end, not only will you know how to increase social media followers or sales but also how to get more customers!
Top Features:
- Learn about the four Pillars of SEO, including off-site SEO, technical SEO, Google My Business, and your website.
- Get a full grasp of the ins and outs of Schema Markup and why it’s vital for your local business.
- Understand how to set up and optimize Google My Business to manage online presence across Google.
- Know how to apply keywords across your site to reach more audiences.
- Learn how to do image SEO and Geotagging to improve the visibility of your website and online content.
- Manage location pages to ensure that customers can find the information they need about each of your locations.
Pricing Plans
Package: Local SEO: Put Your Business On The Map, 9 chapter course syllabus plus a quiz to test your knowledge for $52.
Overall
Fiverr’s course is geared towards people who want to learn local SEO skills at an affordable price. It covers a wide range of topics guaranteed to help them understand the finer things of ranking small businesses on local organic search.
Sign up for $52 to get unlimited access to course materials and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
This includes exercises and quizzes to help you put theory into practice.
7. Local SEO Course by SEMrush
In this course by SEMrush, you’ll learn from an expert how to make sure that SEO is done right and what tools are best practices at every stage of digital marketing—from web design all way down to content strategy, so your site will be ranking high in local search results!
Top Features:
- Get exclusive video lessons with Local SEO expert Greg Gifford.
- Learn how to do Local SEO and get the most out of local search in just 1 hour.
- Save your money as this course is 100% free so that you can spend it on your Local SEO efforts.
- Take a quiz after the course to test what you’ve learned
- Acquire all the necessary knowledge to take and pass other Local SEO exams.
Pricing Plans
Package: Good news! The Local SEO courses that they offer are FREE!
- SEO Fundamentals Course
- Mobile SEO Course
- Mobile, International, and Local SEO Course
You might also like to explore their other free local SEO courses.
Overall
SEMrush’s simple course structure is ideal for learning local ranking factors and how they impact your online visibility, which are the building blocks for local SEO.
Also, after passing SEMrush’s Local SEO Exam based on the teachings from its free courses, you receive a certification that verifies you knwledge about building and implementing local SEO strategies for businesses.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you can learn SEO on your own. However, it will take some time and effort to do so. There are a lot of resources available online and in libraries that can help you learn the basics of SEO. Once you understand the basics, you can start experimenting with different techniques to see what works best for your website.
Coding is not a requirement for SEO. However, it would be an advantage to have at least a basic knowledge about coding, which can help you better understand how a local search engine works and what they look for when they index websites.Its secure checkout process helps protect your shop from fraud and prevents unauthorized access to your files.
Additionally, Shopify's analytics dashboard allows you to track transactions, measure the success of marketing campaigns, engage with customers, monitor inventory levels, and easily accept payments, so you don't have to worry about monitoring or managing them manually. In short, Shopify is an excellent choice if you want to sell physical and digital products.
More and more local businesses recognize the importance of investing in organic search visibility, and they are willing to pay for it. In addition, there is a lot of potential for professionals that have local SEO skills.Additionally, Shopify's analytics dashboard allows you to track transactions, measure the success of marketing campaigns, engage with customers, monitor inventory levels, and easily accept payments, so you don't have to worry about monitoring or managing them manually. In short, Shopify is an excellent choice if you want to sell physical and digital products.
Yes, small companies need local SEO. It allows small businesses to compete with more prominent corporations. In addition, SEO helps consumers locate your business and build trust and credibility with potential local customers.Additionally, Shopify's analytics dashboard allows you to track transactions, measure the success of marketing campaigns, engage with customers, monitor inventory levels, and easily accept payments, so you don't have to worry about monitoring or managing them manually. In short, Shopify is an excellent choice if you want to sell physical and digital products.
If you are starting from scratch with no prior experience, it will probably take you several months to learn SEO basics. But if you are already familiar with web technologies and have some marketing experience, you can probably learn the basics quite quickly, in weeks or even days.
Conclusion
Deciding which among the resources above is the best local SEO course for you depends on various factors.
For now, we highly recommended Pigzilla as your local SEO training course of choice. It covers the basic and advanced tactics and strategies for helping local clients or even your small business to get in touch with your local audience more effectively. Not to mention, its vibrant Slack channel is a goldmine of ideas from other members that perfectly complement the online modules.
Agencies with a local SEO team will greatly benefit from Local U‘s approach to training its local SEO students. The live, hands-on session provides an immersive experience guaranteed to help your organization get the most information from the course.
Finally, Yoast’s Premium SEO course is perfect for site owners looking to grow their local organic presence themselves with the help of one of the most popular WordPress plugins available.