Free SEO resources

Start here (fundamentals)

• Google SEO Starter Guide Google's own introduction to how Search works and the basics every site needs.Free
• Google Search Essentials The technical requirements, spam policies and key best practices for appearing in Google.Free
• Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content Google's self-assessment questions on content quality, E-E-A-T and "Who, How, Why".Free
• LearningSEO.io roadmap A free, curated roadmap linking to the best free resources for each SEO topic, by Aleyda Solis.Free
• Moz Beginner's Guide to SEO A long-running, chapter-based beginner guide.Free
• Bing Webmaster Guidelines Bing's rules and recommendations; Bing's index also feeds several AI assistants.Free
• Search Quality Rater Guidelines (PDF) The handbook Google's human raters use; useful for understanding quality and trust (not a ranking manual).Free

Technical SEO (crawling, indexing, rendering, page experience)

Practise this on the Technical SEO topic page.

• robots.txt introduction and rules How Google reads robots.txt, including group and rule precedence.Free
• JavaScript SEO basics How Google renders JavaScript and the common traps.Free
• Core Web Vitals (web.dev) What LCP, INP and CLS measure and their thresholds.Free
• PageSpeed Insights Field and lab performance data for any URL.Free
• Screaming Frog SEO Spider Desktop site crawler; the free version crawls up to 500 URLs.Freemium
• TechnicalSEO.com tools Free utilities such as a robots.txt tester, hreflang generator and fetch-and-render.Free

Site architecture, redirects and migrations

Practise this on the Site migrations topic page.

• Redirects and Google Search Types of redirects and how Google treats each.Free
• Site moves with URL changes Google's step-by-step migration guide.Free

On-page SEO and links

Practise this on the On-page SEO topic page.

• Title links in Search How Google creates title links and how to write good titles.Free
• Snippets and meta descriptions How snippets are built and how to control them.Free
• Image SEO best practices Alt text, filenames, image sitemaps and image search.Free
• Link best practices Crawlable links and good anchor text.Free
• MDN: Structuring content with HTML Free lessons on headings, links and semantic HTML that SEO depends on.Free
• Ahrefs Webmaster Tools Site audit and backlink data for sites you own and verify.Free (account)

Content, keyword research and topical authority

Practise this on the Content and topical authority topic page.

• Google Trends Relative search interest over time and by region.Free
• Google Keyword Planner Keyword ideas and volume ranges from Google Ads.Free (account)
• Spam policies for Google web search What gets sites demoted: scaled content, doorways, hidden text, link spam and more.Free
• Ahrefs guide to topic clusters How to plan a pillar page and supporting articles.Free

Structured data

Practise this on the Structured data topic page.

• Structured data search gallery Every rich result type Google currently supports, with required properties.Free
• Rich Results Test Checks whether a page is eligible for Google rich results.Free
• Schema Markup Validator Validates any schema.org markup, not only Google-supported types.Free

Local SEO

Practise this on the Local SEO topic page.

• Google Business Profile guidelines The official rules for names, addresses, service areas, categories and hours.Free
• LocalBusiness structured data Required and recommended properties for local business markup.Free
• BrightLocal Local SEO learning hub Guides on citations, reviews and local ranking.Free
• Whitespark Local Search Ranking Factors Annual survey of local SEO practitioners (expert opinion, not Google data).Free

Ecommerce SEO

Practise this on the Ecommerce SEO topic page.

• Google ecommerce SEO documentation Google's guidance for online stores, from URLs to product data.Free
• Managing faceted navigation How to stop filter URLs wasting crawl activity.Free
• Google Merchant Center Help Product feeds and free listings on Google.Free

International SEO

Practise this on the International SEO topic page.

• Tell Google about localized versions (hreflang) Official hreflang rules and common mistakes.Free
• Managing multi-regional and multilingual sites URL structures, geotargeting and why to avoid forced redirects.Free

AI search (AEO and GEO)

Practise this on the AI search (AEO and GEO) topic page.

• Optimizing for generative AI features on Google Search Google's 2026 guide: what helps, and which AI tactics (llms.txt, chunking) are unnecessary.Free
• AI features and your website How AI Overviews and AI Mode use your pages and which controls apply.Free
• Google crawlers and Google-Extended Google's crawler list, including the Google-Extended training control.Free
• OpenAI crawlers GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot and ChatGPT-User explained.Free
• Anthropic crawler policy ClaudeBot, Claude-SearchBot and Claude-User explained.Free
• Perplexity crawlers PerplexityBot and Perplexity-User explained.Free
• llms.txt proposal The proposal itself, for reference; Google says Search does not use it.Free

App store optimisation

Practise this on the App store optimization topic page.

• Google Play: create and set up your app (store listing) Character limits and listing fields for Google Play.Free
• Google Play metadata policy What is not allowed in app titles, icons and descriptions.Free
• Apple: creating your product page Name, subtitle, keyword field and promotional text guidance.Free

Measurement and tools

• Google Search Console Performance, indexing and page experience data for your site.Free (account)
• Bing Webmaster Tools Bing's equivalent of Search Console, with a site scanner.Free (account)
• Google Analytics Measure organic visits and conversions.Free (account)

Free courses

• Google Skillshop Free Google courses, including Analytics.Free (account)
• Ahrefs Academy Free video courses on SEO, keyword research and link building.Free
• Semrush Academy Free SEO courses with optional tool-specific certifications.Free (account)

News, newsletters, podcasts and video

• Google Search Central Blog Official announcements from Google Search.Free
• Search documentation updates Changelog of every change to Google's Search documentation.Free
• Search Off the Record (podcast) Podcast by the Google Search Relations team.Free
• Google Search Central (YouTube) Official videos, office hours and explainers.Free
• Search Engine Roundtable Daily coverage of search updates and community discussion.Free
• SEOFOMO newsletter Weekly curated SEO news newsletter by Aleyda Solis.Free
• Ahrefs blog Data-led SEO guides (studies are useful but check methods).Free