The best local SEO course to learn powerful ranking secrets

Rushing into your journey to the top of local rankings without taking the time to complete one of the best local SEO courses is an exercise in inefficiency. With so much advice out there on blogs, YouTube, eBooks, cheat sheets… you’re going to run into a lot of contradictory information that will put the brakes on your progress. Not to mention the issue of not knowing who to trust: - How can you tell what’s outdated information and what’s a hot tip? - Is this a genuine local SEO expert, or an inexperienced intern who’s been left in charge of a digital marketing blog? - And what’s the final word on using virtual offices to establish your business in a prime location? 

Fortunately, Semrush has done the hard work of researching and collating all the most important things you need to know into the best local SEO course—and it only takes a couple of hours to complete. Save yourself months of trial and error and choose the comprehensive local SEO training course that will take you from zero to hero in no time at all.

Why local SEO training matters

If you’re a busy local business that’s already struggling with the day-to-day of managing a company, fumbling in the dark with your local SEO isn’t the best use of your valuable time. You might think you know the basics of local SEO, but a quick look at an end-of-course exam question could wake you up to how much you’ve still got to learn. The keys to a good local SEO strategy aren’t hard to uncover online. In fact, Google itself has revealed the top local ranking factors you should be focusing on. But knowing exactly how to go about your local SEO and what to prioritize requires learning from an expert who consistently gets results for their clients. Taking your local SEO training seriously can mean the difference between a business that’s struggling to rank and one that’s seeing more and more new customers pouring in for search. Because once you’ve got the knowledge to put together an effective strategy, you’ll be able to get results faster than competitors who are still making it up as they go along. 

The head start you need: Once you’ve mastered the basics from your local SEO course, it’s time to arm yourself with professional tools that will shave even more time off your marketing. Semrush Local covers all your local SEO bases, from listings distribution to review management, so you can focus on other pressing areas of your business.

The best local SEO course for getting faster results

Local SEO courses can be found all over the web, from dedicated course websites such as Udemy and Skillshare to social platforms like LinkedIn and YouTube. And you can also find tons of useful guides and answers to the big local SEO questions on free resources like the Semrush Local SEO Blog . But rather than trawling through endless videos that only scratch the surface of the topic because they’re really trying to sell you a high-price course, why not just go directly to the best local SEO course available? Semrush Academy has teamed up with local SEO expert Wes McDowell to demystify Google Business Profile, online reviews, local keyword research and every other crucial component of a successful local SEO strategy. How to Outrank Your Competition in Local Search is for anyone running a local business that understands the value of ranking in Google’s local map pack. You’ll get everything you need to feel confident that you’re making the right moves for your business when it comes to local search—and what’s more, it’s absolutely free! 

The tools and the talent: Semrush isn’t just concerned with offering the best tools for boosting your local search rankings . The company wants to educate its users on how to get the most value out of them with free top-quality courses taught by the best in the business.

What should be covered in the best local SEO courses

There’s a lot to understand before you go ahead and launch your campaign and good local SEO courses should go through all of it. The first thing you’ll cover in the Semrush Academy local SEO training course is arguably the most important lesson: which local ranking factors really matter. You’ll learn about outdated practices that are best avoided, as well as underused tactics that your competitors probably don’t know about. After completing your local SEO training, you’ll be primed to create and properly optimize your Google Business Profile for higher visibility and attracting more customers. And if you’re struggling to make a decision on the keywords you should be optimizing for, this is the local SEO course for you! Not only will you learn how to get the most value out of Semrush’s keyword research tools, you’ll also get a deep dive into choosing the best Google Business Profile categories. You’ll also discover how to leverage reviews to make the best impression with new users discovering your business online, from how to get more customers to leave you feedback to how to respond to them all efficiently. 

Top rated: One of the key takeaways from this local SEO course is that reviews are a massive ranking factor—and you need to be on top of them. But it takes more than know-how to stay up to date with a constant stream of feedback from your customers. For that, you’ll need Semrush’s Listing Management . 

On top of learning how to get the most out of directories, this local SEO course covers how to properly structure your website to get local pages noticed, how to optimize for your keywords and which signals tell Google to rank you higher. Finally, you’ll complete the course feeling confident to start building links with local SEO in mind, as well as knowing the shortcuts to stronger citations. 

Covering all these topics will put you in the best position to boost your visibility in local search and start directing all that profitable traffic to your door and not your competitors’. And if you’re already up and running with your local SEO, you’ll likely discover a few mistakes you’ve made along the way that need to be fixed fast.

Wes McDowell: Web strategy guru and prolific YouTuber

When you’re looking for the best local SEO course to get your business where it needs to be in search, you’ll want to be sure you’re learning from someone that knows what they’re talking about. Wes McDowell is a renowned YouTuber and web strategist who creates compelling content to help small businesses grow their customer bases. With his new local SEO course, Wes wants to help small businesses cut through the “hundreds” of things they could be doing to increase their search visibility and focus on the things that actually matter. 

He said, “I’m super excited to team up with Semrush once again for this start-to-finish course… “If you’re running a local-based business, it pays to be on the map… literally… That’ll impact just about every aspect of your business, including the revenue and profits you bring in. I’m going to be showing you exactly what to focus on, in what order, to make the biggest possible difference to where your business shows up on the map.”

For Semrush, Wes is absolutely the right choice to lead the company’s free local SEO course , and the team couldn’t be prouder of what they’ve put together. His no-nonsense approach and expert advice gels perfectly with the tools the platform has to offer. For example, Wes says that the most important local ranking factor is a well-optimized Google Business Profile, something that Semrush put front and center when designing Semrush Local…