Learn SEO

How Google search works, how to rank, and how to measure it. Three tracks built from the Clarigital SEO Codex — 40+ guides, zero paywalls.

✓Understand how Google crawls, indexes, and ranks pages
✓Do keyword research and map content to search intent
✓Fix technical SEO issues and optimise on-page elements
✓Build links, track rankings, and report on SEO performance
Free forever No signup required Progress saved in your browser
Who this is forNo prior SEO knowledge needed. You have a website and want it to rank.
Time~3 hours across 5 lessons
Next stepIntermediate track
Your progress0 of 5 lessons
Lesson 1
How Google Search Works
Before optimising for Google, understand what it actually does. How crawlers discover pages, how the index is built, what the ranking algorithm considers. The foundation everything else builds on.
~35 min Read the guide →
Lesson 2
What is Keyword Research?
Keywords are what people type. Understanding search demand, keyword difficulty, and search intent tells you what to create and who to create it for.
~35 min Read the guide →
Lesson 3
Search Intent — Why It Overrides Everything
Google ranks pages that match search intent above all else. The four intent types, how to identify them, and why a technically perfect page fails without intent alignment.
~25 min Read the guide →
Lesson 4
SERP Features — What You Are Competing For
Blue links are only one type of Google result. Featured snippets, People Also Ask, knowledge panels, local packs, shopping carousels. Understanding what appears for your keywords changes your strategy.
~25 min Read the guide →
Lesson 5
Ranking Factors — What Google Weighs
The documented factors that influence where a page ranks: content quality, E-E-A-T, links, page experience, and technical health. Not guesswork — what Google's own documentation says.
~30 min Read the guide →
Question 1

What is the correct order of how Google processes a webpage?

Google first crawls (discovers and reads the page), then indexes (stores it), then ranks it for relevant queries. You cannot rank a page that has not been crawled and indexed.
Question 2

What does "search intent" mean in SEO?

Search intent is the reason behind the search — is the person looking to buy, learn, navigate, or compare? Matching intent is Google's primary ranking signal. A technically perfect page will not rank if it does not match what the searcher actually wants.
Question 3

Which of the following is a SERP feature that appears above organic results?

Featured snippets are extracted from pages and shown above the standard organic results ("position zero"). They represent an opportunity to appear prominently even if the page does not rank first in the traditional results.
Question 4

What does E-E-A-T stand for in Google's Quality Rater Guidelines?

E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) is Google's framework for evaluating content quality. It is especially important for YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) topics such as health, finance, and legal content.

Ready for more?

Keyword research, on-page optimisation, and content strategy in depth.

Who this is forYou understand the basics. You want to implement: keyword research, on-page, technical SEO.
Time~5 hours across 5 lessons
PrerequisiteBeginner track or equivalent knowledge
Your progress0 of 5 lessons
Lesson 1
On-Page SEO — Title Tags, Meta, Headers
The on-page elements that tell Google what a page is about. Title tags, meta descriptions, H1–H6 hierarchy, URL structure. The rules, the character limits, and the common mistakes.
~45 min Read the guide →
Lesson 2
Keyword Clustering and Content Architecture
One keyword per page is outdated. Keyword clustering groups related terms into topics, enabling one page to rank for many queries. How to build topic clusters and internal linking structures that signal authority.
~50 min Read the guide →
Lesson 3
Content Length and Depth
Word count is not a ranking factor. Content depth is. What Google means by "comprehensive" content, how to cover a topic thoroughly without padding, and why thin content gets filtered out.
~35 min Read the guide →
Lesson 4
Technical SEO — Crawlability and Indexation
If Google cannot crawl or index a page, no amount of optimisation matters. Robots.txt, canonical tags, noindex, redirect chains, XML sitemaps. The technical foundation every SEO-friendly site needs.
~55 min Read the guide →
Lesson 5
Core Web Vitals — LCP, CLS, INP
Page experience is a ranking factor. Google's Core Web Vitals measure loading speed (LCP), visual stability (CLS), and responsiveness (INP). How to measure them, what causes failures, and how to fix them.
~45 min Read the guide →
Question 1

What is the recommended character limit for a title tag to avoid truncation in Google search results?

Title tags should typically be 50–60 characters (or under approximately 580px of pixel width). Longer titles get truncated in search results with an ellipsis, which can reduce click-through rates and cut off important keywords.
Question 2

What is the purpose of keyword clustering in SEO content strategy?

Keyword clustering groups semantically related terms together. Rather than creating separate pages for each slight keyword variation, you create one authoritative page that covers the topic comprehensively and can rank for all the related queries simultaneously.
Question 3

What does a canonical tag tell Google?

A canonical tag (rel="canonical") tells Google which URL is the definitive version when duplicate or near-duplicate content exists across multiple URLs. This consolidates link equity and prevents duplicate content issues from diluting rankings.
Question 4

Which Core Web Vital measures the time until the largest visible content element on the page has loaded?

LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) measures how long it takes for the largest content element visible in the viewport — typically a hero image or heading — to fully load. Google's "good" threshold is under 2.5 seconds.

Going further?

Technical SEO deep dives, link building strategy, and advanced reporting.

Who this is forYou implement SEO regularly. You want link building, schema, log file analysis, and algorithm awareness.
Time~8 hours across 5 lessons
PrerequisiteIntermediate track or equivalent experience
Your progress0 of 5 lessons
Lesson 1
Backlink Strategy and Link Building
Links remain one of Google's strongest ranking signals. What makes a link valuable, the difference between earned and built links, anchor text strategy, and the outreach approaches that actually work in 2026.
~70 min Read the guide →
Lesson 2
Schema Markup and Structured Data
Schema.org markup tells Google exactly what your content is — an article, a product, a recipe, an event, a FAQ. How to implement it, which types earn rich results, and how to validate and debug it.
~60 min Read the guide →
Lesson 3
Log File Analysis
Server logs show exactly what Google crawled, how often, and what it could not access. How to get log files, what to look for, and how crawl data reveals indexation issues invisible in any other tool.
~55 min Read the guide →
Lesson 4
Google Algorithm Updates — History and Patterns
Panda, Penguin, Hummingbird, Helpful Content, core updates. Each update changed what signals Google weighs. Understanding the pattern helps anticipate what comes next and protects against future drops.
~60 min Read the guide →
Lesson 5
PageRank Explained
PageRank is still the foundation of how Google evaluates link equity. How the algorithm works mathematically, how link equity flows through a site, what internal linking structure maximises it, and what external links do to it.
~50 min Read the guide →
Question 1

In the context of link building, what is "anchor text" and why does it matter?

Anchor text is the clickable text of a link. It acts as a relevance signal — a link with anchor text "SEO best practices" passes a relevance signal to the destination page for that topic. Over-optimised exact-match anchors can trigger Penguin-related penalties; a natural anchor profile includes branded, generic, and topical anchors.
Question 2

Which Schema.org markup type is most likely to earn a rich result (star ratings) in Google search results for a product page?

Product schema with AggregateRating and Review properties enables star rating rich results in Google search results. This can significantly increase click-through rates by making the result more visually prominent. Google's Rich Results Test validates implementation.
Question 3

What did Google's Helpful Content system (2022–2023) primarily target?

Google's Helpful Content updates targeted content created primarily to rank rather than to genuinely help readers — including thin AI-generated content, templated content, and content produced by people without genuine expertise in the topic. The signal is sitewide, meaning a high proportion of unhelpful content can demote all pages on the domain.

Course complete

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