What is SEO? 10 Free SEO Videos for Beginners

What is SEO? Data from Google’s Keyword Tool tells us that as of today, people search for this term 18,000 times per month. We’d like to help beginners to wrap their heads around the SEO concept and according to Wikipedia 60% of the general population are visual learners. There are endless amounts of books, blogs and articles that answer this question, but to suit the visual learners, we’ve compiled a list of videos that answer the question, “What is SEO?”

What Is Search Engine Optimization / SEO

Year: 2011
Views: 70,000+
Length: 3 Minutes
By: Lee LeFever with CommonCraft & Search Engine Land

Key Takeaways from Video:

• An Explanation of Search Engine Optimization
• Factors that Matter to Search Engines

This one has kind of a fun visual and is (in my opinion) very easy to digest.

Learn SEO

Year: 2010
Views: 3,000+
Length: 15 Minutes
By: Rand Fishkin with SEOMoz

Key Takeaways from Video:

• How Search Engine Optimization Works
• A Brief Introduction into Keyword Research
• The Anatomy of a Search Result
• Four Main Factors that Matter to Search Engines

Rand recommends as a next step to check out their Beginners Guide to SEO.

Google’s Matt Cutts | How to Get Better Visibility on Google

Year: 2008
Views: 115,000+
Length: 5 Minutes
By: Matt Cutts from Google & Jefferson Graham with USA Today

Key Takeaways from Video:

• Common Sense Recommendations to Get Your Site Found in Search Results
• What Title Tags and Meta Descriptions Are and How They Matter
• Tips for Building Links to Your Website
• Common Misconceptions about Search Ranking Factors
• Tips for Getting your Website Pages Indexed Faster

A Lighthearted Interview with Google from USA Today.

How Does Search Engine Optimization Work?

Year: 2009
Views: 10,000+
Length: 1.5 Minutes
By: Vertical Measures

Key Takeaways from Video:

• The Basics Concepts of On-Site SEO
• The Basics Concepts of Off-Site SEO

A Quick Visually Appealing Presentation.

The Basics of SEO in 12 Minutes

Year: 2009
Views: 5,000+
Length: 7 Minutes
By: Dave Robinson with Red Evolution

Key Takeaways from Video:

• Important Elements of SEO
• An Introduction to Title Tags
• An Introduction to SEO Friendly URLs
• An Introduction to Meta Descriptions

If you liked part one, part two is available here.

Search Engine Optimization SEO Tutorial

Year: 2008
Views: 360,000+
Length: 9 Minutes
By: Jeff Foster with WebBizIdeas

Key Takeaways from Video:

• An Introduction to Search Engine Optimization
• The Benefits of Search Engine Optimization
• How to Perform Keyword Research
• How to Conduct a Competitive Analysis
• Attributes of On-Page Site Optimization
• Basic Steps for Off-Page Site Optimization

A little dry visually, but this video briefly covers more of a complete picture than some of the other videos.

8 SEO Techniques Every Webmaster Should Know

Year: 2008
Views: 10,000+
Length: 7 Minutes
By: Titus Hoskins with site-reference.com

Key Takeaways from Video:

• An Introduction to Title Tags
• An Introduction to Meta Descriptions
• An Introduction to Link Building
• How to Confirm Your Pages Are Indexed with Google
• Incorporating Keywords in Your Website Content

Helpful visuals, should be fairly easy to follow.

What is SEO

Year: 2010
Views: 5,000+
Length: 1.3 Minutes
By: Headstand Media

Key Takeaways from Video:

• Defining Search Engine Optimization
• Basic Ways to Increase Search Engine Visibility

Very brief, but worth a quick look.

How Does SEO Work?

Year: 2011
Views: 900+
Length: 2 Minutes
By: TheSEOGuys

Key Takeaways from Video:

• The Basic Principals of SEO
• Examples of How Content Affects Search Results

Nice shirt guy

How To Improve Your Google Ranking

Year: 2007
Views: 60,000+
Length: 4 Minutes
By: The Daily Idea

Key Takeaways from Video:

• Submitting Your Website to Directories
• Utilizing Meta Data
• Utilizing Site Maps
• An Introduction to Keyword Research

Tactical recommendations to increase site visibility in Google.

How to Search Engine Optimize a Website – SEO 101

Year: 2011
Views: 3,000+
Length: 9 Minutes
By: Damon Greene

Key Takeaways from Video:

• An Introduction to Link Building
• 3 Categories of Links, What Makes Links Valuable
• 2 Types of Inbound Links
• How to Leverage Content for Link Building

A good introduction to the link building aspect of SEO, in layman terms.

Maybe I snuck in 11 videos . We hope these videos have provided answers to your basic SEO questions. Please utilize the comments field for any additional beginner level SEO questions. If you have created or viewed a beginner SEO video you would like to recommend, please include it in the comments field below. Most importantly, which of these videos was helpful for you, which were unfavorable, and why?