Web Positioning In Training: Interview With Miguel López
Here is what Miguel López told us about web positioning in training:
What Are The Peculiarities Of SEO In The Training Sector?
The first thing to distinguish is if we are talking about search engine positioning for training entities or if we are talking about a user who searches Google for a course and already has some information.
In the first case, there are training portals and content aggregators with the same information of the same courses and little capacity for optimization by the center.
In the second case, more can be done to create informative pages with unique content and which are only of the training website.
What Advantages Does It Offer To Training Content To Have A Good Result In SEO?
Nobody doubts that the first thing we do to look for information today is to look for it in Google. The key objective is to be in outstanding positions, to be able to have inscriptions to the courses. If the competition is high, then we should not rule out a well-studied investment in payment campaigns, both in Google Search and Display, because not everyone can compete in SEO. There are very powerful platforms that will always be in the best positions (emagister, lectiva, educaweb, etc.).
What Keys Identify In A Training Content To Ensure A Good SEO?
The first thing is to have a clear and meaningful description. Many courses are called the same, but they are not the same; this is why the user tends to look in each consultation for a more specific search.
We are not interested in users to whom we cannot offer the course they are looking for, so we have to be very specific.
Then there are the barriers to enroll in the course, which have to be very visible: Dates, schedules, price, etc. If I'm interested in a course in Seville but I live in Bilbao, it will be quite difficult for me to enroll. There are those who prefer not to put that information on the web, but users won’t leave their information if they don't know whether they are interested in the course, or they will be inundated with advertising about other courses that are also not of their interest.
What Are The Most Typical Mistakes To Avoid?
The most common mistake is to create the website as if it were the informative PDF or the diptych. Neither is the same format nor has the same goal, so you have to create your own content for the web.
You should also eliminate big images and, of course, all the necessary information should be on the web; you do not need users to have to download the PDF.
How Do The Changes Introduced By Google Affect Search Engines?
The changes aim to improve the user experience. If you do a good SEO, you do not have to see changes in your positioning, because you don't risk being penalized.
Google tends to show courses near the place where you're doing your search, unless you search for "online courses"; in this case, it understands that you don't care about the location.
The training centers on the Google map, which occupy a privileged position, also emerge prominently, but you cannot go there if your center is not exactly in the user's search area.
Evolution Of SEO And How It Will Affect The Training Content
Google tries to help users to find what they are looking for, so it will 'reward' quality content and websites that load fast and think about the users. If we think about how free online courses, with a lot of original content and utility, can respond to these searches, in the future online training content will be positioned above the informative files of face-to-face courses or payed training, where most information is not accessible from search engines.
On the positive side is the great advantage that the user is able to access all this training from home, remotely. There are hundreds of sites to be trained online with high quality content. If we talk about specialized courses, the English market offers many good courses, although the content in Spanish seems to only scratch the surface.
The access to books with Creative Commons license, LibroSEO.net v2.4, that I edited in 2011, is CC licensed and can be freely shared without modifications. It greatly opens the training capacity of any user with internet access. In this Google has done much to improve access to online training.
Profile Of A SEO Expert For Training
I know many SEO professionals because we have organized the Professional SEO Congress since 2010, and there are very nice people who are very good at both their own business and training, people who apart from being technically good at SEO have a great training capacity.
I started in training a little earlier than in SEO, with computer courses and Excel, and when attending a class you can tell if the teacher has a training slope or not. In the master and the courses that I organize I try that the teacher is, first of all, a good communicator, and then that he or she has the technical capacity to answer any question.
No matter how good you are, giving a 5-hour class on a Saturday morning is not easy if you are not good at keeping up with the pace of the class, the attention of the students, and the level of content you impart. Fortunately, in Spain we have several experts with these skills.
How Is SEO Working In Spain In The Training Sector? Is There A Long Way To Go Ahead Of Other Countries?
At the SEO level Spain is a leading country, even if they do not want to admit it abroad. Many Spanish SEO experts are working in the best agencies at a European level, and in professional meetings we can see many SEO experts in North America; both in the United States and Canada.
In Latin America it is true that there are only a few good ones. In general, there is a certain delay in the technological adaptation of the agencies and the advertising sector, but the few that exist are of a similar level to the Spanish ones.
In Spain we stand out because we are creative: We do not excel with economic resources, but with creativity. When we see what is being done in Europe I am not really surprised, because these things I have already seen in Spain from other colleagues. I think we are very advanced in SEO.
