SEO as part of University Curricula - real examples

[Carla_Dawson]

Does anyone know of any universities that offer SEO as part of the curricula? I am currently working on getting SEO into an Argentine University and it would be nice to have precedents. There appears to be demand as you can see here http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=seo%20university yet when you search "SEO university course" or something similar, no name brand universities show up. https://www.google.com/#q=seo%20university%20course. Distilled does.

I am interested in hearing people’s opinions on having SEO be taught at universities.

Thanks

Carla

[Carla_Dawson]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for adding to the discussion. The university approved the course here in Argentina. We will be teaching SEO and SEM through extension courses initially. I will be creating the syllabus and content for the course.

If anyone is interested in learning how the course went, please feel free to contact me in the future.

Thanks Again!

Carla

[Carla_Dawson]

Hi Stephen,

Thanks for the link. The university here in Argentina has decided to offer the course and I will be creating the syllabus and content.

How is the response to your SEO lecture? Do you find your audience wanting to learn more?

Thanks

Carla

[firstconversion]

A few years ago I did the worlds first MA in Social Media in Birmingham, UK. I know they went through a lot of effort to get something so new accepted and as the first batch we were really test subjects

http://www.bcu.ac.uk/courses/social-media You might get hold of Dave Harte if you want some input.

I generally do a 2 hour lecture on SEO to students of the University's media school each year - they do a lot of web based stuff and accept they need to have a marketing compenent

[MikeRoberts]

As a sort of "continuing education" grant for the New York State Board of Education, my mom (who has a PhD in Educational Technology) was tasked with teaching teachers in New York City high schools how to teach using current technology through a variety of web based courses. One of the courses she would take them through was a basic understanding of how the search engines work, why (to an extent) some pages rank for the terms they show up for, and how that can be leveraged in a modern teaching environment. She even used a number of articles from Moz, SEJ, SE Round Table, etc. It was mainly to make teachers better searchers though so they could more quickly find and access relevant and up-to-date information. So it was almost an Intro to SEO class.

Don't know of any universities that do true SEO course or degrees... or even how they would considering how quickly the landscape changes in this industry.

[Carla_Dawson]

Hi Brad,

I agree with you that SEO should be taught as courses within a general degree like Marketing or Advertising and not as a degree in and of its self. From what I am seeing, many universities are offering the material through seminars or extension courses (see above) or as a subject within a Marketing degree.

I think we all agree that the only way to really know SEO is through practice but that is also true with so many other fields...

Good discussion everyone!

Carla

[brad.s.knutson]

Ruben,

I can't think of a comparable profession you can learn in college that changes so frequently and so drastically.  Just think of how much has changed in SEO since 2006, which is when I started college.  If I learned pre-2006 SEO in college and hadn't bothered to keep up with industry standards and best practices, I would be out of a job right now.

I will concede that some SEO courses could be added to another degree, like Marketing or Advertising - such as "History of Search Engines and SEO", "Technical SEO", "Basic HTML and Web Design", "Structured Data" and others.  These could absolutely be beneficial for future marketers.

If I was to hire a new marketer, I would still certainly weight experience higher than college courses - hands down.

Thanks,
Brad

[KempRugeLawGroup]

Carla,

I'd say your best bet would be to email individual marketing/business professors and ask if they cover it in their courses or they know a professor who does. It's probably not covered for an entire course, so it probably won't show up on any course offerings, but it may be incorporated in some way.

Best,

Ruben

[KempRugeLawGroup]

I'd venture to guess most SEO's have a problem with it being taught in school, because no one has ever been taught it in school. However, the idea that SEO is vastly different than a variety of other professions that are taught in school strikes me as odd.

Sure, if you're teaching the hottest, short term solution to get quick rankings, that probably wouldn't be worthwhile a year later, but it wouldn't be worthwhile long term anyway. However, if you're going over the fundamentals, yes you could teach that in a college setting. Learning basic webdesign (as Chris mentioned) but also, just explaining what every tab in Google Analytics and Webmaster tools was and what it was for, could be easily explained in a college setting, and it would be very helpful.

I see an SEO curriculum the way I would see any professional curriculum. For example, there are advances and discoveries in medicine everyday, that doesn't make med school obsolete. It just means the curriculum must adjust and stay up-to-date. The same goes for law school and variety of other professional schools. I don't see why SEO would be any different. Not to mention, most of the "SEO for beginners tools" use college themes in their advertising "Academy, University, 101, etc."

Granted, I wouldn't think someone who majored in SEO would be as qualified as someone who spent years doing SEO, but I'd think that about any profession, so once again, I'm not sure why SEO is seen as unique compared to other disciplines.

Best,

Ruben

[Carla_Dawson]

BTW...this was posted not too long ago on SEJ. It appears most SEOer's are against the subject being taught at school. However it seems like lots of people want to learn this content at school.

http://www.searchenginejournal.com/why-seo-isnt-taught-in-college-and-why-it-shouldnt-be/65845/

vs.

http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=seo university

Just thought this was interesting

These universities are offering courses..most of these results are on page 2 or 3 hmm

• http://cce.sydney.edu.au/course/JSEO
• Oxford does not appear to offer a course but it does offer guidelines http://www.ox.ac.uk/web/guides/seo.html
• University of Salford Manchester http://www.searchmarketing.salford.ac.uk/search-engine-optimisation/seo-courses/
• UCSD (my hometown!) http://extension.ucsd.edu/studyarea/index.cfm?vCourse=CSE-41157
• London http://www.city.ac.uk/courses/short-courses/digital-marketing-introduction
• Georgetown http://scs.georgetown.edu/courses/2058/seosearch-engine-strategy?ref=schedule&year=2013&term=Fall

Carla

[Carla_Dawson]

Hi Bradley and Chris

Thanks for adding to the discussion. I totally agree that SEO is so dynamic that anything taught at the university would basically be out of date by the time the course if over. However, I do believe there might be room for courses that cover this kind of content.

General SEO concepts

• Is SEO a valid form of marketing?
• What does SEO entail currently and how has it evolved over time?
• What criteria do different Search Engines use to rank sites? For example: Linkbuilding vs Co-citation..http://www.russiansearchtips.com/2013/12/yandex-seo-deal-links/
• How to apply critical thinking to a SEO project?
• Is SEO part of the web design and development process?
• Designing for Search Engines - Is it an implicit web development requirement? (More here http://moz.com/ugc/website-design-wars-seo-agencies-vs-web-design-agencies-worldwide-trends
• How to develop a social media campaign that favors your SEO?
• Should you be developing a semantic plan for you marketing campain. More here http://moz.com/community/q/semantic-communication-plan
• Should you be using keyword research as part of your Marketing Plan?
• Do Community Managers and SEO specialist share the same objectives? Sorry only available in Spanish http://smday.com.ar/blog/que-tienen-que-saber-los-community-managers-de-seo/

etc..etc...etc..

The idea is to do high level critical thinking courses, not technical nitty gritty stuff.

Please let me know what you think!

Thanks

Carla

[Carla_Dawson]

Hi Ruben,

Thanks for sharing this information for me. I didn't find anything online initially but I will keep looking. https://www.google.com/search?q=University+of+Tampa+seo+course&oq=University+of+Tampa+seo+course&aqs=chrome..69i57.6009j0j7&sourceid=chrome&espv=210&es_sm=122&ie=UTF-8

I was interested in finding curricula at any university level. I am curious to see how many universities condone this kind of marketing.

Thanks Carla

[GPainter]

Strongly Agree with Bradley, anything you learn would be out of date its better to focus on marketing etc.  A basic know how of HTML etc. can also come in handy more often then not.

You may be lucky to find a internship or apprenticeship so you can learn on the go which is great if you've got a mentor etc. but your throwing money away looking for a uni course in it.

[brad.s.knutson]

I disagree that SEO should be taught in colleges, or that there should be certifications for it.

SEO requires constant learning, testing, and adjusting.  By the time you finish a 4 year degree, the tactics and guidelines you learned in year 1 may be completely obsolete.

Each SEO is different.  Everyone has their own opinions and techniques.  That is the nature of the industry, and why it's so interesting.  There is no one right answer, there are many different ways to get to the top, and even more that make it harder to get there.

SEOs also use an ever-changing set of tools, which also is adapting and changing with the industry.  The tools you learned while at University are probably outdated or obsolete by the time you graduate.

I personally think that a degree in Marketing or Communications will set you up for a great start in the SEO field, but the majority of the leg work to learn industry standards, tools, techniques, etc., should not be taught in school.

[KempRugeLawGroup]

Do you mean undergraduate courses? Because, I know a few people who had SEO coursework for their MBA. Granted, to my knowledge, none of them took SEO 101, but it was covered in a general sense. University of Tampa's MBA program, for example, did this at least when the people I knew got MBA's from there (only a few years ago).

Best,

Ruben