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SEO + AI Search Academy

Get found on Google and named by AI assistants.

Lessons
32 lessons
Chapters
9 chapters
Reading time
~161 minutes
Price
Free, no signup
Start the first lesson

First up: How Google ranks a page

How search engines and AI assistants pick sources, which keywords are worth winning, how to write pages that get cited, and a 90-day plan. Every lesson carries one action.

Written for: Founders, marketers and small teams who want traffic from Google and AI answers without hiring an agency.

Levels: 15 beginner, 17 intermediate, marked per lesson and shown under each lesson title.

  1. How Google and AI search decide who shows up

    The mechanics behind every ranking and every AI citation, in plain language. Read this first and the rest of the academy makes sense.

    Chapter 1 of 9

    4 lessons~21 min

    1. How Google ranks a page· Start here6 minCrawl, index, rank: the three steps every page goes through and where most sites quietly fail.
    2. How AI search picks its sources5 minWhat ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI features actually retrieve before they answer, and why it overlaps with classic SEO.
    3. Search intent: the one idea that decides which page can rank5 minWhy the same keyword needs a different page depending on what the searcher wants, and how to read intent from the results.
    4. What actually moves rankings5 minThe handful of levers that move positions, the ones that only feel productive, and how to tell them apart on your own site.

  2. Find the searches worth winning

    Stop guessing what to write. Find the searches with real demand and real intent, and decide which page each one deserves.

    Chapter 2 of 9

    4 lessons~20 min

    1. Keyword research from scratch5 minA repeatable way to go from a blank page to a shortlist of keywords you can actually win.
    2. The buying-intent ladder5 minSort every keyword by how close the searcher is to paying, and stop spending effort on traffic that never converts.
    3. Finding competitor keyword gaps5 minSee what your competitors rank for that you don't, and pick the gaps worth closing first.
    4. Mapping keywords to pages5 minOne primary keyword per page, grouped by intent, so pages stop competing with each other.

  3. Build a site Google can read

    Structure, internal links, sitemaps and speed decide how much of your site Google ever sees. Get the plumbing right before you write more.

    Chapter 3 of 9

    4 lessons~20 min

    1. Site architecture and internal links5 minHow to organise pages and links so authority flows to the pages that make money.
    2. URLs, titles and meta descriptions5 minThe on-page basics that still decide clicks, written so they're right the first time.
    3. Sitemaps, robots.txt and indexing5 minMake sure Google can find and is allowed to index the pages you care about, and nothing you don't.
    4. Core Web Vitals explained5 minWhat LCP, INP and CLS measure, the thresholds that count as good, and the fixes that usually matter.

  4. Write pages that rank and get cited

    Content that answers the search, earns the click, and gets quoted by AI. Structure first, words second.

    Chapter 4 of 9

    4 lessons~20 min

    1. Writing a page that ranks5 minThe structure of a page built to rank: the question it answers, the order it answers it in, and what to leave out.
    2. Topic clusters: own a subject, not a keyword5 minGroup pages around one subject so Google and AI treat you as the authority on it.
    3. Refreshing content that slipped5 minFind pages that lost rankings, work out why, and bring them back without rewriting from scratch.
    4. E-E-A-T and the trust signals Google looks for5 minExperience, expertise, authority and trust: what they look like on a page, and what to add.

  5. Get cited by ChatGPT, Gemini and AI Overviews

    AI assistants name a handful of sources per answer. This chapter is how to be one of them, and how to measure whether you are.

    Chapter 5 of 9

    4 lessons~20 min

    1. How AI assistants choose what to cite5 minRetrieval, passages and entities: the path from a question to the sources an assistant names.
    2. Writing for AI citations5 minPassage structure, direct answers and clear claims that make a page easy to quote.
    3. llms.txt and AI crawlers5 minWhich AI crawlers exist, what to allow, and what an llms.txt file does and does not do.
    4. Measuring your AI visibility5 minHow to check whether AI assistants mention you, and track it over time without fooling yourself.

  6. Earn links and trust

    Links still matter, brand mentions matter more than they used to, and both are earned the same way: by being worth citing.

    Chapter 6 of 9

    3 lessons~15 min

    1. Backlinks that matter, and the ones that don't5 minRelevance, placement and source quality: how to judge a link before you chase it.
    2. Digital PR for small teams5 minEarning coverage and links with original data, useful tools and a point of view, on a small budget.
    3. Brand mentions and entity SEO5 minMake your brand a recognisable entity so Google and AI connect your name to your subject.

  7. Know your numbers

    Read the data without fooling yourself. What Search Console and analytics can and cannot tell you, and how to report honestly.

    Chapter 7 of 9

    3 lessons~15 min

    1. Google Search Console essentials5 minThe reports that matter, how to read them, and the mistakes that make them lie to you.
    2. GA4 for SEO5 minSet up the handful of GA4 views that show whether organic traffic is doing its job.
    3. Reading rank movements honestly5 minDaily noise versus real movement, and how to avoid claiming credit for changes you didn't cause.

  8. Run SEO with Claude on your live data

    Connect an AI assistant to your real search data and get audits, quick wins and reporting on demand instead of on retainer.

    Chapter 8 of 9

    3 lessons~15 min

    1. Connect Claude to your SEO data5 minSet up the MCP connector so Claude answers ranking, page and AI-visibility questions with live measurements instead of guesses.
    2. A weekly SEO review with Claude5 minA 20-minute routine that turns last week's data into this week's three actions.
    3. The 30-minute quick-wins audit5 minA fast, repeatable audit that finds what to fix first and turns it into a ranked action plan.

  9. The 90-day plan

    Foundations first, then a content engine, then authority and AI proof. A phased plan that compounds instead of scattering effort.

    Chapter 9 of 9

    3 lessons~15 min

    1. Days 1 to 30: foundations5 minAudit, fix the blockers, set up measurement and pick the keywords you'll build around.
    2. Days 31 to 60: the content engine5 minPublish on a cadence, one cluster at a time, with every page mapped to a keyword and an intent.
    3. Days 61 to 90: authority and AI proof5 minEarn links and mentions, refresh what's slipping, and measure whether AI assistants now name you.

What a lesson looks like

All 32 have the same shape: the mechanism first, then one thing to do, then the free tool that does it. Nothing is held back, so the page below is the whole page. 29 of the 32 link at least one free tool from inside that block, and the Mark as complete control at the foot of each lesson is what fills the meters beside the chapters above.

The opening of the lesson How Google ranks a page: the chapter it sits in, Lesson 1 of 4, the title, a one-line summary of what it covers, and a row giving its reading time, its level and the date it was last reviewed.
The opening of one lesson: the chapter it belongs to, its place in that chapter, a one-line summary of what it covers, and a row giving reading time, level and the date it was last reviewed. Every lesson in the academy opens this way.

The documentation, the update posts and the audit list

Most people meet this subject through one of these first. What each one does well, and the part of it this track is not trying to replace.

The search engine's own documentationHow it worksWritten by the people who run the index, so it is the authority on what is allowed, and it changes when the rule changes. It is filed by system, crawling in one place and structured data in another, and none of it says which system is the one keeping your page out.SEO + AI Search trackSlower to move, and it says so: every lesson carries the date it was last reviewed, the most recent here being 2026-08-22. What it adds is order. The chapter called How Google and AI search decide who shows up spends 4 lessons and 21 minutes on how the decision is made, so a rule you look up afterwards has somewhere to sit.
Following each algorithm updateHow it worksThe fastest signal that something moved, and for a few weeks the only account of it. Filed by event, so what accumulates is a pile of exceptions rather than the mechanism they are exceptions to, and the post is rarely revisited when the next update lands.SEO + AI Search trackMechanism first and tactic second, across all 32 lessons: the 9 chapters open with How Google and AI search decide who shows up, and a tactic only appears after the thing it depends on has been explained. When an update changes the tactic, the chapter above it still holds.
Running an audit and working the listHow it worksIt reads your URLs and ranks what is wrong on them, which no lesson can do, because a curriculum has never seen your site. It stops where a crawler stops, and it does not say what to do once the list is empty.SEO + AI Search trackThe other half of that: what a finding means, and which one is worth the week. 29 of the 32 lessons link one of 21 free tools with your own URL in it, and The 30-minute quick-wins audit is 5 minutes on turning a list of findings into an order of work.
Reading the pages that outrank youHow it worksTheir titles, headings, internal links and structure are all public, so it hands you a working example instead of a rule. It cannot show which part is load-bearing, or the three versions that failed before the one on screen.SEO + AI Search trackThe same reading with the mechanism named, so the copying is deliberate: What actually moves rankings separates the levers that move a position from the ones that only feel productive, and Finding competitor keyword gaps reads a competitor's keywords rather than their layout.

Questions before you start

Do I need an account to read this?
No. All 32 lessons are public pages with no signup, no email and no paywall, and the free tools their actions run on open without an account too.
What happens to the lessons I mark as read?
They are written to this browser's local storage and nowhere else. Nothing reaches a server, so the count follows the browser rather than you: another device, a private window, or cleared site data each start again at zero, and we cannot restore it because we never held it.
Do I have to read it in order?
No. The order is the one that costs the least backtracking, and every lesson states what it assumes, so the chapter that matches today's problem reads on its own. Start here is a recommendation, not a gate.
How long does the whole track take?
About 161 minutes of reading across 32 lessons in 9 chapters, counted from the lesson files at 220 words a minute. The doing takes longer than the reading, because every lesson carries one thing to go and do.
Is this pitched at beginners or at people already working in SEO?
The 32 lessons break down as 15 beginner, 17 intermediate, and each one carries its level under its own title. The chapters climb, so the later ones assume the earlier ones.
Is the curriculum an advert for the product?
The lessons link out where a step needs a tool: 21 of our 42 free tools appear across 29 of the 32 lessons, and none of them ask for an account. Nothing in the track is held back for a paid plan.
How current is it?
Every lesson shows the date it was last reviewed under its title, and the most recent review in this track is 2026-08-22. Lessons explain the mechanism before the tactic for the same reason: how ranking is decided outlives whichever tactic was working the week it was written.

See which of these apply to your site

A free audit grades your site and lists the fixes in priority order. Each finding links back to the lesson that explains it.

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