Career studio / SEO
Build evidence for the SEO Specialist role
A fictional learning site has overlapping pages, unclear titles and broken internal links. Prepare an SEO audit that prioritizes useful content and technical correctness without promising rankings.
Your outcome: SEO audit, keyword-intent map, internal-link plan and measurement baseline.
Start with the right expectations
Who this is for
Basic website structure and the ability to review page content.
This path develops a demonstrable work sample for the named role. It does not replace employer-specific experience, professional qualifications or supervised practice.
Plan your study time
Use a flexible six-week project schedule: one week for each of the first four stages and two weeks for the portfolio and review. Allow roughly 3–5 hours per week for the case work, in addition to course study. This is a planning suggestion, not a measured course duration or a promise of job readiness.
Read the course access notes before starting. Free viewing or reading does not automatically include certificates, graded assessments, software licences or paid cloud resources. Core case work can be documented with a free editor and spreadsheet; optional implementation tools may have additional requirements.
Your course sequence
Start in the order below. Use the course outline to select the sections relevant to the stage tasks, and complete foundation exercises before moving on. Full provider courses can be substantially longer than this project schedule. These are course resources, not a claimed count of individual lessons.
Resource 01 / Simplilearn
Free Simplilearn Course: SEO, Keyword Research and Search Optimization
Purpose: Build the foundations. Connect your notes to the case tasks below rather than only collecting completion marks.
- Explore sEO fundamentals, keyword research, on-page optimization and selected search-analysis tools.
- Follow the selected explanations of Keyword Research, On-Page SEO and Search Analysis.
- Connect concepts to lessons such as SEO Tools 2026 — Best SEO Tools For YouTube, Blogger,Website — SEO Tools For Beginners.
Access: Free Video
Certificate: Free video viewing; Simplilearn certificate not included
Resource 02 / Google
Google Learn Performance: Free Web Performance Course
Purpose: Develop the role-specific method. Connect your notes to the case tasks below rather than only collecting completion marks.
- Connect speed to user experience: consider both how a page appears and how it responds to input.
- Understand the initial load: examine HTML delivery and the critical rendering path, including blocking resources.
- Prioritise useful resources: investigate loading strategies and resource hints rather than treating every request equally.
Access: Free public lessons plus browser-side local practice using browser built-in developer tools and a text editor. No paid monitoring service, software, hosting purchase, card, subscription or trial is required for this route. Server-specific lessons can be studied conceptually; examples needing a server or worker environment are not falsely claimed to run from file URLs. No account needed to read; optional Standard profile is free for badge.
Certificate: Learn Performance developer-profile badge offered after course completion confirmation. No formal certificate, academic credit/accreditation, guaranteed performance score or business outcome promised.
Resource 03 / HubSpot
Free Content Marketing Certification Course from HubSpot
Purpose: Strengthen practical application. Connect your notes to the case tasks below rather than only collecting completion marks.
- Plan purposeful content: connect a long-term strategy with the needs of an audience and a business.
- Organise production: use a content-creation framework covering responsibilities, review and publication.
- Develop useful ideas: approach storytelling, topic generation and writing with a clearer objective.
Access: Free official learning route. Account and tool requirements are explained in the article.
Certificate: Free HubSpot Academy certification, badge and certificate after completing the course requirements and passing the exam. No degree/credit or guaranteed search/traffic outcome.
Learn, make, check
Keep a decision log as you work. For each stage, capture the assumption, your work product, a check and the change you made after that check. The acceptance criterion is the stopping condition for the stage.
Stage 1 / suggested project week 1
Match intent to content
Understand: A search phrase represents a task, not just a word count target.
Make: Map five learner questions to distinct pages and identify overlap.
Check before moving on: Do not create near-duplicate pages solely for slightly different phrases.
Study companion: Free Simplilearn Course: SEO, Keyword Research and Search Optimization. Use its relevant lessons and examples; the independent WikiFree task is not a provider assessment.
Save as evidence: a dated work product and a short note explaining one choice, one alternative and one remaining uncertainty.
Stage 2 / suggested project week 2
Inspect page signals
Understand: Titles, headings and links should describe the actual content.
Make: Draft accurate titles and descriptions for three sample pages.
Check before moving on: A title does not promise a free certificate when only viewing is free.
Study companion: Google Learn Performance: Free Web Performance Course. Use its relevant lessons and examples; the independent WikiFree task is not a provider assessment.
Save as evidence: a dated work product and a short note explaining one choice, one alternative and one remaining uncertainty.
Stage 3 / suggested project week 3
Check technical basics
Understand: Crawlability, canonical URLs and redirects affect discovery.
Make: Write a read-only audit checklist for status codes, canonical links, sitemap entries and internal links.
Check before moving on: Do not change global indexing settings without understanding their purpose.
Study companion: Free Content Marketing Certification Course from HubSpot. Use its relevant lessons and examples; the independent WikiFree task is not a provider assessment.
Save as evidence: a dated work product and a short note explaining one choice, one alternative and one remaining uncertainty.
Stage 4 / suggested project week 4
Measure responsibly
Understand: Search performance changes for many reasons.
Make: Define a baseline and a review plan for impressions, clicks and useful engagement.
Check before moving on: Avoid guaranteed ranking or traffic claims.
Study companion: Free Content Marketing Certification Course from HubSpot. Use its relevant lessons and examples; the independent WikiFree task is not a provider assessment.
Save as evidence: a dated work product and a short note explaining one choice, one alternative and one remaining uncertainty.
Stage 5 / suggested project weeks 5–6
Present your portfolio
Assemble the four work products into SEO audit, keyword-intent map, internal-link plan and measurement baseline. Write a README explaining the problem, your assumptions, the decisions you made, tests actually performed and what remains incomplete.
Give a five-minute walkthrough: one minute for the problem, two for the work and evidence, one for trade-offs and one for the next improvement. If you have not implemented a proposed system, label it a design or prototype rather than a deployed solution.
Acceptance: a reviewer can locate each work product, reproduce the key reasoning and identify the limits without a private explanation from you.
The portfolio brief
A fictional learning site has overlapping pages, unclear titles and broken internal links. Prepare an SEO audit that prioritizes useful content and technical correctness without promising rankings.
Deliver: SEO audit, keyword-intent map, internal-link plan and measurement baseline.
| page | search intent | issue |
|---|---|---|
| Course guide | Compare prerequisites | Unclear title |
| Learning path | Find a study sequence | Duplicate URL |
| SQL lesson | Learn joins | Broken internal link |
Use these small inputs to make the reasoning visible. They are not a representative dataset, a real client engagement or evidence of production performance. Where the brief requires additional sample records, create them yourself, label them synthetic and explain why you added them.
The ZIP includes the case CSV, four stage worksheets, course sequence, decision log, test log, portfolio README template, review rubric and reference reasoning. It is a starter kit for your work, not a completed application, professional report or proprietary project file.
Check your reasoning
Two URLs show the same article, but internal links point to both. What should the audit investigate?
Write your answer and assumptions before opening the reference.
Read the reference reasoning
The intended canonical URL, redirect behavior, canonical tag, sitemap and internal links. Recommend one consistent route while preserving access from the old URL.
Portfolio review rubric
| Criterion | Points | Evidence required |
|---|---|---|
| Problem and scope | 4 | A clear user, need, boundary and assumptions |
| Role-specific work | 8 | 2 points for each of the four stage acceptance checks |
| Reasoning and validation | 4 | Independent checks, actual results and uncertainty |
| Communication and reproducibility | 4 | A usable README, source links and reviewable work products |
Aim for at least 16/20 as a self-review target, with no missing stage acceptance check. This is a WikiFree practice rubric, not an industry credential or a hiring assessment.
Interview practice
How did you prioritize a technical issue against a content improvement?
Answer using the case: context, your action, evidence and limitation. Describe this honestly as a self-directed project. Do not present fictional organizations, invented interviews or practice results as paid work experience.
Your progress
Use this checklist as a personal study aid. Progress is stored in this browser when local storage is available; it is not an account record or a certificate.
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Questions before you start
Will this path qualify me for a job?
It helps you study relevant foundations and produce a work sample. Employers may require additional skills, qualifications and experience. Review actual role requirements before applying; no job or certification is guaranteed.
Are all tools and certificates free?
The linked learning routes were selected for free viewing or reading. Follow the separate access and certificate notes on each course. Paid tools and cloud deployment are optional; document a local design when implementation resources are unavailable.
Can I follow this on a phone?
You can read the path and many learning resources on a phone. Coding, detailed spreadsheet work, design tools and mobile-app development are easier or require a suitable computer. The page is designed to reflow; that is not a claim that every physical device has been tested.
Questions & discussion
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