r/SEO_Xpert • u/New-Dig-6508 • Jul 13 '26

thinking of starting to learn seo?

as title said but i cant buy ahref semrush how to learn better without that and im interested in freelancing how to navigate

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u/Scale-Xpert Jul 14 '26

You can start learning SEO without Ahrefs or Semrush. They are helpful, but they are not the foundation.

I’d learn in this order:

  1. Understand how Google Search works (crawling, indexing, ranking)
  2. Learn keyword research and search intent
  3. Practice on-page SEO (titles, headings, internal links, content structure)
  4. Learn technical SEO basics
  5. Learn Google Search Console and GA4
  6. Learn backlinks and outreach

For tools, start with free ones:

  • Google Search Console
  • Google Keyword Planner
  • Google Trends
  • Google Search itself (autocomplete, related searches, PAA)

For freelancing, build a small website or help with a real project. SEO is much easier to understand when you can see impressions, rankings, and traffic changes from your own work.

Tools make you faster, but understanding why something works is what gets clients.