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BOOSTD Academy: a free SEO course for small business
Six free, plain-English SEO lessons for people who run a business, not a marketing department: how Google and Maps choose who to show, how to read Search Console, what the first 90 days should bring, a weekly routine and what your homepage needs. Read them in order in under an hour. No sign-up.
Or start lesson oneAbout 54 minutes in all
Published by Zubair Afzal, responsible editor
First published Updated
Who it is for
SEO for people who run a business
These lessons are for owners and managers who want to understand how customers find businesses on Google, Google Maps and AI answers, without becoming marketers. Each one takes under ten minutes and ends with something you can check or change on your own business.
Read them in order. Each lesson builds on the one before, and the last one leaves you with an edit you can make to your homepage the same day. Every lesson lists the Google documentation it relies on, so you can check anything it says.
You will not learn tricks, because there are none worth learning. You will learn enough to keep the basics right yourself, and to tell a good SEO offer from a bad one.
The lessons
Six lessons, in order
Stage 1
The basics
Stage 2
Seeing where you stand
Stage 3
Doing something about it
What you will learn
What the six lessons cover
How Google chooses
How Google finds, understands and ranks pages, how the map box works, and where AI Overviews and AI Mode fit in. Lessons one and two.
Seeing where you stand
Setting up Google Search Console, reading clicks and impressions, checking which pages are indexed, and what normal progress looks like in the first three months. Lessons three and four.
Doing something about it
A weekly routine that fits in an hour, what to avoid, and the six things your homepage needs, with before-and-after examples. Lessons five and six.
Straight answers
What the Academy is, and what it is not
It is
- Free to read, with no sign-up, email or download
- Written for business owners, not marketers
- Checked against Google’s own documentation, with sources on every lesson
- Dated, so you can see when each lesson was last checked
It is not
- A certificate or a qualification
- Hours of video or a course you have to finish
- A promise of rankings or results
- A sign-up funnel: no lesson asks for your name or email
Going further
When you want the next step
Questions
About the Academy
- Is the BOOSTD Academy really free?
- Yes. The lessons are ordinary pages on this site. There is no sign-up, no email and nothing to download.
- Who writes the lessons?
- Each lesson names its author and when it was last updated at the top of the page, and lists the Google documentation it relies on at the end. The editorial policy explains how pages are written and checked.
- How long does the Academy take?
- Each lesson takes about eight to ten minutes to read, so the six take under an hour in all. Most people read one or two at a time and try the suggestions on their own business in between.
- Is the Academy up to date with AI Overviews and AI Mode?
- Yes. The lessons were checked against Google’s own documentation in October 2026, including how AI Overviews and AI Mode use web pages and the Search Console report for AI features that reached every site on 31 August 2026. Each lesson shows the date it was last updated.
- Do I need any paid tools?
- No. Everything in the lessons uses free tools: Google Search Console, your Google Business Profile and your own website. Paid tools only become useful once you track many searches or competitors.
- Do I get a certificate?
- No. The Academy is for understanding your own business’s search presence, not for a qualification.
References
Sources
The official documents and research this page is based on. Platform rules change, so check the source before you act on a detail.
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