Why we can’t teach SEO
David Edmundson-Bird
Principal Lecturer in Digital Marketing & Enterprise
Manchester Metropolitan University

Who the hell do I think I am?
• Principal Lecturer in Digital Marketing & Enterprise
• Course Leader for MMC PT MSc Digital Marketing and FT MSc Digital
Marketing Comms
• Original background AI systems for strategic management decision-
making (I was a backward-chaining, case-based reasoning and
pattern-matching specialist)
• Formerly Chief Learning Architect at Academee
• I helped set up Manchester’s 2nd web design agency in 1995

Where this rant comes from
• Every networking event ever:
• “Hey Dave, why don’t you teach
students how to do programmatic
on your course?”
• “Hey Dave, why don’t you teach
students how to do PPC ad buying
on your course?”
• “Hey Dave, why don’t you teach
students how to use Radian 6 on
your course?”
• “Hey Dave, why don’t you teach
students how to do SEO on your
course?”

So why can’t we teach SEO at University?
• I asked my friends in the SEO world what was technique in 2014 and
what was technique in 2017
• Imagine I’m teaching about SEO to first years in 2014
• If they did a 4 year sandwich they’d just have graduated and be in their first
roles
• So what would I have been mentioning to students learning about
SEO for the first time?

Teaching SEO in 2014
• Yeah site speed is not a big factor
• The PR team do all the outreach stuff, that’s why there’s a PR course
• What do people type into the search engine?
• Hey – no shitty links m’kay? Find them all and get rid of them
• Think about keywords and phrases

Teaching SEO in 2017
• OMG SITE SPEED MOBILE AAAARGH
• OMG You need to do proper PR outreach as an SEO
• OMG You need to think about the user experience
• OMG You should be doing AMP
• OMG You should be thinking about voice
• OMG people type words that have meanings and are questions
• OMG this thing called Knowledge Graph
• OMG schema
• Oh - and no one is bothered about shitty links, they don’t do much anyway

My Dilemma
• I want to make my grads work-ready
• I want to give them skills that have a shelf-life beyond 24 months

Work-ready SEOs
• University might be the best place to learn about
• WHEN to do SEO
• WHY do SEO
• WHAT SEO is
• WHERE SEO fits
• WHO does the SEO
• The best place to learn about HOW to do SEO (and how we do all the
other tactics and channels) is ‘on-the-job’

Where to learn HOW to do SEO
• On-the-job
• Short-term and basic
• In-course internship (gains live skills)
• In-course live projects (gains live skills)
• Part-time work (supplements income, gains live skills)
• Medium-term and intermediate
• Summer job (supplements income, gains live skills)
• Long term and deep
• Year-long placement (Provides a salary, gains live skills)
• Degree apprenticeship (Provides a salary, gains live skills)

On the University Programme
• WHEN to do SEO
• On advanced units about understanding the role of tactics in the digital marketing
mix and the customer journey
• WHY do SEO
• On introductory units about channels and platforms
• WHAT SEO is
• On introductory units about channels and platforms
• WHERE SEO fits
• On advanced units about understanding the role of tactics in the digital marketing
mix and the customer journey
• WHO does the SEO
• On advanced units about understanding the role of tactics in the digital marketing
mix and the customer journey

Your Takeaways
• I need you to give them on-the-job and live experiences in SEO
• I will give them the intellectual tools to be in a state of constant
curiosity about SEO and its role in the broader digital marketing
environment
• I need some specific SEO projects (short-term and basic) right now
https://goo.gl/XfE76e

Thank you – Ask Me Anything!
• Connect with me @groovegenerator
• Or search for ‘David Edmundson-Bird’ on your search engine of choice
• Or search for ‘groovegenerator’ on whatever is the latest social
platform
• Or give me one of those SEO projects (short-term and basic)
https://goo.gl/XfE76