An evaluation is always tied to the value it provides in relation to the paid price.

On the plus side:

1) It provides an interesting historical perspective of Search Engines, their evolution and the evolution of the algorithms and their purposes.

2) Rebeka May talks slowly and clearly. The transcripts also help in reviewing the contents of each lesson.

On the minus side:

1) It is very theoretical and with no practical application.

2) Lots of terminology pops out of the blue without any prior explanation, and would be difficult to understand for a total newbie. Just as a very simple example, backlinks are mentioned several times. What is a " backlink" ?? I know what they are, but not everybody does.

3) There should be real support material, not merely " transcripts"

4) The Peer review does not make any sense. There should be a real test. The peers do not have a "higher" knowledge level to make an evaluation of the alummni.

5) It is not possible to take the quizzes unless you " upgrade" . Presently this costs $ 80.

Conclusion: it is an interesting course, but at $ 80 provides no value.Audit the course instead. UC Davies and Coursera should provide this course free of charge or with a voluntary "donation"

It is a good intro for somebody like myself with no background. An entire section was dedicated to getting a job in the field which wasn't useful for me. The course is also 4 years old, and while much of the reading is new, I wish it focused more on tactics and less on the history of search (another whole section).

Chapter 1 & 2 are mainly dedicated for SEO careers.

Chapter 3 is only a description of Google SEO updates.

Chapter 4 is just a wrap-up video

Very disappointed by the content of this course

I think you should focus more in SEO basics and not so much in jobs, history and things like that.

As a web developer, I found that I already knew about 98% of the information presented. The final 2% I could have found faster via a Google search than by watching the lectures. It was also a little strange to me that the course began with a segment on job opportunities and how to begin a career in SEO. I feel this would have made more sense after an introduction to the material.

I also did not like that the free version of the course did not allow you to complete any of the assignments, as this has not been the case in my other Coursera courses. Not only were you unable to assess your comprehension of the material because of this, but also it meant receiving annoying emails and notifications that I had not completed the module. In other classes I have taken, there are additional resources and content for the paid users. As it stands, I'm really glad I did not pay for this class.

I will continue to the next SEO course, because I'm hoping that it will delve more into the technical aspects of optimization, but I am not pleased with the format so far.

Some interesting history on SEO. Too much on getting employed as an SEO professional.

after watching so many videos like "how i got started on seo" "how to find a job as seo" "how to answer in an interview for SEO jobs" I've realized this course really needs to focus on what people wants to hear. We want to learn SEO not how someone got started on seo!

I found this intro course to be more intense and simultaneously more valuable than I expected it to be. I've already gained new insight and learned techniques I can put into practice now. Brilliant.

An extremely well thought out and structured course. Absolutely loved all the lessons, quiz and reading material. I am motivated to continue through the rest of the courses in this specialization.

A lot of unrelated information for an introduction in the 1st 2 modules.

A great fundamental breakdown of SEO strategies that you need to know in order to further understand the field. Very well designed course that is perfect for someone who is new to the field of SEO!

Unfortunately, this wasn't what I expected from the course. Maybe since I didn't take specialization but I feel that this course was too theoretical. I understand the history of SEO but I'm not confident how useful it'll be in real-life/commercial sense.

For a beginner, this course helps you to understand what SEO is and how a search engine works. The course also helps you to find out what basic strategies you can apply to your own site or business.

I audited the course, so take that as you will, but:

I was diligent about watching all the videos and doing all the reading. Overall, I feel like I came away with good information and basic understanding. However, I often found the lectures a little disorganized...or perhaps mis-organized would be a better description. As a result, there was a lot of repetition of things I don't really think needed to be repeated as much. I ended up organizing my notes in a way that made more sense and had a better flow.

I think starting with the overview of SEO as a part of a larger Digital Marketing discipline was good, but should have been followed with how a search engine works, then history of search engines. Where that section ended with AdWords should have been followed by Algorithms and Updates, which could be done chronologically and then broken down into sections of "Best Practices" and "Worst Practices" since the updates and new algorithm releases either sought to eliminate worst practices or enhance the user experience (and thus falls under best practices). That could be followed by What To Do if Penalized. End the course with the focus on a career in SEO. Just my two cents.

The first course in this specialize should really be called "a history of SEO." Only the week 4 material had the material that you are seeking to learn about.

Great course, very informative!! I can tell the classes are starting to be structured differently though. Not too much meat to this first course... reserving my opinion, until I go through a few more.

The way of explaining the terms is excellent and content is very good . I leant many new things from this course. Going to do all the courses of this specialization. Thanks for the wonderful content.

The course was so informative and helped me find out what are my next courses that I have to learn and acuire in order to know more about SEO and develop my abilites in the field of content Writing.

I highly recommend this course. I particularly liked the breakdown of the history of SEO and the changes in the algorithm. It gives you a lot of context on why things have changed. I think it helps to train you to look at SEO as a way of bettering the search landscape.

Lectures are far too short, and for some reason follow the "tell them what you're going to say, say it, then tell them what you said" approach. Yeah, not necessary when the "lecture" is only 1 minute long. The course would be 10 minutes shorter if they just did lectures like every other lecturer.

Glosses over lots of stuff with little depth. You need to watch the later courses to see how to actually apply some of this stuff which makes it quite frustrating. It's like the sort of quality you get on Udemy, which is disappointing. Still, at least the course is free...