Learn Search Engine Optimization from zero to advanced — free, open-source, and trilingual.
English · Português (BR) · Español
Most SEO resources are either shallow listicles or paywalled courses, and almost all of them are English-only. This is a single, complete, honest reference that:
- teaches SEO from first principles — a beginner can read it top-to-bottom, a pro can use it as a cheat sheet;
- is practical — copy-paste snippets, a curated set of free & open-source tools, libraries for every framework, and links to tag generators;
- practices what it preaches — the site itself is a reference implementation of clean meta tags,
hreflang, JSON-LD, a sitemap, Core Web Vitals, and accessibility; - is free forever and trilingual (English, Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish) so it's useful to as many people as possible.
A complete, 24-section curriculum, current to 2026:
| Foundations | On-site SEO | Beyond the page |
|---|---|---|
| How search engines work | On-page SEO | International / hreflang |
| Search intent & keywords | Technical SEO | Off-page & link building |
| Structured data (JSON-LD) | Content quality & E-E-A-T | |
| Core Web Vitals | Local SEO | |
| Image & video SEO | SEO for AI / GEO |
…plus measurement, common mistakes & black-hat to avoid, and four practical reference sections:
- 📋 Copy-paste snippets — SEO
<head>, Open Graph, Twitter,hreflang, JSON-LD,robots.txt,sitemap.xml(with one-click copy) - 🧰 Free & open-source tools — crawling, performance, analytics, rank tracking, link checking
- 🧩 Libraries by framework — Next.js, Astro, Nuxt, SvelteKit, WordPress, Django, Rails, Hugo, Python, Node
- ⚙️ Online generators — meta, schema, robots, sitemap, hreflang
- ✅ A printable SEO checklist, a glossary, and an FAQ
- ⚡ Zero build step — pure static HTML/CSS/JS. Fork it and it just works.
- 🌍 Trilingual with reciprocal
hreflangand a built-in language switcher. - 🌗 Light & dark themes (remembers your choice).
- 🧭 Sticky table of contents with scroll-spy, reading progress, and back-to-top.
- 📋 One-click copy on every code snippet.
- ♿ Accessible (WCAG-minded) and mobile-first, with a print-to-PDF stylesheet.
- 🔍 Exemplary on-page SEO: full meta, Dublin Core, Open Graph, JSON-LD, sitemap.
No dependencies or build tools needed — it's static.
git clone https://github.com/paladini/seo-basics-guide-definitive-edition.git
cd seo-basics-guide-definitive-edition
# serve it with any static server, e.g.:
python -m http.server 8000
# then open http://localhost:8000Optional — run the static validator (checks meta, hreflang, JSON-LD, anchors, links):
node scripts/validate-site.mjs| Language | Status | File |
|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸 English | ✅ Complete | index.html |
| 🇧🇷 Português (BR) | ✅ Complete | lang/pt-br/index.html |
| 🇪🇸 Español | ✅ Complete | lang/es/index.html |
Want to add a language or fix a translation? See CONTRIBUTING.md. Section anchors are identical across languages, which makes translating one section at a time easy.
This guide is built by the community, and every contribution is credited. You can:
- ✍️ improve or correct content,
- 🌍 translate (or start a new language),
- 🔧 suggest a great free/open-source tool we missed,
- ♿ improve accessibility or performance.
Read CONTRIBUTING.md to get started, and please follow our Code of Conduct.
If this guide helped you, a ⭐ helps others find it.
Released under the MIT License — free to read, share, and adapt. © 2026 Fernando Paladini.
- GEO Basics — Generative Engine Optimization (optimizing for AI answer engines)
- Dublin Core Basics — a friendly intro to metadata