People say it's not too difficult to learn SEO. So I wish to know in general how long it might take for one person to learn it? Say, one year? or more with no computer knowledge background?
It really depends on how intent and focused you are in learning it. I know of folks who have gained massive knowledge in SEO in just 2 months by making sure that they read and understand key sources of information on SEO such as:
1. Webmaster guidelines of the search engines
2. Press rooms and announcements of the search engines
– Google Press Releases http://googlepress.blogspot.com/
– Yahoo! Press Room http://yhoo.client.shareholder.com/press/releases.cfm
– Microsoft Press Room http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/newsroom/msn/default.mspx
3. Key blogs on SEO such as Matt Cutts Blog http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/
4. Forums where SEOs gather to discuss, share insights and learn from each other
– DigitalPoint's Yahoo Forums (http://forums.digitalpoint.com/forumdisplay.php?f=6)
– WebmasterWorld.com http://www.webmasterworld.com
– SearchEngineWatch's MSN Forums http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/forumdisplay.php?f=8
5. Attendance in important SEO conferences attended and organized by the key players in the search engine optimization field such as
– Search Engine Strategies http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/
– Brett Tabke's Webmasterworld Pubcon http://www.pubcon.com/
– Danny Sullivan's http://searchmarketingexpo.com/
Books and ebooks can give you some of the basics of SEO, but often changes have already been made in the algorithms before the book is published making the book or ebook a little outdated at best. Forums are the best way to learn of the current trends in SEO because every single hiccups of the search engines are dissected in the forums
