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One-to-one · Manchester or Zoom · no VAT

SEO Training

Learn to run your own SEO in a single day, taught one-to-one by Imran Hashmi. Both halves of the job: ranking in Google, and getting cited by ChatGPT and the other answer engines. Almost no UK course covers the second.

The choice

Two formats, both a full day, both one-to-one

Same curriculum, same 7 contact hours, 6 of the 7 sessions hands-on. The only difference is whose website we work on.

Learn it £499 one-to-one

Training Day

The whole curriculum, taught one-to-one and shown visually on real websites chosen to illustrate each problem clearly. You leave understanding the job and ready to do it on your own site.

  • All seven sessions, one full day, one-to-one
  • Taught on real example sites picked to show each issue plainly
  • Every tool demonstrated live so you can run them yourself afterwards
  • Written notes, a checklist and a 90-day plan to take away
  • Certificate of completion, plus 90 days of supervision and access to the in-house tools
  • You apply it to your own site afterwards, in your own time
Learn it, and leave with it done £999 one-to-one

Training + Implementation

The same full day, taught the same way, except we work on your website instead of an example. You learn it, we implement it together as we go, and you finish with the knowledge, a maintenance handover and a site that has measurably changed.

  • Everything in the training day, same curriculum, same depth
  • Every change implemented on your own live website as we go
  • Technical fixes, a rewritten money page, structured data and llms.txt, all live
  • Google Business Profile claimed or corrected during the day
  • A maintenance handover: how to keep it working without us
  • Before-and-after audit report showing exactly what changed

No VAT to add. We are not VAT registered, so the price you see is the price you pay.

Who takes it

Who this is for, and who it is not

Being wrong about this wastes your day as well as mine, so it is worth being blunt.

It suits you if

  • You own or run the business and can act on what you learn without asking three people first
  • You can put aside an hour or two a day afterwards. That is the honest maintenance cost
  • You are a marketing manager who has inherited SEO and needs to judge whether an agency is doing anything
  • You are a freelancer or web designer being asked for SEO and would rather know than guess

It does not suit you if

  • You want it handed over entirely. That is the done-for-you service, and it is a fair choice
  • You have no time at all afterwards. Knowing what to do and not doing it changes nothing
  • You are looking for a certificate that carries accreditation. Ours is attendance only and we say so
  • You want a guarantee of rankings. Nobody can honestly give you one
Both halves of the job

Google SEO and AI search, in one day

Most UK providers sell these as two separate courses. Buying both usually means two days, two fees and a beginners' prerequisite in between.

Classic SEO

Crawling and indexation, keyword research that starts from what people actually type, on-page work, local search and the Google Business Profile, and reading Search Console so the reporting means something to you.

AI search — GEO and AIO

Whether GPTBot, ClaudeBot and PerplexityBot can even reach your server, which is more often blocked than people realise; llms.txt; structured data an answer engine can quote; and the entity signals that decide whether you get named at all.

Where

Two ways to take it

The teaching is identical. Pick whichever is less hassle.

Who teaches it

Taught by the person who does the work

IH

Imran Hashmi

SEO since 2003. He teaches every session personally.

I have been doing this since 2003, and running my own SEO business since 2004, which is early enough that the job barely had a name yet and Google still rewarded things that would get a site removed today. Twenty-plus years of watching what works stop working is most of what I have to teach.

I started in television in London, working on search and digital for The Underwater Channel, a specialist TV channel run by the video platform Bablegum. This was the period when media companies were first working out that a website was not a brochure, and that a whole audience would arrive through search rather than the schedule. Doing it for a channel with a real broadcast audience is where I learned to work at scale and under scrutiny.

Then I stopped doing it for other people and did it for myself. From 2009 to 2014 I ran my own online retail businesses, building brands from nothing in webcams, LED lighting and electronic cigarettes. Every one of them was built on organic search. Those were not gentle categories either. Electronic cigarettes in particular were about as competitive as UK ecommerce got, with advertising restrictions that made paid acquisition largely unavailable, so organic was not a channel among several. It was the whole business.

That period taught me something a purely agency career would not have. I was selling on Amazon as well as on my own sites, and Amazon holds a certificate in my name for being a top seller over a Christmas trading period — the point in the year when getting it wrong is most expensive and there is no time to recover. Ranking on Amazon is a different algorithm from Google, with different signals and a much shorter route from position to revenue, and learning to do both is why I am comfortable saying I know what it takes rather than what the guides say.

That is the difference between me and a trainer who has only ever consulted. I have had my own money on the line, in markets where getting the SEO wrong meant no revenue that month rather than an awkward client call.

Along the way I have helped hundreds of businesses rank, across trades, ecommerce, professional services and local operators. Some of that was under my own name, most of it as SEO-Professional.co.uk, which I have traded as since 2004.

WhatIsSEO is that same business under a clearer name. Not a new agency with no history behind it, and not a rebrand hiding anything either. The domain and the branding changed because "what is SEO" is the question people actually type, and I would rather own the question than a job title.

You are not being handed to an associate. Every session is taught by me, one-to-one, and the whole point of the format is that you can stop me and ask anything at any point.

Since 2003Working in search before most of the current rulebook existed
Trading since 2004As SEO-Professional.co.uk. WhatIsSEO is the same business, renamed
London televisionSearch and digital for The Underwater Channel, run by video platform Bablegum
2009-2014: own brandsWebcams, LED lighting and electronic cigarettes, built from nothing on organic search
Top Amazon sellerCertificated by Amazon for a Christmas trading period. Ranked on Amazon as well as Google
Hundreds of businessesTrades, ecommerce, professional services and local operators
Teaches it himselfEvery session, one-to-one. No associates, no junior trainer
Afterwards

You are supervised for 90 days afterwards

The day ends at five o'clock. The relationship does not. For three months afterwards you are still under my supervision, which means you can send me what you have done and get a straight answer on it before it goes live rather than after.

It genuinely ends at 90 days. There is no auto-renewal, no subscription that starts quietly, and no upsell scripted into week eleven. If you want to keep working together after that you can, and if you do not, you leave with everything you were given.

Rather not be on your own?

Group and in-house training

If you would prefer other people in the room, a lower price per head, or your whole team trained at once, that is a different page.

FAQ

Questions about the training

How much does SEO training cost in the UK?

Public workshops generally run £250 to £600 plus VAT for a day in a room of six or more. One-to-one coaching is usually quoted at £75 to £150 an hour, so a full day sits between £600 and £1,200. Ours is £499 for the day taught one-to-one on real example sites, or £999 with every change implemented on your own website, and no VAT is added to either because this business is not VAT registered.

Is it one-to-one or a group?

One-to-one. Both formats on this page are you and me for the day, which is why you can stop and ask anything at any point and why the day bends around what you already know. If you would rather have other people in the room and a lower price per head, the group courses are on a separate page.

Do I need any SEO experience?

No. The day starts from what you already know, which is the advantage of teaching one person rather than a room. There is no prerequisite course to buy first, which is common elsewhere.

Do you cover AI search as well as Google?

Yes, and that is the main reason to pick this over a standard SEO course. Almost every UK provider sells classic SEO and AI search as two separate courses, so getting both means two days and two fees. Here they are one day, because in practice they are one job.

Manchester or online — is there any difference?

None in the teaching. Same curriculum, same hours, same person. Manchester is at 116 Bury New Road with lunch and parking provided; online is live over Zoom, screen shared both ways, anywhere in the world.

Will I actually be able to do my own SEO afterwards?

For most small business sites, yes, if you can give it an hour or two a day. That is the honest condition and it is the part people skip. If you cannot spare that, take the training to understand what good looks like and then hand the work over, which is a perfectly sensible reason to come.

Is there a certificate?

A certificate of completion, which is a record that you attended and what was covered. It is not an accredited qualification and we will not describe it as one. No SEO certificate in the UK is a regulated credential, whatever the marketing says.

What happens if I get stuck afterwards?

You get 90 days of supervision. Not a support inbox: you can send work before you publish it, ask why something moved, and get honest tool recommendations. It ends at 90 days with no auto-renewal and nothing scripted to sell you in week eleven.

Can you train my whole team?

Yes, but that is in-house training rather than this. It is delivered at your office or over Teams, tailored to your own site and sector. See the courses page for formats and prices.

Do you run training outside Manchester?

The online format is available anywhere in the world and is identical in content. In-house training is delivered on site anywhere in the UK. The only thing tied to Manchester is the in-person day at our own address.

Is it cheaper to learn SEO or hire an agency?

Over a year, learning it is far cheaper if you have the time. A typical UK retainer is £1,200 to £3,000 a month; the training day is £499 once. What the retainer buys is somebody else spending the hours, and that is a real thing to buy. The honest answer depends entirely on whether you have one to two hours a day, not on which is better value on paper.

What do I need to bring?

A laptop and logins to your own site, Search Console and Google Business Profile if you have them. If you do not have Search Console set up, we will do that on the day, and it is the single most useful thing most people leave with.