SEO for online courses and education. The searches that buy, and what links cost.
Career-change and certification searches buy; general learning searches mostly don't.
Searches: DataForSEO, United States, English. Link prices: Placement API Backlink Price Index, September 2026. Collected 2026-09-28.
Ship· Page improvements
The searches that buy.
Buying and comparing searches with at least 100 a month, ranked by volume times what advertisers pay per click. These are the pages worth improving first.
- Outcome pages (salaries, job placement) support buying searches if the figures are real and sourced.
- Comparison searches between programmes are high intent.
| Search | Kind | Searches/mo | Ads CPC |
|---|---|---|---|
| bachelor's degree online programs | Comparing | 5,400 | $66.51 |
| online education masters degree programs | Comparing | 3,600 | $91.04 |
| online master's degree programs | Comparing | 5,400 | $54.38 |
| online course platform | Comparing | 9,900 | $25.59 |
| associate's degree online programs | Comparing | 3,600 | $52.09 |
| online degree programs for medical billing and coding | Comparing | 1,900 | $92.22 |
| paralegal certification courses online | Comparing | 6,600 | $22.51 |
| best online mba degree programs | Comparing | 6,600 | $20.58 |
| accredited online mba degree programs | Comparing | 1,600 | $71.04 |
| cheapest master degree programs online | Comparing | 2,900 | $37.49 |
| psyd online degree programs | Comparing | 3,600 | $30.13 |
| online vet tech degree programs | Comparing | 8,100 | $12.51 |
| online accredited master's degree programs | Comparing | 1,600 | $51.00 |
| best online master degree programs | Comparing | 2,400 | $32.27 |
| doctorate degree programs online accredited | Comparing | 1,900 | $38.32 |
| cheapest online doctorate degree programs | Comparing | 1,900 | $23.61 |
| online courses for medical coding certification | Comparing | 880 | $44.00 |
| online doctorate degree programs in business | Comparing | 1,300 | $23.80 |
| online medical billing and coding certification courses | Comparing | 390 | $44.65 |
| best free online courses with certification | Comparing | 1,000 | $13.13 |
- Lower quartile
- $85.50
- Median
- $170
- Upper quartile
- $325
| Claimed DR, all subjects | Websites | Middle half | Median |
|---|---|---|---|
| DR 20–29 | 48,775 | $81–$332 | $174 |
| DR 30–39 | 42,432 | $86–$357 | $171 |
| DR 40–49 | 20,524 | $111–$506 | $232 |
| DR 50–59 | 14,530 | $124–$641 | $260 |
| DR 60–69 | 6,135 | $213–$1,042 | $483 |
| DR 70–79 | 5,108 | $342–$1,647 | $726 |
| DR 80–89 | 834 | $506–$4,148 | $1,399 |
| DR 90–99 | 115 | $383–$3,651 | $1,062 |
Scale· Backlinks
What links cost here.
What websites in education ask for a link: the cheapest price for each website across every marketplace, suspect websites left out. Higher-rated websites cost more, as the table shows; these are asking prices, not what was paid.
Your numbers
Would links pay back for you? Enter what a customer is worth.
Each search is modelled moving from #7 to #4 into the top four. That takes 20 to 50 links depending on how well linked the results above are, priced from the table above: the education median, or a higher DR band where the competition is stronger. Half the modelled gain is counted, as a hedge against rankings that don't move as planned.
Starting assumptions for a typical online courses and education business, not data: replace them with yours. At these, each visitor from a buying search is worth $300.
20 of 20 buying searches pay back within 12 months.
$35,600/month for 3 months
A link budget that funds all of them at a natural pace, expected to bring in $465,750 a month once the links are live (risk-adjusted).
- Searches a month
- 2,900
- Extra clicks, #7 → #4
- about 128
- Value per visitor
- $300
- Extra revenue a month
- $38,400
- × 50% confidence
- $19,200/mo
- 20 links at $170
- $3,398
- Payback
- under a month
| Search | Extra revenue/mo | Payback | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| online vet tech degree programs | $53,400 | under a month | Worth it |
| paralegal certification courses online | $43,500 | under a month | Worth it |
| online master's degree programs | $35,700 | under a month | Worth it |
| online course platform | $65,400 | under a month | Worth it |
| online education masters degree programs | $23,700 | under a month | Worth it |
| associate's degree online programs | $23,700 | under a month | Worth it |
| psyd online degree programs | $23,700 | under a month | Worth it |
| best online mba degree programs | $43,500 | under a month | Worth it |
| cheapest master degree programs online | $19,200 | under a month | Worth it |
| bachelor's degree online programs | $35,700 | under a month | Worth it |
| best online master degree programs | $15,900 | under a month | Worth it |
| online degree programs for medical billing and coding | $12,600 | under a month | Worth it |
| doctorate degree programs online accredited | $12,600 | under a month | Worth it |
| cheapest online doctorate degree programs | $12,600 | under a month | Worth it |
| online doctorate degree programs in business | $8,550 | under a month | Worth it |
| online courses for medical coding certification | $5,850 | under a month | Worth it |
| accredited online mba degree programs | $10,500 | under a month | Worth it |
| online accredited master's degree programs | $10,500 | under a month | Worth it |
| online medical billing and coding certification courses | $2,550 | 1.3 months | Worth it |
| best free online courses with certification | $6,600 | 3.7 months | Worth it |
Extra revenue is risk-adjusted: 50% of the modelled gain.
Big, but not for links
Searches to answer, not to buy links for.
The biggest learning searches in this industry. Worth good content and internal links to the pages that sell; rarely worth link money.
| Search | Kind | Searches/mo |
|---|---|---|
| coding bootcamp | Learning | 90,500 |
| mba degree online programs | Learning | 33,100 |
| nursing degree online programs | Learning | 33,100 |
| online courses for cna certification | Learning | 27,100 |
| medical assistant degree programs online | Learning | 27,100 |
| lpn degree programs online | Learning | 22,200 |
| online ba degree programs | Learning | 18,100 |
| phlebotomy online courses certification | Learning | 12,100 |
Run this on your own site. With your real numbers.
Ship/Scale replaces the guesses on this page with your Search Console and analytics data, then shows which of your online courses and education pages would pay back.
Pro is $99/month. Free has no subscription fee: you pay your own AI and data providers. Backlinks cost extra on both plans.