Teaching SEO Since 2002, We’ve Learned One or Two Things
In 2002 the Winter Olympics were held in Salt Lake City, “Dapper Don” John Gotti died in prison, Peter Jackson released Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers…
…and Yahoo! was the number one search engine, with twice the market share of newcomer Google

Experience in SEO is a Good Thing.
Experience Teaching it is Better.
All of the instructors at the SEA come out of business, not technology, and the only reason we’re affiliated with Search Engine Academy is that each of us has a love of teaching what we know (which is also quite a lot, frankly).
Because we’ve all had the experience of being confused by techno-jargon, we take the time to explain things in plain, business English.

John Alexander, Co-Founder of Search Engine Academy
About The Search Engine Academy – Our History
It actually goes back farther than 2002. In the 90’s John Alexander was hired by a large franchise to train Internet Consultants with SEO skills. He trained small groups of business people from over 80 different countries.
At an early SES (Search Engine Strategies) conference in San Francisco John met Robin Nobles, already a known author writing about SEO. Later they partnered to conduct the very first hands-on SEO Workshop.
The Search Engine Academy was modeled after John and Robin’s first few SEO workshops, which began in San Antonio, Texas in January 2002. After realizing the need for quality SEO training, and because of the format of the smaller group classes, we realized the need to have SEO training Associates, and that’s when Search Engine Academy transformed from the work of 2 consultants to the alliance it is today.
Eventually affiliates of the Search Engine Academy would conduct standard workshop training on 5 continents.
Robin retired from the SEO industry in 2011. John Alexander remained active with Search Engine Academy until 2015, at which point he sold the Academy to a group of SEA associate instructors. Since the purchase the board of directors consists of Ross Barefoot (President), Steve Scott (Vice President), and Sue Cooper (Secretary-Treasurer).
About John Alexander
John Alexander was Director of Training and Education for Search Engine Academy workshops up until 2015 and remained active as adviser and mentor until his death in 2018. With expertise in behavior-related keyword research, SEO skills and lateral thinking strategies. John was author of the e-book called Keyword Forensics and has taught hundreds of small groups of students and business owners from over 87 different countries worldwide.
John assisted countless business owners as SEO clients during his career, helping them to gain the advantage of top organic rankings in Google and the other search engines that used to matter.
John had been speaker at sessions for the Search Engine Strategies Conferences and has written many articles for popular publications such as Search Engine Guide, Pandia Search Central, Webmaster Magazine and REALTORS.org to name a few.
About Our Associates
All Search Engine Academy Associates operate their own independent businesses and are Licensed Training Associates of the Search Engine Academy.
Their focus is to teach the same standardized curricula and impart a standardized methodology to using proper “white-hat” search engine optimization techniques.
Our curricula is continually updated by our Education Committee in order to keep up with the ever changing world of digital marketing and Search Engine Optimization.

Ross Barefoot
SEA President
Conducts workshops in: Colorado, Utah, Nevada
SEO Experience: Since 2002
Specialties: Web Development, Content Creation, Technical SEO, SEO Analysis

Steve Scott
SEA Vice President
Conducts workshops in: Florida and New York
SEO Experience: Since 1997
Specialties: Analytics, WordPress, Local SEO
Read more about Steve and the SEO Academy

Sue Cooper
SEA Secretary-Treasurer
Trainer, Australia
SEO Experience: 12 years
Specialties: Google Analytics, LinkedIn, WordPress

Mitch Albert
Co-Owner Orange County SEA
SEO Experience: 30 years
Specialties: Lead Generation, Dynamic Websites, PPC
Read more about Mitch and the Orange County Search Engine Academy

Eric Seropyan
Co-Owner Orange County SEA
SEO Experience: 10 years
Specialties: Lead Generation, Social Media Marketing, Brand Creation, Dynamic Websites, PPC
Read more about Eric and the Orange County Search Engine Academy

Miho Karlic
Search Engine Academy Europe
SEO Experience: 15 years
Specialties: SEO Design, Usability, Competitive Analysis, Structured Data
Read more about Miho and Search Engine Academy training in Europe
Contact Us
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