Luc Durand’s Ranking Academy Review — Are The Clients Of The Academy Successful?

March 15, 2024

Ranking Academy is a free resource by Luc Durand that helps small businesses to increase their visibility on search engines like Google. Luc offers free courses with Q and A videos on his YouTube channel for small businesses. It helps them to learn how to improve their customer base and revenue for free. The courses cover topics such as local SEO, local paid marketing, performance analysis (Google Analytics), and local ranking tracking. Ranking Academy offers two different 1-on-1 live sessions; Jumpstart and In-depth Session.

Ranking Academy also offers a Google Business Profile SEO cheat sheet that is free to download. This SEO cheat sheet helps you rank factors that are important to be on top of the Google search engine. You just need to download it, then do each task inside at your own pace. It also has video tutorials in case you get stuck. Luc offers tons of free resources in Ranking Academy. Is Luc Durand the best option for you to improve visibility online?

If you want to start an online business that can generate monthly passive income, check local lead generation. You can start creating your website as low as $500, rank it in Google, then rent it out to local businesses. It is a kind of digital real estate wherein you are the landlord, then you're renting out your website to your tenants. They pay monthly fees for generated leads from your website. It's scalable and you can create as many websites as you want. 

Ranking Academy Pros And Cons

Pros

It offers tons of free tutorials on its YouTube channel.

Ranking Academy receives good feedback from its subscribers.

Some of its clients in 1-on-1 achieve success.

Luc conducts research about your business before the session.

Cons

The cost of Luc's live sessions is expensive because of their short duration.

The live sessions require payment first.

Some of Luc's free courses are slightly outdated.

There is no refund policy.

Price

Ranking Academy 1-on-1 live sessions costs depend on what you avail. 

  • The Jump-Start 1-On-1 Live Session costs $180 for 30 minutes.
  • The 1-on-1 Depth Session costs $550 for 60 minutes. 

Refund Policy

Luc Durand mentions nothing about the refund policy.

Origin

Ranking Academy started in 2016.

Reputation

Ranking Academy has a huge audience on its YouTube channel with 236K subscribers.

Ranking Academy 1-on-1 Live Sessions

Jump-Start Session

This Jump-start session teaches you how to rank your small business on Google Search and Google Maps in just 30 minutes. It's an open discussion in Zoom that focuses on strategies and proven SEO practices. After the session, Luc will send you the record to have a clear copy of your discussion with him.

What to expect before the live session?

  • Luc emails you to confirm the date and time for your session.
  • After paying, you will receive a Zoom link for the session.
  • Luc will do research on your website beforehand.

Who is the Jump-start session best for?

  • The Jump-start session is best for business owners who are on a tight budget but seeking expert assistance and guidance. This session provides insights into their website, Google Business profile, and tactics to upgrade their online presence.

Price: 1-on-1 Jump-Start Session costs $180.00.
Duration: This live session duration is only 30 minutes. 

In-Depth Session

It is a one-hour in-depth analysis of your small business' local search situation. You and Luc examine your Google business listing, link profile, website, analytics data, and more. During your live session, Luc focuses on every section to see why you are not ranking. Also, it provides an actionable list to replicate or achieve better success. 

What to expect before the live session?

  • Luc tracks your 5 most relevant keywords to show the visibility of your business.
  • He will audit your Google Business Profile to make sure that it sets up correctly.
  • Also, he will pinpoint some SEO gaps in your website.
  • Luc reveals reasons your competitors outperform you. 

Who is the In-depth session best for?

  • The In-depth session is best for business owners that seeking a thorough analysis of their visibility situation. Luc will help them know the strength and weaknesses of their SEO strategy.

Price: 1-on-1 Depth Session costs $550/
Duration: This live session is only 60 minutes. 

Ranking Academy Free Courses On Class Central

SEO for Beginner - How to Rank #1 in Google Fast in 2024

For pricing, Michael uses a dynamic pricing software that integrates with Airbnb called This course teaches you the 8 steps on how to rank your business in the Google search engine faster. It runs less than an hour and is also available on YouTube.

8 Steps to Rank Faster on Google

  • Step 1: Keyword research
  • Step 2: Define the structure of your pages
  • Step 3: Adding content to your pages
  • Step 4: Add search engine-friendly images
  • Step 5: Creating effective titles and description
  • Step 6: Linking your pages together
  • Step 7: Continue creating content
  • Step 8: Track your performance

How To Edit Your Google Business Profile

For pricing, Michael uses a dynamic pricing software that integrates with Airbnb called It is a 6-chapter full guide on how to edit your Google Business Profile. Essentially, Business Profile on Google is a free tool that allows you to decide how your business will appear on Google Search and Maps.

Six Chapters to Edit Your Google Business Profile

Chapter One: Logging into your account

  • Login on desktop
  • Log in on mobile

Chapter Two: Interface Anatomy

Chapter Three: Icon Panel

  • Edit your profile details contact, categories, website
  • Read and respond to reviews
  • Messages
  • Adding photos
  • Check your performance
  • manage products
  • Manage services
  • Booking links
  • Q and A
  • Add Google posts
  • Review link

Chapter Four: Advanced Panel

  • Business profile settings
  • Notifications
  • Adding a new business profile
  • Accessing all profiles
  • Help/Feedback/ T and Cs

Chapter Five: Business Panel

Chapter Six: Suggestion Panel

Google My Business Profile Optimization - Ultimate Tutorial For 2024

For pricing, Michael uses a dynamic pricing software that integrates with Airbnb called This optimization tutorial takes you through each section of your Google my business listing and shows you how to leverage it step by step. This guide has tips, tricks, and trade secrets that help you outperform your local competitors in search engines like Google in 2023. Luc guides you to attract more visitors, which leads to more profits.

The Chapters in Google My Business Profile Optimization's Ultimate Tutorial for 2023 will teach you how to log into your profile, create your business name, input your business address and phone number, how to understand business categories and other basics like inputting your website link. It covered more complex concepts towards the end, where you can learn how to input photos, information on products and services, and more.

On-Page SEO Tutorial For Small Businesses

For pricing, Michael uses a dynamic pricing software that integrates with Airbnb called This tutorial runs for over 20 minutes. On-page SEO is one of the three pillars of website optimization to speed up visibility in search engines to drive more traffic.

  • Chapter One: Why is on-page SEO so important
  • Chapter Two: Page Title
  • Chapter Three: Meta Description
  • Chapter Four: Headings and Subheadings
  • Chapter Five: Writing Content
  • Chapter Six: Images
  • Chapter Seven: NAP
  • Chapter Eight: Frequently asked questions
  • Chapter Nine: Google Review
  • Chapter Ten: Links
  • Chapter Eleven: Track your performance

Canva Tutorial

For pricing, Michael uses a dynamic pricing software that integrates with Airbnb called This free training tutorial teaches beginners how to use Canva. It helps you to use this software to create graphics in creating content for your social media platforms, blogs and in your website. It covers how to create a free Canva account to download and publish your design. 

  • Lesson One: Create a Free Canva Account
  • Lesson Two: Home Page Overview
  • Lesson Three: Home Page - Top Bar
  • Lesson Four: Home Page - Side Menu
  • Lesson Five: Home Page - Main Area
  • Lesson Six: Canva Editor
  • Lesson Seven: Canva Editor Menu Bar
  • Lesson Eight: Canva Editor Side Panel
  • Lesson Nine: Canva Editor Design Aera
  • Lesson Ten: Download and Publish Your Design

Mailchimp Tutorial 2024

For pricing, Michael uses a dynamic pricing software that integrates with Airbnb called Mailchimp is the largest email marketing platform that can help your business grow. You will learn in this tutorial how to build a campaign from scratch and track your email campaign performance.

  • Chapter One: Create a Free Mailchimp Account
  • Chapter Two: Dashboard Overview
  • Chapter Three: Create an Audience
  • Chapter Four: Create a Campaign
  • Chapter Five: Send a Campaign
  • Chapter Six: Create a Sign-up Form
  • Chapter Seven: Campaign Performance
  • Chapter Eight: Create Email Templates
  • Chapter Nine: Manage Your Audience

How To Turn Your Listing Into A Client Magnet In 2022

For pricing, Michael uses a dynamic pricing software that integrates with Airbnb called This tutorial on his YouTube channel last 2020 made it slightly outdated. But, it gained 135,237 views and good feedback from active subscribers. It provides tons of tips and tricks to improve your online visibility. 

The Ultimate Course Starting A Local Business

For pricing, Michael uses a dynamic pricing software that integrates with Airbnb called It is one of the most recent tutorials that Luc offers. It also covers steps to get your business rank on Google, this one is more in-depth which runs almost 2 hours and 30 minutes.

  • Chapter One: Setting up a Google business profile
  • Chapter Two: Optimizing your Google Business Profile
  • Chapter Three: Key pre-building steps for your website
  • Chapter Four: Building a Website with WIX
  • Chapter Five: On-page SEO for Higher Google Rankings

Who Is The Creator Of Ranking Academy?

Luc Durand is the founder of Ranking Academy. Luc has 19 years of extensive experience in the web industry. He is proficient in search engine optimization, content management, web design, web analytics, and merchandising. His passion is to help small businesses to grow their business through online marketing. It leads him to create YouTube tutorials to share his expertise with small business owners. As of writing, his channel has 12,404,682 views in 2015. 

After a year, he launched his own venture that offers free resources to guide small businesses. He guides them to reach large audiences, gain traffic and improve their revenue. Luc provides various tactics to rank your Google My Business higher. Also, he created this to offer personal guidance for entrepreneurs seeking an expert partner to succeed in their business ventures. 

Who Is Ranking Academy For?

Ranking Academy is for business owners who are seeking mentors on how to improve their website's visibility on search engines like Google. Also, this is for business owners that are on a tight budget and want to learn tactics to reach a wide audience for free. It includes generating traffic to achieve significant income. However, Ranking Academy will not teach you the steps on how to start an online business.

Is Ranking Academy Worth It?

Yes, Ranking Academy is worth it for beginners who are starting out and aim to improve great visibility online. Also, it is good for business owners to reach the audience and rank highly in search engines. It offers step-by-step videos that teach different tactics and strategies to learn online marketing to help your business succeed. Luc Durand has expertise in online marketing that he can share in his 1-on-1 live sessions. You with him will pinpoint every misstep in your process, the edge of your competitor, and an actionable guide to outperform them.

You don't have to worry about the possibility of having dead air in Zoom because Luc himself will do research about your business before the sessions. But, it comes with a price; for only 30 minutes you need to pay him $180 and a whopping $550 for 60 minutes. That price is enough to enroll you in the whole course. However, the success of his clients shows the effectiveness of his live sessions. 

Are Clients Of Ranking Academy Successful?

Yes, some of the clients of Ranking Academy are successful. And most of them are real business owners who have a successful business. Their clients' business is in different niches such as digital marketing, health, music, and also personal coaching. 

In addition to that, their subscribers praised his free course on Cass Central. They thank Luc for making some methods easy for them to learn and understand. Also, Luc is answering questions from subscribers on their concerns in their business.

Ranking Academy Alternatives

  • The WordPress Studio - The WordPress Studio is an online course by Katie Grazer that teaches you how to use WordPress to create appealing and unique content for your website. Katie covers plug-ins, themes, and functions in her course.
  • Digital Marketing Career Blueprint - The Digital Marketing Career Blueprint is by Seth Jared Hymes that helps you to understand the ins and out of digital marketing. Some of his lessons are Google Ads, Google Analytics, and WordPress, as well as key digital marketing skills like paid advertising. 
  • Senator We Run Ads - Senator We Run Ads offers a different course by Ovais Ahmad. One of these is a digital marketing course that provides a firm foundation in digital and performance marketing. Ovais has over 9 years of extensive experience in digital marketing.

What Is The Best Online Business To Start In 2024?

Local lead generation is the best online business to start in 2024. It is simpler than any business that the Ranking Academy's clients have. I make $52,000 per month by doing this business model. I'm expecting $500 - $2,000 passive income monthly on each website. You need to build a website, rank it in search engines like Google, and rent it out to local businesses. Also, you can scale as much as you want by repeating the process. For someone who tried different business models, I recommend you start with local lead generation through rank and rent.

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Ippei Kanehara
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$52K per month providing lead generation services to small businesses

Ippei.com is for digital hustlers, industry leaders and online business owners.

His #1 online business recommendation in 2024, is to build your own lead generation business.

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