Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of optimizing your website and its content for search engines. It helps increase incoming traffic to a site and improve its visibility. Along with paid referencing (SEA), it is one of the components of Search Engine Marketing (SEM), which designates all the techniques allowing to obtain a better web positioning on Google or Bing.
Before embarking on the establishment of an SEO action plan on one or more sites, it is however necessary to define its objectives (positioning, increase in organic traffic, etc.) and to know the criteria and pillars of an SEO strategy. efficient.
Under pressure from the CNIL, Google adds a button to refuse cookies in Europe
First pillar: Technical SEO
According to’SEO agency SEARCH Factory, technical SEO is the first area to consider. It designates the optimization actions to ensure that its website meets the requirements of search engines such as Google and Bing in order to have the best possible positioning. This is a sub-domain of natural referencing which includes a multitude of technical elements, such as the performance of a website, the detection of broken links or coding errors or its structure.
To improve these elements, several steps are necessary. The first step is the keyword audit. In concrete terms, this means checking whether the keywords selected during your initial keyword research are suitable or whether changes need to be made. This audit can be done through competitive analysis to find out what keywords your competitors are ranking for and identify opportunities for ranking improvement. It is a way to discover new opportunities and areas for improvement to remain competitive. For example, it is possible to find keywords that your competitors are ranking for, but that you have not yet attempted to target.
Not conducting a technical audit is one of the mistakes to avoid when referencing your website. We are talking about an essential process to find out about one’s weaknesses. This can be crawling or crawlability issues, such as poor internal meshing, 404 errors, or duplicate content. So many elements that impact SEO and the user experience. This also concerns the optimization of the technical performance of your website, such as page display speed, accessibility or responsive design. The latter allows you to show that your site is suitable for different media, especially the web.
The third step involves making a sitemap. It is an architectural representation of your website. It determines the links between your pages, menus and categories. An optimal architecture ensures smooth navigation for Internet users, but not only. It greatly simplifies the indexing of your content by search engines. The more your site is well structured, the better it will be referenced.
It should therefore be said that it is essential to place natural referencing at the center of your development strategy. To avoid disappointments when going online, it is best to think about SEO from the start of the creation of your website or before the redesign of your website.
The second pillar: content
Content is at the heart of any SEO strategy. This must answer your target audience and the questions they might ask, for example “how to do their hair quickly”. It is necessary to identify the themes to be addressed that correspond to the Internet users who visit your website. Content (articles, advertisements, product presentations, etc.) must be perfectly understandable by search engines. For this, it is necessary to optimize the lexicon and the semantics used. It is an essential element to make your pages more accessible and to simplify the interpretation of the contents of your site by Google or Bing. This optimization aims to establish a link between the content of your web page and the queries entered by users. Another essential rule: the clarity of the content! Visitors to your sites should access your articles easily and read them as comfortably as possible.
In order to target your subject as accurately as possible, it is essential to choose a main keyword when writing an article. To target the right keywords, however, you have to take into account search volumes but also search intent. Some keywords will generate more traffic than others. All you have to do is change the wording to adopt the most effective one and do your keyword audit well beforehand.
Another important element is editorial briefings. Although they are sometimes forgotten during the SEO optimization process, they are nevertheless essential. They make it possible to identify the words on which to position oneself and the main content to be produced. It is important to establish the title tag, the ALT attribute of its images or the meta description so that the editor can deliver optimal content that generates organic traffic.
The third pillar: netlinking
Netlinking is one of the most effective levers in organic referencing. This consists of creating links on domains external to its site. These links, also called backlinks, contribute to the notoriety of your domain. The links must be numerous, relevant and of high quality. On Google, backlinks are among the three most important ranking factors for SEO.
However, this step must be undertaken at the appropriate time, that is to say when your site is already positioned on the targeted keywords. This strategy must be adopted to improve SEO, and go for example from the top 7-8 on Google to the top 1-3, or from the second page to the first page.
Obtaining an effective netlinking strategy requires setting up a robust methodology to promote your website and its content on search engines. Here again, a competitive analysis is essential to know the existing opportunities and the action plan adopted by its competitors.
Measure the performance of your SEO strategy
To know if your SEO strategy is effective, it is essential to measure its performance using platforms such as Google Analytics. It is essential to obtain the results on your organic traffic, to know the conversions generated thanks to SEO or, more generally, to know your return on investment (ROI). The Google Search Console is a tool that is also essential for carrying out monthly technical monitoring of your site. However, other tools make it possible to complete this technical watch, such as Screaming Frog.
Although SEO is constantly evolving, these three pillars remain fundamental to designing an effective SEO strategy. It is however necessary to carry out a permanent watch to know the new practices and techniques and to adapt the actions put in place.