The SEO or Natural SEO optimization in the search engines is one of the best marketing levers. However, it is often experienced as a complicated task, even insurmountable as it includes a large number of parameters. However, with the right method and regular work, SEO is within reach of all businesses. Whether you are an entrepreneur, marketing manager or new to SEO, in this comprehensive guide you will discover all the knowledge you need to master to get off to a good start.
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What will you discover in this SEO guide?
Here are the 6 sections of this full article on SEO best practices. In this guide we take you through the basics, but there is always more to discover. For that, go to our training!
- First, you will discover a definition of SEO and an explanation of its importance in the referencing of the pages of your website.
- Then we will see how the search engines work. Google is arguably the most widely used tool in the world. It is essential to know its inner workings well to take advantage of it.
- The SEO today! SEO techniques have evolved enormously since their inception. Apply good practices and avoid doing prehistoric SEO ...
- On-site and off-site optimization (internal / external to the site): these terms give you the headache? However, they represent the keystone of natural referencing. We explain everything from definitions to techniques to adopt.
- The key elements of on-page optimization : let's explore optimizing your site in depth. We will see what the elements to create are or modify to observe the first results.
- Finally, we give you the keys to the SEO action plan . How to plan your SEO strategy? How to measure the impact of the actions you put in place? You will then have all the knowledge to launch your strategy tomorrow .
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Definition and importance of SEO
Let's start with the first section, and look at the definition of wikipedia:
“Search engine optimization agency (SEO) is a set of techniques aimed at promoting understanding of the theme and content of one or all of the pages of a website by search engines. [...] The objective of this process is to orient the positioning of a Web page in the search results of the engines on keywords corresponding to the main topics of the site. "
SEO is therefore a set of actions that aim to promote the ranking of a site in so-called "natural" search results, as opposed to so-called "paid" advertising links.
At the heart of SEO are the search engines. In other words: as long as Google offers natural search results, there will be SEO.
The techniques to promote SEO evolve with the updates of search engines . These are constantly developing improvements in order to offer the best possible results to Internet users. SEO is therefore not set in stone: it tries to adapt quickly and efficiently to the changing demands of search engines.
SEO therefore means allowing Google to understand that the content of your site is the best qualified to respond to Internet user searches. This strategy takes time and the benefits do not come overnight but are sustainable. Your site will continue to rank high in search engine results even if it is idle for a few weeks, unlike paid search.
Why is SEO so important? Why should you invest in this strategy to improve your web presence?
93% of online experiences start on a search engine. In addition, visitors who arrive on your site through this channel are much more engaged than those who come from a social network. It makes sense: they typed keywords into the search bar because they had a real need, a real desire to find an answer to their question.
If we had to give you one number and only one to convince you of SEO effectiveness, it would be this: SEO leads have a conversion rate of 14.6%. This is almost 10 times more than the outbound prospecting methods.
How do search engines work ?
In this article, we won't actually be talking about search engines, but rather Google. Why ? Quite simply because 94% of Internet users use Google!
The 6-step process of Google's work
Google operates according to a standard scheme which breaks down into several stages.
- First, it scans the web from link to link using robots to index the pages that have just been created.
- Then, it analyzes the identified sites and pages : it observes the positioning of keywords, popularity.
- Once this work is done, he uses all the data he has to classify the different sites .
- It saves the scanned pages in its cache memory.
- Then it interprets and compares the results against the queries of Internet users.
- Finally, it delivers a list of responses: this is the Search Engine Result Page better known as the SERP .
The importance of backlinks
Are all these points equal? Not really. Your priority should be set on inbound links because among the 200 criteria used by Google to rank pages and websites, popularity is the most important. The search engine star considers that a site is better than others if it has more backlinks .
But beware ! Google doesn't just count the number of inbound links to your site, it also judges their quality . Basically, it's better to have 10 qualitative backlinks than 100 from sites that are not very interesting from an SEO point of view.
So what exactly is a quality link?
It's a link that comes from a site:
- popular and therefore who has a lot of traffic
- who has authority
- related to the theme of your own site
- That you have not paid to place a preference link: Google does not recommend this process. He may penalize you for it.
But that's not all, the links must also appear in the body of the page and use a relevant anchor .
Understand the concept of keyword
Now let's move on to an essential part of SEO : keywords .
A keyword is simply the word or words that users type into the search bar of Google or any other search engine (Bing but also Youtube). It is also called a query or even a key query .
The keywords are divided into 2 categories:
- The main keywords are directly related to your activity or your products. We always choose only one per web page. Essential to work with, these requests are the ones that will attract your Buyer Persona the most.
- The secondary keywords are the ones you would like to rank on to gain more traffic. They represent a welcome addition but are very numerous. You must therefore know how to choose them carefully.
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How to find keyword ideas?
Several solutions are available to you. You can :
- determine the words used by your Buyer Persona
- study the pages of your competitors
- observe the searches carried out in the search bar of your own site
- browse social networks
- use SEO tools: Google Trends, Google Ads, Semrush, etc.
How to sort through the keywords found and choose the best performing ?
First of all, you will have to compare the search volume of different keywords expressing the same need. Search volume is the number of times a keyword has been typed into a search engine in a month. Your main keyword should be the one that is the most popular.
For example, let's say you sell rain boots in your online store. Which keyword will you choose? Here is the volume of 2 of them:
- rubber boots: 246,000
- rain boots: 12 100
Obviously, the first solution is the most interesting because it can potentially attract 20 times more traffic than the second. You can find this type of information using tools like Semrush for example.
But is it that easy? Unfortunately no ! Now let's look at another important criterion to take into account: competition .
Take the example of rain boots. Here is the competition score of the chosen keywords:
- rubber boots: 73
- rain boots: 47
47 is a pretty high score. 73 means that the task is almost impossible. In summary, these scores show that competition is very present on these two requests. If your site is relatively new, you will have a lot of trouble positioning yourself on the first page of the SERP on these keywords.
Older, more popular sites with better SEO performance will not be threatened by your arrival on the market, at least initially. Regular efforts over a long period of time will help you to reverse the trend
Long tail keywords
So how do you position yourself when you have just launched your site? Fortunately, solutions exist!
You can rely on long tail keywords. These are longer requests (from 3 or 4 words) and therefore more targeted. Their advantages are numerous.
They have a smaller volume but the competition is also lower.
They convert better because they are used by Internet users who know exactly what they are looking for.
They are numerous, almost infinite, and allow you to set up a powerful white label digital agency.
They support the work of head keywords (short and generalist like “boots”) in parallel as they are included in the long tail query.