Natural referencing or SEO ( Search Engine Optimization ) in English, refers to all the techniques put in place to position a site , a page of a site or Google is by far the leading search engine with nearly 92% market share in France (Source: Stat Counter , January 2018).
Find the 8 things you absolutely need to know about SEO below!
1. Keywords
Before any implementation of a natural referencing on your website , you must define the right keywords. A keyword , in terms of SEO, is an expression related to your business (name, location and activity). It is therefore necessary to define a few keywords specific to your VSE / SME such as “florist”, “Marseille”, “floral composition”, etc.
When the Internet user goes to a search engine like Google , Bing or Yahoo , to find the information he needs, he will type what is called a query . The keywords you define must be related to it so that it finds the service it is looking for, to which you can respond.
2. Page layout
The layout of the pages of your site is also very important, whether for the user or for Google.
The more time the Internet user spends on your website, the more Google will favor your site and make it stand out in the search results . For the Internet user to browse for a while on your site, it must be well laid out and easy to use , otherwise he will leave very quickly.
- Some tips for organizing the pages of your website:
- Put titles to your paragraphs
- Illustrate your content with images and videos
- Organize your pages in a simple menu
- Air your content
3. Duplicate content
If there is one thing not to do in SEO, it’s “ duplicate content ”! This involves copying content from other websites and pasting it onto yours. Google wants original content and heavily penalizes those who don’t. Inspiring you does not mean copying!
When working on the natural referencing of your website, you may be tempted to go further and put your main keyword more times than what is dictated by Google, to add more links than necessary, … But this is the trap into which we must not fall! Google’s rules are strict and it will not hesitate to black-list your site (no longer offer it in the search results) if you try to “cheat” it.
4. The mesh
The mesh consists of putting links on words or groups of words in your content. There are 2 types of links: internal (to other pages on your site) and external (to pages on other sites than yours). In order to optimize your natural referencing , it is advisable to put internal and external links on your content. The number of links to add depends on the length of the content of your pages. On a text of 300 words, you can, for example, put two internal links and one external link.
The sites to which the links point must obviously be related to the subject of your content.
5. Updating your site
Update your site regularly is essential for its SEO . The more you update it, the more Google will value it. This involves adding news, customer reviews or achievements, for example. We advise you to do it at least every month or even every two months.
6. Local SEO
Today, more and more Internet users are looking for what they need on the Internet and
especially close to home. Local referencing works differently from national because it takes into account the geographical position of the Internet user. Someone who types “mason” on Google with his smartphone obtains different results if he is in Bordeaux or Strasbourg. For you to be visible in these results, it is important to create your Google My Business listing and work on your SEO locally.
7. Google Algorithms
Discover below the main Google algorithms , which are constantly updated. This is a set of operations carried out by Google to classify information by relevance and therefore best meet the needs of Internet users when they search for something.