Today, with the emergence of increasingly powerful digital tools, having a website is no longer a strength – it is a necessity. And it’s no longer enough to position a company; brands need a powerful and dynamic site that helps them build and maintain a strong relationship with their audience, in addition to making them stand out from the competition.
While most companies understand the real value of a website, some don’t grasp the importance of an optimised site. Yet SEO is a powerful tool that shouldn’t be underestimated! Neglecting it would be like leaving a restaurant without having dessert: you know you’ll regret it ?
But what is SEO?
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), more commonly known as “natural referencing”, is the set of non-paying techniques used to improve the ranking of a website within search engine results.
SEO covers a wide range of factors that have a rather important impact on page ranking, and that are grouped into three broad categories:
Technical activities
The basis of SEO involves technical activities. These comprise all direct modifications made to the website, which are addressed to search engines’ robotic analysis systems, sending them a certain amount of precise information to help the page be found and considered.
This information includes the titles and meta descriptions. A title is said to be optimised if it comprises 14 to 40 characters and is concise, strategic and able to provide results to a precise search made by the Internet user. It is therefore important to put yourself in the user’s shoes if you are to anticipate how s/he will formulate their requests.
As for the meta description, it is a code inserted into a page’s HTML code. It appears just below the title and includes the site’s key information, hence facilitating the Internet user’s search by providing answers to the first questions s/he asks.
Other technical elements can also be improved so it is easier for robots to process them, allowing your page to be referenced properly.
While these first steps are not enough to enjoy a good ranking amongst search results, they can be detrimental to your page if they’re neglected. They must therefore be followed carefully, according to a well-established strategy.
Strategic activities
Here, we’re talking about all marketing tools that will enable your brand to analyse customers’ online behaviour to easily target them using the appropriate content.
This targeting involves the use of strategic keywords, making it possible to provide the Internet user with relevant information related to their search, while positioning your company against the competition, with unique and original content.
Choosing the right keywords is thus a very important step, as they will influence your company, brand or product/service’s visibility. They must be both popular enough to answer a large number of searches, while remaining sufficiently specific to convey your identity and help you stand out from the competition.
Selecting and using the right keywords is a long and tedious process, but the results are seen over the long term.
Referencing activities
SEO is about using quality content to rank your page or website as highly as possible amongst search engine results. Your content is unique to your brand and represents a real opportunity for your company to stand out through its unique approach. Well-crafted content is a great asset to increase your chances of getting good SEO.
On the one hand, a website’s content must offer at least one answer to a specific search – if not, Google (or another search engine) will decide it doesn’t meet said request and will therefore downgrade its ranking on the results page.
On the other hand, content is said to be optimised when it is concise, easily understandable, well spelled, striking, original and interesting. Relevant keywords are then used, along with a link-building strategy to increase the page’s reputation. The goal is to make user experience pleasant using quality elements.
Focus on the advantages of SEO
An SEO-optimised website is a great way to gain visibility! With a real strategy, SEO allows you to naturally target people interested in your company’s products or services. Unlike advertising, which intends to reach customers, SEO guides them to your brand.
This valuable digital tool forms part of your marketing strategy, helping your business easily increase sales, at no extra costs!
Building customer loyalty is a major challenge for companies, but with SEO-optimised content, user experience is facilitated. Only a few words typed into the search engine and customers are guided to the best proposals likely to interest them! It is up to you to have a good SEO so you appear amongst the firsts!
Natural SEO can’t be a one-off thing. It is a long and tedious process requiring real expertise and much-needed regularity! What worked 20 years ago is no longer appropriate today – we must always try to adapt to new methods and problems, because customers’ needs evolve and the demand changes.