What is SEO? This is a question that often comes up when discussing the subject of the positioning of a website. You’ve heard of natural referencing, but you don’t really understand why it’s important for your blog or your e-commerce store? After reading this article, you won’t know everything there is to know about search engine optimization or user experience. The subject is vast (and fascinating, I assure you) and it would take much more than one article to understand SEO. But you’ll learn enough to realize the incredible benefits of optimizing your editorial content. Can have for the visibility of your website. If you’re just wondering what SEO is for, I want to congratulate you. You have just climbed the first step that will allow your site to reach the first page of the SERP, that is to say, the list of results that appear when you type words in the search bar.
What is SEO? Quick and easy definition
Let’s take a concrete example: the purchase of a pair of shoes. In real life, a customer looking for shoes will go shopping. He will stroll in front of the windows, enter a shop, then another and will be tempted by one, or even several pairs in your shop. The shopping trip is often a moment of relaxation that you share with your spouse or friends. This is not the case for the web. The Internet user is in a hurry and wants to find his pair of shoes quickly. It will type what is called a key query into the search bar. For example: “Where to find running shoes in Nimes”. He will thus obtain a list of websites that will answer his question.
If he did not click directly on the first site or if he did not find what he was looking for, he will look at the first 3, or 4 results on the first page. Do you see what I mean? 91% of Internet users do not go beyond the first page of Google. If your site appears on the second page, it will be almost invisible. If it is positioned in the first results of Google, you will have more chance that the Internet user visits your site and buys your product. But to know what SEO is, you have to look at the bowels of the beast: the search engine algorithm.
How to optimize a website?
Now that you can answer the question “what is SEO?” without blushing, it’s time to know what techniques you need to know to consider hitting the first results of Google. I don’t hide from you that it’s a job that takes a lot of time and that must be done over the long term if you want to succeed. But I know that you have the eye of the tiger (like Rocky) and that you are ready to fight to get on and stay on the podium.
SEO allows Internet users to access your site by typing a query that interests them. They arrive at you, not by chance, but because your site appears in the results which can answer their request. Nice no? You have before you a multitude of potential buyers who are just waiting to find the solution to their question on your site. You still have to be present in these results and for that, you must publish quality and optimized content.
A good configuration of the site
Neglecting the optimization of your website is like opening a roadside restaurant on a departmental road prohibited for heavy goods vehicles. You can have the friendliest restaurant in the area with an enticing menu and bargain prices, if the clientele you are targeting never passes by your house, the room will remain empty. First of all, it is important to check that your site is properly configured. You will find many explanations on the site of Olivier Landrieu. If you know a bit about computers, you can choose to do it yourself. You will find tutorials and articles that will help you understand SEO. But if you are really new, I advise you to call a webmaster. This will certainly save you from many pitfalls and allow you to start on a good footing.
SEO editorial content
Once your site structure is in top form, it’s time to get down to business. You will find a lot of information on the web that will allow you to get started in writing your articles. But if you don’t have a chatty pen and the technique bothers you, you can hire a ghostwriter, and If you don’t know how to hire a ghostwriter. The content of your pages must meet Google’s requirements (presence of keywords, the richness of the semantic field, HTML markup, etc.) but, above all, it must appeal to Internet users with relevant information, appropriate vocabulary, clear page, and smooth reading.
External and internal links
In short, Google’s algorithm travels the web through the links on the pages. If it does not contain outgoing links, that is to say pointing to another of your pages or to another site, he will turn around: “Hey oh! Can you hear me downstairs? There is an echo in the abyss of Google. “. If you want your page to be indexed, it’s important to include links (although not all of them need to be indexed. But that’s another story). Internal links keep the user on your site. He will be able to browse it, appreciate it, come back to it, and why not, subscribe to your newsletters or make a purchase.
How does Google’s algorithm work?
Search engine algorithms all work pretty much the same way. We can only make assumptions, because Google, Bing or Yahoo keep their recipe secret and regularly bring ingredients to which professionals must adapt. Every day, robots scan the thousands of web pages posted online. They rank them according to defined criteria such as relevance (what the page is about) or popularity (how often the page is read). When the Internet user types a key query in the search bar, the algorithm will search for the articles, which for him, are more likely to give a relevant answer to the Internet user.
The secrets of the algorithm
If a few years ago, it was enough to repeat the keywords several times in the text to appear in the first results, this time is over. Today, Google’s algorithm tends to work like the human brain. Google has only one goal: to provide the best user experience. It seems to work since 90% of searches are done on this search engine. To keep its Internet users, Google has therefore developed an increasingly demanding algorithm.
As they show themselves to be good players at Google, they give each year a guide to good practices to be well referenced. Except that they only disclose the broad outlines and the algorithm is updated regularly. Web professionals need to experiment and research to find the best techniques because SEO is constantly evolving. This is what makes the exercise of writing for the web both subtle and exciting.
Google’s algorithm is one-eyed and illiterate
OK, I’m exaggerating a bit. But to fully understand, you have to put yourself in the place of the machine. The robots will “crawl” the page, that is to say they will explore it and try to detect what it is about. For this, they will scan the URL (the address of the article), the title (main title), the secondary titles and the words present in the article. If you want your editorial content to be well understood by the algorithm and have a chance of reaching the first results, it is essential to make it easier for it.
Without a good layout and strategic HTML tags, the algorithm will only see a big fuzzy block. It will quickly move on to something else without even indexing your page that is to say without bothering to add it to its ranking. Needless to say, your article is nowhere near seeing the light of the first page of the SERP. But nothing is lost! Now that you know what SEO is for, you can review your copy and start optimizing your content. The next time the search engine comes to visit your pages again, you’ll be ready.
Why hire an SEO web editor?
After reading this article entitled “What is SEO?” », you tell yourself that you have understood everything without taking the lead and that you can very well take charge of writing your content. Indeed, it is quite possible. By gleaning information from the web or by following a training course, you can learn the basics and improve your skills. But then why hire an SEO web editor?
Like any web entrepreneur, your core business: it’s your business. You may not have the desire or the time to devote to writing your articles. And then, I didn’t tell you everything. A good SEO web editor will not only allow you to gain visibility, but it will also help you keep readers on your site and invite them to take action by subscribing to your newsletter for example.
