Everything you need to know about GDPR compliance for SEO in 10 points

GDPR Compliance

Compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a crucial step that no company can afford to miss.

Not only does this guarantee better protection for the personal data of its customers and users, but it also optimises the use of its services. referencing natural or SEO of its website.

In this article, we present the 10 essential points you need to know about GDPR compliance for SEO.

1. Understanding the link between GDPR and SEO

Le GDPRThe Data Protection Directive (GDPR) is a European regulation designed to regulate and protect the use of citizens' personal data. It has applied since 25 May 2018 and affects all companies that collect, process or store personal data from users based in the European Union, even if the company itself is not located in Europe.

Le SEOor Search Engine Optimization, refers to all the techniques used to improve a website's position in search engine results, such as Google.

GDPR compliance for SEO therefore involves ensuring that personal data processing practices also comply with the quality criteria imposed by Google. So, as well as data protection, the GDPR also has an impact on natural referencing and website visibility.

2. Adapt your privacy policy

To comply with the GDPR, it is necessary to draw up a privacy policy This policy must be clear and detailed in order to inform users of personal data processing practices. This policy should include several sections, such as

The list of data collected (name, e-mail address, etc.)
The purposes of data processing
Whether the information collected is optional or mandatory
Data recipients
Data retention period
User rights (access, modification, deletion, etc.)
Means put in place to protect data security

3. Obtain explicit consent from users

Under the GDPR, the data controller is required toobtaining explicit consent users when they provide their personal data. In particular, this means setting up checkboxes that are not pre-ticked, so that users give their consent voluntarily. This approach applies to registration forms as well as to newsletterscomments and social network shares.

4. Use privacy-friendly cookies

The use of cookies is a common way of collecting information about users' browsing habits and analysing their behaviour. However, some cookies can be intrusive for the privacy of your users. It is therefore important to use GDPR-compliant cookies:

Not to use cookies to collect personal data without users' consent
Have a clear cookie management policy (retention period, purposes, etc.)
Provide an information banner allowing visitors to accept or refuse cookies

5. Encrypt data sent to the site

Securing data exchanges between your website and browsers is an important issue when it comes to protecting personal data. The use of an SSL certificate (HTTPS) encrypts this data and ensures that confidentiality is respected during transmission. This is also a criterion taken into account by Google for improve referencing of your site.

6. Avoid redirects to unsecured third-party sites

As part of SEO optimisation, it is essential to check that links pointing to external sites are secure and GDPR-compliant. It is preferable toavoid redirections to pages that do not guarantee the same level of protection for personal data.

7. Ensuring data portability

The GDPR introduces the right to portability data, which allows users to retrieve the information they have provided in a structured, machine-readable format (CSV, JSON, etc.). It is important to include this facility on your website to comply with this legal obligation.

8. Delete obsolete data

To comply with the GDPR and optimise your natural referencing, you also need to regularly check the relevance of data and delete those that are obsolete or unnecessary. This demonstrates that you take personal data protection into account.

9. Implement appropriate internal procedures

It's not enough to comply with the GDPR rules: you have to be able to prove it. To do this, you need to put in place internal procedures and documents attesting to compliance with the principles set out in the Regulation (register of processing operations, impact analyses, technical and organisational measures) and, above all, to update them regularly.

10. Work with reliable, compliant service providers

Finally, if you use external service providers to manage certain aspects of the processing of personal data (accommodationdatabase management, etc.), make sure that they too are up to speed. GDPR compliance. Don't hesitate to ask for contractual guarantees and include these requirements in your specifications your choice of service providers.

By complying with these 10 key points, you will be able to ensure that your website is GDPR-compliant while optimising its natural search engine optimisation. It is therefore essential to take into account the issues linked to the protection of personal data to improve the visibility of your company online.