Best SEO practices to boost your ranking

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SEO best practices

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It's not always easy to immerse yourself in the world of natural search engine optimisation (SEO) and apply tips to improve your site's visibility on search engines, such as Google.

Here's an article outlining the best SEO practices to follow in order to increase the chances of your site appearing among the top results on Google and other search engines.

1. Choose your keywords carefully

Choosing the right keywords is crucial to optimising your site for search engine optimisation. In order to generate qualified traffic, you need to target those that really correspond to the content and the intention sought by users. Take the time to study the relevance of and competition for the keywords you select.

Do some in-depth keyword research

Use online tools to make a list of relevant keywords for your business and study their popularity and competition. The more popular a keyword is, the more difficult it will be to position yourself on it, but it will also bring in more visitors. Try to strike a balance between highly competitive keywords and those with less competition but which are interesting for your target audience.

Think about local requests if necessary

If your business is based locally or caters for a regional audience, don't forget to include geographical terms in your keywords. This will not only generate local traffic, but also improve your ranking in local search results.

2. Optimising the content of your site

In the world of natural referencing, it is often said that content is king. It is essential to offer content that is relevant and attractive to your visitors, while incorporating your keywords appropriately, without overusing their repetition, which could be penalised by the search engines.

Create unique, high-quality content

Avoid the duplicate content (duplicate content) and work on creating original content that is relevant to your audience. Adherence to editorial standards and structuring are two crucial elements that not only promote better user experiencebut also better referencing.

Write attractive title tags and meta descriptions

Title tags and meta descriptions are important levers for encouraging Internet users to click on your link in the SERP (search engine results pages). Give them the attention they need by working on their wording and inserting your main keywords sparingly.

3. Improve the structure of your site

A well-structured site makes it easier for visitors to navigate and is better indexed by search engines. There are several aspects that can be improved to ensure a well-organised site.

Have a descriptive and "clean" URL

The URL should be clear, descriptive and reflect the content of the page while containing the page's main keyword. Make sure that the URL is not too long and avoid using special characters or unnecessary numbers.

Create an XML and HTML sitemap

Le Sitemap is a file that lists all the pages on your site to guide search engines in their exploration and indexing. There are two types of Sitemap: XML (for search engines) and HTML (for users).

4. Give importance to internal linking

Le internal networking represents the links between the different pages on your site. Good meshing makes it easier for users to navigate and boosts the popularity of certain pages by redistributing the " link juice " (page rank) between them. Be sure to establish a coherent mesh that is in line with your SEO strategy.

Use a variety of optimised text anchors

For your internal links, prefer descriptive, keyword-rich text anchors rather than generic terms such as "click here". However, be sure to vary these anchors to avoid over-optimisation, which could be detrimental to your SEO.

Prioritise your internal links

The most important links should be visible from the beginning of the page and have a prominent place in the structure of your site. Avoid drowning relevant links in a multitude of secondary links.

5. Optimising your site's loading time

A fast site is essential for offer a pleasant user experience and benefit its ranking on search engine results pages. A loading speed can be achieved by following a number of principles:

• Optimise the size of images: reduce their weight without compromising their quality.
• Use a accommodation fast web: choose a good web host offering a fast response to requests.
• Reduce the number of HTTP requests: limit the number of elements (images, CSS, Javascript) to be loaded by the browser to display a page.
• Set up a cache system: this speeds up the loading of pages already visited by the user.

By applying these different practices, you are putting all the chances on your side to improve your search engine positioning.

SEO is a long-term process that takes time and constant effort to achieve concrete and lasting results.

Don't be discouraged, and bear in mind that, when done properly, natural referencing is a real source of qualified traffic for your site.