The global COVID-19 health crisis continues to negatively impact the economy and corporate finance. It has particularly affected SMEs , which have less means than large companies to cope with it and ensures its visibility.
Incidentally, this crisis has changed consumer behavior. The shift has resulted in an increase in online research to limit travel. Internet visibility becomes an obvious solution, but also affordable for small businesses. In this article, we will discuss practices that improve online visibility.
Caring for the digital storefront
Create quality content
Offer relevant content that has real added value to differentiate you from your competitors . Well-structured content that is both readable by your readers and search engines. To boost your SEO , bet on good HTML markup and quality content targeted to a specific theme with simple writing .
Post regularly
A website is your digital storefront , but on its own, it is not enough. A blog is a great way to regularly publish relevant and optimized content. This tool allows you to federate a community around your brand and search engines appreciate it.
Strengthen social media presence
Your presence in all popular media increases your traffic. Sites and social networks work in tandem. Also, add social sharing buttons in your site.
Write catchy headlines
Titles that are engaging, eloquent and include keywords significantly increase traffic to a website . They must, of course, be followed by high-quality texts.
Increase popularity
Bet on popular formats for your site to generate traffic . Sites that enjoy significant popularity hold better SEO . Feed your site with video content , to boost it. Indeed, this format is very appreciated by Internet users. It currently accounts for 82% of traffic by 2022, according to a Cisco report. Well-constructed videos generate a six-fold conversion rate.
Set up a good networking strategy . Internal linking is appreciated by Google and links contribute strongly to the popularity of your site. Writing guest posts is a good policy for generating backlinks . Collaborate with well-known sites related to your theme.
Putting the effort on SEO
Keywords with a long tail
In order for people to access your content , it is essential to produce a long-tail strategy. Indeed, the use of a keyword is of great help, but the competitiveness rate at this stage is high. With descriptive sentences , the chances of conversion are higher. The long tail accounts for 70% of searches and the average conversion rate is 36%.
A secure website and protected data
The security of your site is a crucial point, to reassure users, but also to rank well in search engines . Indeed, Google takes security into account to rank sites and even promises a boost in SEO. Enable your site's HTTPS protocol and draft your company's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Local SEO
The lockdown has led consumers to reduce their travel. This situation led them to turn to local businesses . In 2020, local prospecting accounted for 65% of online searches. Google has implemented new methods of filtering data . To deal with these changes, go to Google My Business and update your information regularly.
A good user experience
Attracting users is a crucial step in the process of improving your visibility, but offering a quality user experience also synthesizes the practices previously mentioned. Putting the user at the center of the strategy certainly improves the SEO of your website. Moreover, at the end of 2020, SEO tends to mutate towards Search eXperience Optimization . Streamline navigation between the different pages of your website. To retain users, offer intuitive navigation and fast loading . For images adopt SVG format to optimize page load time.
Responsive design
A considerable part of web traffic is generated by mobile devices. This is a feature that you should not ignore in your project. The pages of your site must adapt to the size of the screens of smartphones and tablets . To ensure the comfort of all users .
Google classifies websites differently according to the terminals, and favors those that offer optimal comfort for mobile users . So, prioritize mobile to optimize your visibility.
Google puts Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness (EAT) or Expertise, Authority, Trust in French, at the heart of its SEO policy. So that your site is in the first pages. You must prove your expertise in the “About” pages that describe your background; demonstrate your authority with relevant links; Inspire trust by sharing your customers' opinions.
Voice queries
Voice technology is increasingly in demand to conduct research on smartphones. This new type of request leads to reforming sites so that they adapt. Keywords take the form of questions . In this case, it is crucial to understand the recurring questions of Internet users .
Fast Essential Web Signals (or Vital Web Core)
Now, Google takes loading time , interactivity and visual stability into account in its SEO criteria . To maximize your visibility, ensure your loading performance. The elements of your pages should be displayed in less than 2.5 seconds after loading for a good LCP or (Largest Contentful Paint). All interactions must not exceed an FID or (First Input Delay) of 100 milliseconds . Visual stability must not exceed a score of 0.1 CLS or (Cumulative Layout Shift) to be considered satisfactory.
Visual search
Photos of good quality , with an optimized alt tag and that add value to the content contribute to the integration into Google’s image results . To optimize your visibility, give importance to your content and put the user experience at the center of your strategy. Remember to stay in tune with the evolution of SEO practices.
