Understanding website optimization in France

Most companies understand the importance of website optimization / SEO, however many people don't understand what factors will make a French SEO campaign a success. We have created the following French SEO tips and tutorial to help you create a site that is found in search engines in France, like Google.fr by your prospective visitors.

What is French SEO?

French Search Engine Optimization is the process used to help new and existing websites appear high with French search engines.   It is also called website optimization, Internet marketing and website promotion.  An effective SEO campaign will include:

  • Choosing Keywords - Ensuring your search engine optimization campaign is relevant by targeting keywords people use.
  • On-site SEO - Developing the content and structure of your site to present a clear message to search engines.
  • Link building - Building high quality links to your site from a range of sources.
  • Design Optimization - Ensuring the website is attractive, welcoming and easy for the end-user to use.

Good Website Content = Good SEO

It is important to remember that you can only get good results from French website optimization when you consider the end-users – your potential clients and the French search engines. The only way you can convert visitors into paying customers is to provide them with quality French content.  When you have interesting content for your visitors to read, they will be more likely to want to add your site to their favourites and link to it. Some people will go as far as recommending your site on forums and blogs.

Generate quality incoming links to your website

Google.fr and other French search engines count every link to your website as a 'vote of confidence'.  The more quality incoming links you have to your site, the higher it will appear with French search engines. 

Consider asking your satisfied clients and colleagues to link to your site. The more incoming links you obtain the better. 

Another way to get more incoming links is to write an article and contact webmasters who have relevant blogs or sites and ask if they will add the article to their site and include a link in the 'author profile section'.  It's important that you write good quality, original articles and ensure they're unique, don't use the same article on multiple websites and avoid companies that participate in mass link systems that promise instant links to your site. This black hat scheme will lower your ranking and it can even get your site banned from Google.fr.

Choose a French Domain Name

If you don't yet have a domain name or have a new site with few links going to it, you may want to consider what the best domain name selection is.  A domain name that includes keywords helps your site appear higher for those keywords and tells visitors it's a French site.  The extension is also important:

.fr - Will help your site appear higher in France
.ca - Will help your site appear higher in Canada

Alternatively if you have a .com, .net or .org you can use Google's Geotargeting tool to tell Google that you're targeting either a French or Canadian audience and this gives you the same benefit as having a .fr or .ca.

Choose French SEO Team

We hope you’ve found our French SEO tips useful.

If you would like to benefit from our website optimization service in France, including generating relevant one-way links from other high-quality websites, contact us today. Ask about our detailed French SEO reports for your chosen keyword phrase, or if you'd prefer, we can optimize your website for you.

French SEO Team is part of Indigoextra Ltd.