SEO : practical guide to appear on Google (part 2)
Deepen your SEO knowledge with advanced techniques. Discover specialized tools, local SEO, link strategies and performance analysis.
After mastering the fundamentals from part 1, you're ready to discover advanced techniques. In this second part, we present essential tools, local SEO strategies and performance measurement methods.
Our approach remains pragmatic : we focus on proven techniques that generate concrete results for your visibility on Google.
Essential SEO tools
To effectively optimize your SEO, three free Google tools constitute the essential foundation of your SEO arsenal.
Fundamental Google tools
- Google Search Console: official platform that provides you with precise data on your site's performance in search results, keywords that generate traffic and any technical issues to resolve.
- Google Analytics: comprehensive analysis solution that measures your audience, traffic sources, visitor behavior and conversions. Essential for evaluating the effectiveness of your SEO actions.
- Google PageSpeed Insights: performance evaluation tool that analyzes your pages' loading speed and provides optimization recommendations to improve user experience.
Tools configuration
Setting up these tools follows a standardized process :
1. Account creation: access Google platforms with your professional account
2. Adding your site: enter your website URL in each tool
3. Property verification: follow the proposed validation procedures
4. Initial configuration: set up goals and alerts according to your needs
This initial configuration, although it may seem technical, constitutes a crucial investment for tracking your SEO performance.
Recommended paid SEO tools
Once free tools are mastered, certain paid tools can considerably accelerate your SEO progress :
| Tool | Price | Specialty | Strengths |
|---|---|---|---|
| SEMrush | $139.95/month | Complete competitive analysis | Position tracking • Technical audit • Keyword research • Competitor analysis |
| Ahrefs | $99/month | Backlink analysis | Most complete link database • Keyword research • Content analysis |
| Screaming Frog | $149/year | In - depth technical audit | Complete site crawl • Technical error detection • Metadata analysis |
Local SEO optimization
For businesses with a physical presence (shops, offices, restaurants), local SEO represents a major growth lever. This strategy allows you to appear in geolocated searches in your sector of activity.
Optimizing your Google My Business listing
Google My Business constitutes the central pillar of your local SEO strategy. An optimized listing allows you to appear in the "Local Pack" (the first three results with map) for geolocated searches.
| Action | Impact | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Claiming and verification | 🔥 Essential | Create your listing on business.google.com and validate your ownership through the postal verification process |
| Information completeness | 🔥 Essential | Fill in all available fields exhaustively (name, address, phone, hours, category and description) |
| Visual enrichment | 📈 Important | Add professional photos of your premises, products, team and services |
| Customer review management | 📈 Important | Encourage positive feedback and systematically respond to all comments |
| Regular publishing | ⚡ Moderate | Maintain constant activity with news, offers and events |
Geographic optimization of your website
Your website must clearly signal your geographic location to search engines to strengthen your local relevance.
| Technique | Application | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Title tag optimization | Integrate your geographic keywords in page titles | "Hairdresser Brooklyn Heights" |
| Geolocated content | Mention your location in presentation texts and activity descriptions | "Your salon in Brooklyn" |
| Local landing pages | Create dedicated pages for each geographic area served | "/hairdresser - brooklyn - heights" |
| Local editorial content | Write articles about local news and events in your sector | "Hair trends Brooklyn 2025" |
Inbound link acquisition strategies
Inbound links (backlinks) constitute a major ranking factor in Google's algorithm. They testify to the credibility and authority of your website in the eyes of search engines.
Qualified link acquisition techniques
- Strategic partnerships: solicit your commercial partners, suppliers and clients to obtain mentions and links from their institutional websites.
- Guest content: propose quality articles to blogs and websites in your sector of activity in exchange for a contextual link to your site.
- Useful resource creation: develop high-value content (guides, studies, tools) that naturally encourage sharing and citation.
Advanced content creation techniques
Content remains the fundamental pillar of SEO. In 2025, Google favors content that demonstrates true expertise and brings unique added value to users.
High-performing content strategies
- Thematic cluster content: organize your articles around main topics with pillar pages and satellite content to strengthen your thematic authority.
- Search intent optimization: adapt your content to different types of queries (informational, transactional, navigational).
- Rich multimedia content: integrate videos, infographics, podcasts and optimized images to improve engagement and session time.
- Regular updates: update your existing content with new information to maintain their relevance and freshness.
- Long-form content: favor in-depth articles (1500+ words) that comprehensively cover a topic.
SEO performance measurement and analysis
Regular monitoring of performance indicators allows you to evaluate the effectiveness of your SEO strategy and adjust your actions based on results obtained.
Key performance indicators
| Indicator | Measurement tool | Frequency | Objective | Alert signal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 📈 Organic traffic | Google Analytics > Acquisition > Channels > Organic Search | Weekly | + 15 % per quarter | Drop > 10 % over 2 weeks |
| 🎯 Average position | Google Search Console > Performance > Average position | Weekly | Top 10 on priority keywords | Loss > 5 positions on strategic keywords |
| ⚡ Technical performance | Google PageSpeed Insights + Core Web Vitals | Monthly | Score > 90 (mobile and desktop) | Score < 70 or Core Web Vitals degradation |
| 🔍 Click rate (CTR) | Google Search Console > Performance > Average CTR | Bi - weekly | CTR > 3 % (sector average) | CTR < 1.5 % on main queries |
| 📊 Indexed pages | Google Search Console > Coverage > Valid pages | Monthly | 100 % of important pages indexed | Indexing errors > 5 % of pages |
SEO trends 2025 : preparing for the future
The SEO landscape is rapidly evolving with the massive integration of artificial intelligence. Here are the major trends transforming natural referencing.
The impact of artificial intelligence
| AI Innovation | SEO Impact | Recommended action |
|---|---|---|
| Google SGE (Search Generative Experience) | Integrates generative AI directly into search results | Favor structured and easily summarizable content |
| AI optimization | Content must be easily interpreted by algorithms | Structure information with semantic tags |
| Conversational search | Rise of voice assistants (Alexa, Google Assistant) | Optimize for natural language queries |
| Advanced personalization | Personalized results based on user history | Create diversified and targeted content |
New search technologies
| Technology | Statistic/Evolution | Required optimization |
|---|---|---|
| Google Lens and visual search | Image search democratization | Take care of alt tags, file names and metadata |
| Mobile voice search | More than 50 % of voice searches concern local queries (Source : BrightLocal Voice Search Study 2024) | Optimize for natural questions and long expressions |
| Evolving Core Web Vitals | Google continuously enriches its technical performance criteria | Integrate new user experience indicators |
| Enhanced E - A- T | Determining criteria for sensitive sectors (health, finance) | Strengthen Expertise, Authority and Trustworthiness |
Conclusion and action plan
This second part completes the fundamentals presented in part 1, offering you a complete methodology to optimize your natural referencing :
✅ Measurement tools configured: Google Search Console, Analytics and PageSpeed Insights
✅ Local strategy deployed: Google My Business optimization and geolocated content
✅ Netlinking techniques mastered: partnerships, guest content and useful resources
✅ Operational monitoring system: performance indicators and results analysis
Natural referencing is part of a long-term approach. The first significant results generally appear between 3 and 6 months after implementing a coherent and sustained strategy.