SEO strategy: how to set up a semantic cocoon?

You've heard of the semantic cocoon, but you still don't know how it works. This is normal, it is a free SEO method that is quite recent and few people know its usefulness. The tree structure and the editorial strategy of the site depend on this practice. Are you curious? Discover in this article three tips to create a semantic cocoon for your site.

Definition of the semantic cocoon

The semantic cocoon is a natural referencing method that is based on a thoughtful and precise internal linking work. Each owner who creates his website has a goal: to sell physical or digital products or to present his services. Thus, there is always one or several target pages that allow to generate sales. The target page of a coach who offers online training is his sales page. The target pages of an e-commerce site are the product sheets. In order to sell this training or these products, you need to attract targeted traffic. This is where internal linking comes in. By developing a coherent page architecture, we guide the user to the desired content. The semantic universe of the site is studied and determined according to the competitors present on the web. Then, the cocoon is gradually formed to become a solid base and give the site a certain notoriety in its field. This method of natural referencing can be complex to set up, that's why some people train themselves or leave this task to SEO experts.

Determine your target customer and their needs

When you are the head of a company, determining your target customer is essential if you want to make it last. It is then necessary to have a global marketing strategy well honed and the digital aspect is part of it. It's hard to miss it today! However, many entrepreneurs launch themselves into the creation of a website without having thought about this famous digital strategy. The first SEO expert questioned on this subject will tell you that you should not neglect it when you want to work on your visibility and positioning. The basics are as follows: describe your target audience as precisely as possible and anticipate their needs. Who is he, what is he looking for? Once this portrait is drawn, it will be easier to know if the content marketing strategy adopted was the right one. Sometimes, it is even non-existent, so the cocoon will develop from this new information. The site must respond to the specific needs of Internet users and present itself as the solution to their request.

Choose relevant key queries

One of the foundations of natural referencing is the quality of the editorial content of a site. A website that contains pages with short texts, poorly optimized, with awkward sentences and a limited vocabulary has little chance of being noticed positively by search engine algorithms. It is therefore necessary to learn to choose the right keywords according to the target audience. The principle remains the same for the notion of semantic cocoon. Setting up a semantic cocoon consists in determining a main request for the target page. Then, you have to continue this keyword research work for the other pages, which will form the cocoon around the target page. In general, the lexical field is then developed and we turn to long tail keywords. This technique allows to reinforce the central theme. Each subquery is declined, always in relation to the main request. Thus, it is logical to define upstream the expectations of Internet users if we want to choose relevant key requests.

Create a visual map (mindmap)

The third tip for creating a successful semantic cocoon is to create a visual map. Very popular with SEO strategy professionals, it allows you to visualize at a glance the entire architecture of the site. It clearly shows the target page and all its surrounding branches that communicate with each other. This mapping concretizes the information determined so far. The site owner has determined his persona and his search intentions? He can now check if the central theme and the main and secondary queries meet these needs. This is a visualization method that quickly reveals the flaws and strengths of a content strategy. It is also possible to modify the semantic cocoon in order to consolidate it and build the final tree structure of the site. If a page is missing, it will be immediately obvious. As you go along, the different levels of pages appear and you can make sure that the user's navigation is fluid or follows a certain logic. In a few clicks, the visitor should be able to find the information he is looking for.
Increase the visibility of your website thanks to the expertise of an SEO agency
How to create a digital strategy for your website?