Natural search can be broken down into three SEO pillars to implement so a website, blog post or specific page can rise to the top of search engine results.
To better position yourself in the SERPs, you can call on an SEO copywriter, who will know how to write your content in an optimized way for natural search.
But as we will see, content writing is only one of the three SEO pillars, alongside technical SEO and links… An overview of the main methods to boost your visibility on Google!
What are the 3 pillars of SEO?
The fundamentals needed to implement an effective SEO strategy are grouped into three pillars: technical, content and links.
If one of these pillars is missing or poorly optimized, your website’s reach will be limited. For a high-performing SEO strategy, you must pay attention to each of them.
First SEO pillar: Technical SEO
Your website’s features must be kept up to date so it remains as performant as possible. The goal is to provide users with a smooth browsing experience.
Among the technical factors to optimize are loading speed, the HTML structure of pages, Core Web Vitals, link structure, redirects, image optimization, and everything we will describe in detail below!
Having a high-performing website
How do you ensure your website performs well? Here are some best practices to implement:
Considering the Core Web Vitals
Core Web Vitals, or Essential Web Signals, play a major role in the technical SEO pillar. These three key performance indicators sum up a website’s functional qualities:
- LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) This metric is related to a web page's load time and the speed at which visuals are displayed. According to Google, the ideal LCP is under 2.5 seconds.
- FID (First Input Delay) This metric refers to interaction time — the time required for a web page to become interactive. Google considers FID should be under 100 milliseconds.
- CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) This indicator measures the stability of page elements. If images, buttons, or blocks shift during loading and visitors click in the wrong place, it hinders their browsing experience. Google considers a good CLS value to be below 0.1.
To optimize Core Web Vitals, it’s important to use the techniques we’ll cover in the following paragraphs…
Speeding up page load times
Do you know how long a visitor will wait for your website to load? Six seconds, if they’re in a good mood. That’s why improving load time is part of the three pillars of SEO!
Also, site speed isn’t only important for user experience and conversion — it’s also a ranking factor.
Our tips to improve the average loading time of your pages:
- Compress as many files as possible : compression reduces the size of your images, as well as CSS, HTML and JavaScript files, so they take up less space and load faster.
- Minify your code : cluttered code can negatively affect your site's speed. Reduce it by removing comments and characters empty characters, in particular.
- Remove plugins : WordPress plugins weigh down your website; disable those that are unused or can be replaced with a line of code.
- Install a caching plugin : by having the server store certain files, this type of plugin speeds up your page loading.
- Use asynchronous loading (async) : using asynchronous code allows the server to process HTML and scripts simultaneously, saving valuable seconds.
Reducing image file sizes
The heavier the images, the slower the site loads, which harms indexing and user experience! How can you reduce the size of visuals?
- Prefer photos in JPG format rather than PNG.
- Choose a resolution of 72 pixels; that's sufficient.
- Use tools like TinyPNG or FileOptimiser to reduce the file size and dimensions of multiple images.
- In the future, upload your photos in WebP, a format created by Google that reduces image file sizes by 25% to 30% without losing quality.
HTML structure of web pages
Search engine bots use the HTML structure of your pages and read certain files to understand your content and rank you for relevant queries.
How can you optimize the HTML structure of your website? Our tips:
- Create an XML sitemap : this sitemap helps search engine bots analyze the structure of your web pages.
- Optimize your site's architecture : make sure the most important pages are placed at the top of the hierarchy and have the largest number of internal links.
- Establish a URL structure : use subdirectories to help search engine crawlers better understand your content.
- Use structured data : established by Schema.org, these standardized tags add additional information to your content to help search engines find, interpret, organize and display your pages appropriately as rich snippets.
Technical SEO elements
Finally, you'll need to get your hands dirty! That means working on the deep structure of your content to maximize your search engine ranking. The truly technical part consists of:
- Use canonical tags : this piece of code indicates to search engines which URLs contain identical or similar content. Goal: avoid duplicate content issues.
- Write attractive title tags and meta descriptions : make sure to add relevant keywords to both tags. Warning: each title and meta-description must be unique!
- Specify the hreflang attribute : especially if your website is available in multiple languages. Google needs to know which content to display based on users' location.
- Use the HTTPS protocol : in addition to improving organic search rankings by displaying your website's security certificate, you reassure potential visitors!
- Create redirects : to avoid 404 errors that frustrate the user and send a bad signal to Google.
Second SEO pillar: Content writing
Content is king online, as you know! Even more so when it comes to SEO. Naturally, content writing is part of these three SEO pillars.
In addition to hiring a web writer to support you in writing articles, what are the best practices for SEO-friendly writing?
Selecting relevant keywords
First, you need to find the terms your customers or prospects use to find your business, products, or services. The goal is to create content around those keywords to position yourself in front of a qualified audience.
Here are some tips for finding and selecting relevant keywords:
- Put yourself in your audience's shoes and list words, phrases, and questions related to your business.
- Start with general keywords, then list secondary phrases. For example, if you sell tea, you can break it down into "green tea", "black tea", "white tea"… Then further into "lemon green tea", "detox green tea", "Chinese black tea", etc.
- Check the search volume of those keywords and find new ideas using tools like Ubersuggest, Google Keyword Planner, or AnswerThePublic.
- Among the suggestions, identify keywords with high volume and low competition. Don’t find any? By default, it’s better to try to rank for phrases with medium search volume but low competition.
As soon as you have a list of keywords, you also have a great list of article ideas! To optimize your SEO, write a piece centered on each expression. Don't hesitate to get help from a SEO copywriter if needed.
Organizing content into clusters
Clusters, or thematic groups, let you structure content around a main theme and link all related topics.
In addition to improving the user experience, this organization makes it easier for indexing crawlers to navigate. When they see that you cover a topic comprehensively, they will be more likely to surface your pages.
The cluster approach starts with a core topic, then develops subtopics and builds a semantic cocoon. For example, for green tea you would have a pillar page about what green tea is, where it comes from, how it’s harvested, its benefits, etc., followed by several detailed articles such as:
- How to prepare green tea?
- What to pair with green tea?
- The health benefits of green tea
- What are the different types of green tea?
- Differences between loose-leaf green tea and bagged green tea
- How to make iced green tea?
Quality of writing and the added value of content
Your content must always be original and relevant. In other words: avoid duplicate content and the use of automatic writing tools — Google will detect them and penalize you immediately.
Your blog posts, like your web pages, demonstrate your expertise to your audience. They should be pleasant to read while providing useful information that meets the needs of your customers and prospects.
Additionally, your web content should convey your company’s values and personality. Even if you cover a topic your competitors also address, you should present it from a fresh angle and illustrate it with examples from your own experience.
To obtain unique, high-value articles, order texts on Redacteur.com.
Third SEO pillar: Links
The last of the three pillars of SEO concerns internal and external links. Internal links keep visitors on your website while helping search engine bots crawl your content.
As for backlinks, they provide proof of authority and reputation that Google rewards with improved rankings.
The importance of backlinks for SEO
External links are particularly appreciated by search engines. There are two ways to use them:
1. To direct the user from your website to relevant, complementary sources.
In this case, Google understands that through your content you provide access to additional quality information (provided you link to reliable sources!).
2. To obtain backlinks and be recognized as an authority by search engines.
Here, other sites link to your pages. This kind of link-building contributes to your ranking. The more backlinks you have from high-authority domains, the higher your pages will appear in the SERPs.
Internal linking to structure a site
Internal links are used to connect different pages within your own website. Valued by search engines, internal linking improves navigation between your content. Visitors can dive deeper into a topic by following these links, just like search engine crawlers can!
Why web writing affects the 3 pillars of SEO?
The web writing plays a direct role in optimizing the three pillars of SEO. How? That's what we'll detail...
The impact of SEO copywriting on technical SEO
To begin with, technical SEO is only possible with content! Structuring and prioritizing pages, optimizing with keywords, enriching with additional data, providing relevant information to search engines, placing title tags and meta descriptions... All these techniques stem directly from the quality of your web pages and blog posts.
Website content as a source of SEO traffic
Without content, it's impossible to rank in search results. Web writing allows you to answer your prospects' and customers' questions, provide value-added information, and guide them toward conversion. By publishing blog posts related to your audience's queries, you naturally attract qualified traffic to your website.
Need help writing SEO-friendly articles? Request a quote for SEO content writing.
Content that generates backlinks
Thanks to quality content, you establish yourself as an expert in your field.
If you publish original articles containing examples, statistics and advice that stand out, you increase your chances of gaining backlinks. Indeed, other sites with a similar focus will cite you as a relevant source in their own blog posts.
Our tip for working on the 3 pillars of SEO
Want to optimize these three pillars of SEO? Start with an audit of your website, covering both technical aspects and content. Using the tips listed in this article, you'll know how to improve your site's structure and find new article ideas for your blog.
By the way, to produce SEO-friendly content, consider hiring a writer on our writing platform, Redacteur.com.
The article The 3 pillars of SEO to rank your site first appeared on Redacteur.com.
