How to adapt you SEO strategy to the French-speaking markets of Benelux & France

Differences : France vs. Belgium
SERP differences
Case studies
The agency market 🇱🇺🇫🇷🇧🇪
Netlinking
Bonus

Transcript

2. Octave is specialised in Search Engine Marketing SEO Google Ads Content strategy Data marketing S
3. Octave ? A team of 7 passionate people with multiple years of experience with first-class clients. Founder, SEO expert Samuel Google Ads expert Joran Data Marketing expert Guillaume Samuel Joran SEO analyst Ethaniel Content manager Romain Office Manager Audrey Project Manager Cyrielle S
4. They trust us J
5. Let’s play S
6. Today’s chapters • Differences : France vs. Belgium • SERP differences • Case studies • The agency market 󰏺󰏃󰎐 • Netlinking • Bonus J
7. Differences : France vs. Belgium J
8. Belgium vs. France Belgique / België / Belgien • 1 country • 2 kings, 2 queens • 11,7 million people • Federal • 3 language communities (40% French speakers) • 3 regions, 10 provinces, 581 municipalities • As many governments & ministries • No Federal government at the moment France • 1 country • 1 president • 67,9 million people • Republican • 1 language • 18 regions, 101 departments • Centralized government & laws J
9. Culturally • Belgians have French TV • Beer vs. Wine • Kingdom vs. Republic • French (󰎐) vs. French (󰏃) • Bread vs. Potatoes • Monet vs. Magritte J
10. Culturally • Fries : Mayon(n)aise vs. Ketchup J
11. Culturally • Zebra pad vs. passage cloûté J
12. “Belgicismes” • Petit-Déjeuner = Déjeuner • Déjeuner = Dîner • Dîner = Souper • Téléphone portable = GSM • Dans un délai de = endéans ◦ « Votre commande sera exécutée endéans les huit jours. » • Compte courant = compte à vue ◦ « J’ai récemment ouvert un compte à vue auprès de ma banque. » 󰎐 󰏃 J
13. 󰎐 Economic differences North vs. south in Belgium • Average income 50% higher in Flanders • Flemish economy grows 20% faster Source : trends.levif.be J
14. SERP differences S
15. Google use • .fr results appear on Google.be requests • Belgians go on French e-shops (although less) • French trust .fr websites more • Volumes are obviously bigger in France, which tends to push Google to show .fr websites in Belgium ◦ “Fournisseur énergie” (& variants) : 7,3k󰎐 vs. 21k󰏃 S
16. Bordeaux wines • French websites appear on Google.be • Almost exclusively French websites on Google.fr J
17. Le petit Vapoteur • Make sure you are legally and logistically able to deliver in France / Belgium • Register the company locally when possible J
18. Case studies S
19. totalenergies.fr vs. totalenergies.be • Hreflang in-site and in-between websites (group) ◦ we asked totalenergies.fr to create hreflang to .be ◦ we added country + language hreflang within .be • Some content was not translated • Backlinks are historically in French (Lampiris history) ◦ FR : 56% ◦ NL : 44% • 250 articles were indexed in two languages in 1 year Results in 1 year : S
20. Mon energie vs. Mijn energie J
21. Coverseal: pool covers • Local SEO: 1 Business Profile per language (if local addresses) • Website translation has to be adapted to local uses • 󰏃 France: design is important • 󰎐 Belgium: security is important • Country-specific content: ◦ Avoid duplicated content ◦ Adapt to local norms or laws (Example: AFNOR) ◦ Specify delivery conditions (especially when working with local partners) J
22. Coverseal: pool covers S
23. Coverseal: pool covers We have: • migrated all France content to coverseal.fr • managed hreflang and 301 on hundreds of pages • created 150 web articles in FR with local norms • spent 15k€ on .fr netlinking (in progress) Results after 2 months : ◦ - 10 avg position ◦ +6,5% CTR S
24. Facq • Make sure to translate your content with a true SEO copywriter • Use an local optimization tool (Semji, Dokey, YourTextGuru) • Don’t think 500 words is enough J
25. Vis-express • Always go for local country domain extension: .be or .fr • Good for Google but also for users ◦ Source (march 2023) : https://youtu.be/BFHB0WbQyMk?t=262 • Side note: brand name is important ! J
26. So, why a country domain? • Boosts Local SEO: Country-specific sites signal local relevance, improving rankings on regional Google searches. • Simplified Multi-Site Management: New CMS technologies make managing multiple sites easier than ever. • Stronger Link Authority: Interlinking sites shares authority and strengthens the overall domain network. Source (mars 2023) : https://youtu.be/BFHB0WbQyMk?t=262 S
27. Agency market J
28. SEO agencies : different markets Belgique / België / Belgien • Mainly freelances • Less than 10 French-speaking agencies specialize in SEO • Bigger companies usually have in-house specialists • Exchanges are necessary between Northern & Southern agencies France • Many mid-sized & bigger agencies • Big SEO community & specialized agencies • Companies are more SEO-mature • Bigger SEO competition • Lots of link brokers • Black hat is ok J
29. SEO agencies : different markets S
30. Netlinking S
31. Netlinking : .be󰎐 vs. .fr󰏃 • No major broker in Belgium • .be links are rare • The mainstream media can be a solution • French SEO buys a lot of links S
32. Netlinking - our tips • netlinking.fr • linksgarden.com • rocketlinks.com • whitepress.com S
33. Bonus S
34. Bonus S
35. SEO in Belgium is not like SEO in France (.be, translations, local content) Lower volumes in .be, but there is more room to develop If your company/client has local employees, include them in your strategy for their local market knowledge Legal, cultural and economic differences Get help from a local agency or freelance Conclusion Merci ! J