SEO: How to use the semantic cocoon?

Have you ever played, Super Mario? This game where you go from one stage to another to finally reach the level of the supervillain. The principle is the same as a semantic cocoon. Except that there are no villains or obstacles here. You develop the visitor of your website through a mesh of pages on a subject, starting from the most general to the most specific.

This gives a clear and readable structure to your site, with semantically close and consistent content. A hierarchy that your visitors will appreciate ... and which will also catch the eye of Google!

A technique worthy of a Hollywood scenario

The pages of a semantic cocoon are designed to answer a specific question from the user, at each stage of their purchasing journey. The goal remains to help him progress in his thinking and knowledge of the subject.

It's like writing a screenplay for a television series. All the sequences retain a particular interest but guide the spectator until the final episode. In our case, the end is the sale.

The semantic cocoon by example: let's talk about garden sheds!

Take the example of a site that sells garden sheds. Internet users interested in this type of product necessarily have a passion for gardening and DIY. To begin, they will seek advice on the maintenance and layout of their garden.

This is an opportunity to create a semantic cocoon around this theme with articles that deal with:

These articles should lead to the next step, i.e., to the pages that specifically deal with garden sheds:

Finally, these should lead to the main page: that of the sale of your garden sheds.

In addition to a hierarchical and coherent content strategy, the semantic cocoon must integrate worked keywords. For it to play an essential role in the natural referencing of your site, you must start from general terms and refine them with long-tail expressions.

All pages are linked together by internal links and lead the visitor to the target page. Some will receive more traffic than others, but the goal is to drain the maximum towards it.

How to create a semantic cocoon on your site?

The semantic cocoon requires careful reflection upstream. You absolutely must master the purchasing journey of your visitors to create content that will lead them to conversion. Our advice: follow the steps below:

Step 1: Know your target

The first step in setting up your semantic cocoon: define the type of client you want to reach with your content. You need to know their expectations, needs, goals, and purchasing journey. What information will he look for throughout his reflection?

Step 2: work on the keywords

With tools like Ubersuggest or Google Keyword, you will find different keywords related to your main subject. Classify them by category, according to the needs of the visitor, then prioritize them.

However, nothing beats a graph of your semantic cocoon to set up a coherent content strategy! Using tools like Cocon.se or Visibilis, visualize your main, primary, and secondary queries, to create the customer journey.

Step 3: Define the objectives of each page of the cocoon

Around the selected queries, start creating each page of your semantic envelope, by conversion step. Ideally, they will be classified as follows:

Step 4: write your content

When you have determined the semantic cocoon, all you have to do is write the texts around each keyword. When publishing them, remember to link each page together, to help Google robots understand your cocoon. This technique also allows visitors to progress in their thinking without leaving your website.

The advantages of the semantic cocoon are numerous: you multiply the doors of entry towards your site, you offer useful content to your leads, you increase your conversion … This constitutes a favorable breeding ground for Google robots, which will make it a pleasure to reference you well!