How to optimise your website's SEO: a 6-step method

SEO combines three streams of work that must move forward together: the technical side, so that Google can read and index the site; the content, so that it understands what each page is for; and authority, so that it judges the site trustworthy. Working on a single axis quickly caps results. On the Moroccan market, many SMEs lose traffic on simple issues: duplicate pages after a redesign, slow speed on mobile, identical titles from one page to the next. A two-day audit often reveals more profitable decisions than a year of publishing articles. ## The most costly method mistakes The first mistake is to start with content creation. A page with no internal links, on a slow and poorly indexed site, stays invisible. The second is to promise positions without looking at the real competition for each query: on 'car insurance Morocco' you have to compete with national comparison sites; on 'car insurance craftsman Tangier', a small page can rank within a few weeks. The third is to measure traffic only. What matters is the number of quote requests, calls and sales generated by organic pages. A blog page that brings 3,000 visits from curious browsers is worth less than a service page that brings 40 qualified enquiries. The fourth is to change direction too often. SEO requires consistency: a page rewritten, then left for a few weeks, then monitored. Changing the title or structure every month makes it impossible to know what works. Many sites also have a duplicate problem: the same page reachable at two addresses, with and without a slash, with or without parameters, in HTTP and HTTPS versions. These variants split visibility instead of building a single signal. A properly declared canonical address and consistent redirection fix most of these cases. Speed also deserves a simple explanation: it is not measured on a recent computer on a fibre connection, but on an entry-level phone on 4G, which accounts for a large part of the audience in Morocco. Heavy images, multiple fonts and accumulated tracking scripts weigh heavily on these devices. Compressing images and limiting scripts delivers a visible gain in a few days' work. ## What the arrival of AI engines changes AI assistants are increasingly reluctant to cite confusing pages. A page that clearly answers a question, with an answer sentence at the top, up-to-date figures and a verifiable source, is more likely to be cited than a long unstructured article. This is no reason to abandon classic SEO: it is the same discipline, applied to another channel. This changes a few practical priorities. Specific questions ('how much does a brochure website cost in Tangier', 'how long does a certification take') benefit from a direct answer, without detours or a long introduction. Comparison pages and sector guides are also heavily consulted by assistants, because they structure concrete information. This does not mean writing for a robot. Short answers primarily serve the hurried visitor, who arrives from a phone and wants to know in ten seconds whether they are in the right place. A page useful to the reader usually remains easy to read for a search engine or an assistant. ## Doing the work yourself or getting help A marketing manager can lead the first steps: diagnosing in Search Console, rewriting the main pages, collecting reviews and monthly tracking. Copywriting can stay in-house if the team knows the customers and their questions well; it simply requires time and a keyword research method. Support becomes useful for technical fixes, migrations and prioritisation once the site exceeds a hundred pages. If you prefer to delegate the audit and implementation, the full guide details the scope and deliverables: [SEO audit](/services/seo/audit-seo/). [Technical SEO](/services/seo/seo-technique/) covers the code and server side, and [SEO copywriting](/services/seo/redaction-seo/) covers page rewrites. Whichever option you choose, keep a simple tracking sheet: target queries, position, clicks, conversions. Reviewed every month, it shows where the work pays off and where the method needs changing, without relying on a general impression of results.

When this guide is for you

Your site is live but receives fewer than 50 organic visitors per day
You are paying for ads on searches you could get for free
You lost traffic after a redesign, a hosting change or a domain change
You want to be cited in AI engine answers, which rely on clear, well-structured pages

Step by step

Diagnose before acting — Use Google Search Console to analyse indexed pages, errors and real queries, then run a full crawl (Screaming Frog) to find 404s, redirect chains and missing tags. Without this diagnosis, adding content is pointless.
Choose 10 to 30 target queries — Combine search volume, intent (informational, comparison, purchase) and difficulty. For a Moroccan SME, it is better to target 'e-commerce website development Tangier' than 'e-commerce website', where the big platforms dominate.
Fix the technical side — Sort out indexing, canonicals, speed (Core Web Vitals), the sitemap, robots.txt and structured data. This is the foundation: a page Google cannot read properly will not rank.
Restructure and rewrite the content — Give each page a clear intent, a concise answer at the top, a readable outline, an FAQ and internal links to commercial pages. Rewrite existing pages before creating new ones.
Build authority — Earn mentions and links from local press, professional directories, partners and sector organisations. Ten credible links beat 200 generic directories.
Measure and iterate every month — Track positions, impressions, clicks and conversions per page in a shared dashboard, then shift effort to what is progressing. A monthly review keeps you from working blind.

What it costs (in MAD)

Service	Indicative price	Good to know
Initial SEO audit	5,000 – 20,000 MAD (≈ 450 – 1,800 €)	Prioritised by impact, covering 50 to 300 pages
Rewriting 10 key pages	8,000 – 25,000 MAD (≈ 730 – 2,300 €)	Keyword research, copywriting, internal linking
Monthly support	4,000 – 15,000 MAD per month (≈ 370 – 1,400 €)	Technical, content and position tracking

Indicative ranges for the Moroccan market in 2026, excluding tax. Prices vary with scope and provider.

Mistakes to avoid

Buying links in bulk: risk of a penalty and wasted budget
Adding content without fixing indexing and speed, which block any progress
Targeting very competitive national queries from the start instead of establishing yourself on niche searches
Not linking traffic to contacts and sales: a spike in visits without enquiries is worthless

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take to see the first results?

On an already indexed and technically sound site, allow 2 to 4 months for visible gains on low-competition queries, and 6 to 12 months on a new domain or commercial queries.

Do you need to write many new articles?

No. For most SMEs, improving 20 existing pages brings more than publishing 100 short articles. Create content only when a useful query still has no page to answer it.

Does SEO still work with AI answers?

Yes. AI engines rely on indexed, reliable and up-to-date pages. A direct answer at the top of the page, structured data and real authority increase your chances of being cited.

Can SEO be handled by the in-house team?

Partly, yes: copywriting, updating product pages and collecting reviews. Technical fixes and migrations are better left to someone who does them regularly.

Version française: /insights/seo-optimisation/