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Octave is specialised in Search Engine Marketing SEO Google Ads Content strategy Data marketing S

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

They trust us J

Let’s play S

Today’s chapters ● Differences : France vs. Belgium ● SERP differences ● Case studies ● The agency market 󰏺󰏃󰎐 ● Netlinking ● Bonus J

Differences : France vs. Belgium J

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

Culturally ● Belgians have French TV ● Beer vs. Wine ● Kingdom vs. Republic ● French (󰎐) vs. French (󰏃) ● Bread vs. Potatoes ● Monet vs. Magritte J

Culturally ● Fries : Mayon(n)aise vs. Ketchup J

Culturally ● Zebra pad vs. passage cloûté J

“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

󰎐 Economic differences North vs. south in Belgium ● Average income 50% higher in Flanders ● Flemish economy grows 20% faster Source : trends.levif.be J

SERP differences S

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

Bordeaux wines ● French websites appear on Google.be ● Almost exclusively French websites on Google.fr J

Le petit Vapoteur ● Make sure you are legally and logistically able to deliver in France / Belgium ● Register the company locally when possible J

Case studies S

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

Mon energie vs. Mijn energie J

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

Coverseal: pool covers S

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

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

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

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

Agency market J

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

SEO agencies : different markets S

Netlinking S

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

Netlinking - our tips ● netlinking.fr ● linksgarden.com ● rocketlinks.com ● whitepress.com S

Bonus S

Bonus S

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

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