Optimize a website’s SEO with SiteBuilder Pro

Procédure

SEO helps search engines understand the content of your site. With SiteBuilder Pro, you can enter a title, a description, and a custom URL for each page.

This information does not guarantee a specific ranking in Google, but it helps present your site more clearly to search engines and visitors.

Before you begin

Before changing your site's SEO, make sure that:

• your site has already been created with SiteBuilder Pro;
• you can open the SiteBuilder Pro editor;
• you know which page you want to optimize.
• you have a Google account if you want to use Google Search Console or Google Analytics.

Understanding the main SEO settings

In SiteBuilder Pro, SEO settings let you enter several important pieces of information.

The page title is the text that may appear in the browser tab and in search engine results. It should be short, clear, and accurately describe the page.

The description summarizes the page content. It may be displayed in search results. It should make people want to visit the page without being too long.

The custom URL makes it possible to have a more readable address for the page. For example, a contact page can have a simple URL such as contact.

The keywords can be entered, but they now have little impact on Google. It is better to focus on the title, description, visible text on the page, and content structure.

Change the title, description, and URL of a page

1. Open your site in the SiteBuilder Pro editor.
2. Click Settings (1).
   
3. Open the Pages (2) section.
4. Select the page you want to optimize (1).
   
5. Open the SEO tab or area for this page (2).

6. Enter the page title.

   Example:
   Plumber in Lyon - Repairs and installation

7. Enter the page description.

   Example:
   Plumbing company in Lyon for repairs, sanitary installations, and bathroom renovations.

8. If necessary, customize the page URL.

   Example:
   depannage-plomberie-lyon

9. Save your changes (4).
10. Publish the site to apply the changes online.
    

Improve the page's visible content

SEO settings are not always enough. Search engines also analyze the visible content of your page.

To improve a page, you can:

• use a clear main heading;
• organize the text with subheadings;
• add useful text to explain your business, services, or products;
• avoid repeating the same keyword artificially;
• name your images clearly;
• add alternative text to images when the option is available;
• create links between the important pages of your site.

For example, a page called “Services” will be more useful if it clearly explains the services offered, the cities covered, indicative prices, or contact methods.

Connect the site to Google Search Console

Google Search Console lets you check whether Google is correctly detecting your site, submit a sitemap, and track the indexing of your pages.

1. Open Google Search Console from your Google account.
2. Click Add property.
3. Choose the URL prefix method.
   

4. Enter your site's full address.

   Example:
   https://www.mondomaine.fr

5. Click Continue.
6. Among the validation methods offered by Google, choose the method by HTML tag or HTML verification code.
   
7. Copy the verification code provided by Google.
   
8. Go back to the SiteBuilder Pro editor.
9. Click Settings.
   
10. Open the Analytics tab.
    
11. Paste the code into the Google Search Console verification code field.
12. Click Apply.
13. Publish the site.
    
14. Go back to Google Search Console, then click Validate or Verify.
    

Add Google Analytics

Google Analytics lets you track visits to your site: number of visitors, pages viewed, traffic sources, and other statistics.

1. Open Google Analytics from your Google account.
2. Create a property for your site if this has not already been done.
   

3. Retrieve the measurement ID from Google Analytics.

   It usually looks like this:
   G-XXXXXXXXXX



4. Go back to the SiteBuilder Pro editor.
5. Click Settings.
   
6. Open the Analytics tab.
   
7. Paste the measurement ID into the Google Analytics Tracking ID (v4) field.
8. Click Apply.
9. Publish the site.
   
10. Go back to Google Analytics to check whether the first data is showing up.

Add the sitemap in Google Search Console

A sitemap is a file that lists the pages of your site. It helps search engines discover the pages to crawl more easily.

With SiteBuilder Pro, the sitemap is generated automatically after the site is published.

1. Open your site in the SiteBuilder Pro editor.
2. Click Settings.
   
3. Open the Analytics tab.
   
4. Find the Sitemap URL or Sitemap URL field.

5. Copy the sitemap address.

   It usually looks like this:
   https://www.mondomaine.fr/sitemap.xml

6. Open Google Search Console.
7. Select the property corresponding to your site.
   
8. Click Sitemaps in the menu.
   
9. In the Add a sitemap field, enter the sitemap address or simply sitemap.xml if Google already displays the domain name before the field.
   
10. Click Submit.

Add or modify the robots.txt file

The robots.txt file gives instructions to search engine robots. It can allow or restrict the crawling of certain parts of the site.

1. Open your site in the SiteBuilder Pro editor.
2. Click Settings.
   
3. Open the Settings section.
4. Select the Files or Files tab.
   
5. Check the Enable robots.txt option.

6. Add the desired rules in the field provided.

   Simple example to allow site crawling:

   CodeCopy

   User-agent: *
   Allow: /

   Example to indicate the sitemap location:

   CodeCopy

   User-agent: *
   Allow: /
   
   Sitemap: https://www.mondomaine.fr/sitemap.xml

7. Click Apply.
8. Publish the site.
   

Check that everything works

After publishing your site, open the modified page in your browser.

Check that:

• the page opens correctly;
• the displayed URL is the expected one;
• the browser tab title matches the title entered;
• the page content is clear and readable;
• the internal links work.

You can also check the SEO-related elements:

• in Google Search Console, check that the site property is properly validated;
• in Google Search Console, check that the sitemap was submitted correctly;
• in Google Analytics, check that the measurement ID is correctly entered;
• in your browser, test the address https://www.mondomaine.fr/sitemap.xml ;
• in your browser, test the address https://www.mondomaine.fr/robots.txt.

Common issues

I don't see my changes on my site

First check that you published the site after making your changes. If the displayed page still seems old, clear your browser cache or open the page in a private browsing window.

I can't find the SEO tab

Depending on the editor version, the settings may be grouped under Settings, Pages, then SEO. First select the page to edit, then look for the settings related to the title, description, or URL.

My title or description does not change in Google

This is normal if the change was just made. Google must revisit the page before updating its results. It may also choose to display a different snippet if its system considers it a better match for the user's search.

Google Search Console does not validate my site

Check that the validation code has been pasted into the field provided in SiteBuilder Pro. Then check that the site was published after the code was added.

If you chose DNS validation, make sure the TXT record has been added to the domain's DNS zone. It may take some time for DNS propagation to take effect.

Google Analytics shows no visits

Check that the measurement ID starts with G- and that it was copied without any extra spaces. Then publish the site and wait for the first visits. Data is not always visible immediately.

The sitemap is rejected in Google Search Console

Check that the site is published, then open the sitemap address in your browser. If sitemap.xml does not work, try sitemap-alt.xml.

My site no longer appears in Google after modifying robots.txt

Check the contents of the robots.txt file. If you see a rule like this, it may block crawling of the site:

User-agent: *
Disallow: /

Remove this rule or replace it with an appropriate configuration, then publish the site again.