The Semantic Cocoon is an organization of the pages of a website into isolated tree branches, the pages of a branch being linked together on the basis of semantically similar words to respond in advance to the most expected requests from Internet users. on search engines.
It is a concept of architecture and optimization of web pages that was initiated by a French SEO expert, Laurent Bourrelly.
yes The semantic cocoon is a concept initiated by the French SEO Laurent Bourrelly, based on a website architecture (siloing type) combining a tree structure, an internal mesh and content optimization, designed on the basis of a semantic analysis of visitor needs.

The concept of a semantic cocoon is a strategy for linking internal pages to each other and for contextualizing editorial content. It is defined as a particular approach applying to a structure and an internal mesh of the pages of a website in order to better position them in relation to the requests of Internet users.
Concretely, contextualized links are created to link all the semantically related pages of a theme branch and ensure that the target page which is linked to a strong keyword is pushed forward when the request which corresponds to it is manifested. To do this, the webmaster will first define the requests to target and then set up a tree structure based on these first and structured in silos or branches. It will then create links that will link the pages of the different hierarchies. However, it will optimize each page by contextualizing links and tags.
The principle is therefore not based on the backlinks which are made to increase the popularity or PageRank of the site but rather on an internal linking, also called crosslinking, which highlights the target pages if necessary.
The end goal is to get well targeted traffic for each page.

It is therefore for the webmaster to take as a starting point the requests of Internet users that generate the most traffic and to anticipate the future requests associated with them during the determination of the keywords.
It is from these requests that the architecture of the site will be created.
It will be organized in silos, each silo being a branch of the tree structure which is made up of a group of elements, hierarchical or not, of the same theme or the same category. The siloing is exclusive because the different themes will be separated from each other. Each silo is specialized. The editorial content in each element of the silo includes one or more keywords answering the possible requests of Internet users or, failing that, links directing to the answers they are looking for and which are in the same silo, at the top, in parallel or down in the hierarchy.
The objective is that whatever the request of the Net surfer, it will be directed towards the answer which exists inside the site because the Google robot will have already explored positively the way and the engine will then be able to recommend the way.
It should be noted that it will always be the quality of the content that will determine the effectiveness of the semantic cocoon because the search engine remains the supreme judge.

It is not enough to write well-meshed content to obtain a semantic cocoon.
We can distinguish different types of pages affected by a cocoon.
Let's see which ones and why.
Presentation of the semantic cocoon
Well known today to SEOs, the semantic cocoon is a very powerful tool for attacking competitive keywords
A good SEO strategy usually has one or more cocoons.
The purpose of a cocoon is to push one or more pages to the top of search engine results.
These are most often landing pages or product categories of an e-commerce.
Coupled with a suitable netlinking, a cocoon allows very convincing results to be obtained within a few weeks / months, depending on the site concerned and the level of competition.
Briefly, a semantic cocoon consists of a set of well-written, semantically optimized content pages dealing with topics useful to Internet users on a given topic.
We will use precise meshing rules so that the whole forms a powerful block on the targeted semantic field.
The semantic cocoon describes a website and tree structure creation strategy that revolves around 4 main steps: 1. The definition of the queries targeted, classified by major families and user needs. 2. The establishment of a tree structure (silos) based on these requests. 3. The creation of internal links between mothers, daughters and sisters pages. 4. Optimization of each page, in terms of tags and contextualization / semantization of links. The semantic cocoon (see Laurent Bourrelly's training on this subject) is therefore based on the optimization of internal networking and editorial content, but does not take into account the popularity (PageRank) which will, for its part, be based on backlinks (external links).
The page (s) benefiting from the cocoon
These are the pages that will go to war against the competition.
They must therefore be optimized to beat it.
It would be a shame to invest time and money in a semantic cocoon without also devoting substantial resources to these pages, in all possible aspects.
Here are the two most common mistakes on these pages:
A Title tag that is not sufficiently worked out, which does not effectively target a main keyword.
Insufficient or insufficiently optimized content.
Yes, it is possible to beat the biggest sites in the world on very competitive queries (for example search for the word “chicken coop” on
Google: sites unknown to the general public but very specialized are positioned, at the beginning of 2019, in front of huge sites such as ManoMano, Cdiscount, Amazon, Truffaut, Auchan, Wikipedia, Fnac, Jardiland, etc.), but you have to put all the chances on your side.
The cocoon top content pages
These are the pages that receive the most power from the other pages in the cocoon.
It is from one of these pages, usually the one at the top of the pyramid, that a link is made to the business page to be pushed. All the semantic power of the cocoon will be transmitted via this link.
We will put on these pages the most extensive, the most complete, the most semantically optimized content. A page of this type can be 1000 to 4000 words long, sometimes more.
These pages will also present the most beautiful photos, videos if possible, summaries or maps, anything that will make them better perceived by visitors and search engines.
We can also bring in a copywriting expert to write impactful meta-descriptions, encouraging clicks.
Indeed, these pages will drain a good number of visitors, without however cannibalizing the commercial pages which will remain positioned in front if necessary.
The internal content pages of the cocoon
These pages are also very important in the device.
They will bring a lot to the higher level pages in the tree via the internal mesh (the links from page to page).
They will also deal with topics that are useful and sought after by Internet users.
There is no question of giving them less care, but unless you have a significant budget, we can simply make beautiful pages of semantically optimized content, with images.
A page of this type will be 500 to 1500 words long.
Pages supporting other pages
Most semantic cocoons do not include this type of page.
Although indexed by the engines, they are not intended to bring traffic, but only to densify the cocoon with a minimum of content and a maximum of pages.
For example, we can provide them with quality
spinning content (semi-automatically generated), that is to say with a level of similarity similar to that of human editors.
Thus, the engines will not penalize the site which uses them, on the contrary.
A page of this type can be 150 to 500 words long and a cocoon can contain hundreds, sometimes more.
The Recap page
This page is a kind of sitemap of the cocoon: it offers a plan that allows search engines to navigate even more easily in the cocoon and to assess its power quickly and efficiently.
In general, we make a link from the menu or the footer of the site to this page.
Thus, you have a few keys to properly design your semantic cocoons and you too, go to war against the web mastodons on competitive requests.