Within 5 months of launching the new website, Expertise France reported a 20% increase in monthly visitors compared to the same period the previous year. Valentine Maillet, the head of digital communication at Expertise France, tells us what it was like working with Contentactic on such an ambitious project.
We are really happy with our collaboration with Contentactic. We developed a relationship of trust that enabled us to carry through this large-scale project. I’m deeply appreciative of the discussions we had and of the insights that came out of the analysis by Contentactic. This has given us new avenues to explore as well as new ideas for content that will bring this website to life. The team at Contentactic understood who we were – and that’s no easy thing! They listened carefully to our needs and adapted to the changing parameters of the project throughout.
Valentine Maillet, communications assistant at Expertise France
Project background and challenges
During the redesign of the website in 2024, Expertise France began their search for a partner to guide them in designing, writing, optimising and localising the content of the website.
Expertise France faced 5 challenges in this redesign:
- The level of care and detail required to decide on the hierarchy of the information to be presented. The project included technical content on a wide range of areas of expertise; extensive resources that had to be consulted to understand the geopolitical context of the development agency’s work; an institutional tone of voice that had to reach exacting standards; and the exhaustive, detailed nature of the information available.
- The need to a) define a structure for the key pages of the website using the blocks and sections already designed by the digital agency in charge of building the website; and b) get approval for the content and terminology to be used from multiple stakeholders, including the communications team, technical teams, and CEO’s office.
- The CEO’s wish to clarify the agency’s core messaging and make it easy to understand for the general public
- The development of an in-depth international SEO strategy in 3 languages covering 25 markets that tailored the agency’s content and messaging for each local market.
- Localisation of the content into French, English and Spanish with our in-house native experts.
Results in 7 key figures
- 200+ pieces of content written, translated and optimised
- 3 languages covered in the SEO and localisation strategy
- 25+ markets analysed
- +20% more monthly visitors in the 5 months following the publication of the new website compared to the same period the previous year
- +15% visitors to the homepage
- +6% increase in clickthrough rate
- 56% improvement in average ranking (13th position 5 months after publication versus 30th position with the old website)
Our international SEO & multilingual writing service
To help Expertise France reach their goals for the new website, Contentactic took charge of:
- Conducting a marketing, semantic and SEO analysis in French, English and Spanish spanning more than 25 markets
- Writing, optimising and localising 200+ pages of the new website
- Developing 2 brand content style guides in French and English, one for the agency’s in-house communications team and the other for outside providers who work with the agency. These style guides standardised the writing and wording of all future content
The feedback has been very positive, especially how Contentactic helped us present our work to external audiences in a simple, clear manner. A reorganisation of our existing content was one of the key aspects of this website redesign. The semantic analysis and keyword strategies were new concepts for us, and were welcomed as particularly useful and informative when communicated internally.
Valentine Maillet, communications assistant at Expertise FranceDeep-diving the world of Expertise France
Contentactic is a multisector, multi-niche agency that specialises in international clients. Total immersion is our specialty. We dive into the universe, sector, jargon, goals and culture of our clients through a proprietary working method that we’ve developed. With the help of our clients, this enables us to speak in the client’s voice and embody their expertise.
For the best results and exact content our clients are looking for, we make our process collaborative. We regularly touch base with project stakeholders to get feedback and approval on the briefs, wording and tone of voice. This back-and-forth can be intense at the beginning of the project, but it becomes lighter and lighter for clients as we assimilate their brand information.
The upshot for Expertise France: they now have their very own team within Contentactic who understand their communication goals and content universe inside out and back to front in each of the languages they communicate in. That team is there for Expertise France whenever they need them.
What impresses me most about Contentactic is their ability to step into our shoes. The environment we operate in is complex, yet they managed to grasp our field and present our work to audiences that do not have this inside knowledge. They immersed themselves in our sector, factored our needs and goals into the equation, and came up with a coherent overall strategy for the new website. I particularly liked how they adapted the content for different languages so that visitors in each region got answers to their specific questions.
Valentine Maillet, communications assistant at Expertise FranceAbout Expertise France
Expertise France is the French public agency for international development cooperation. It is a subsidiary of the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) Group and the second-largest agency of its kind in Europe. Through its actions and projects, it helps partner countries strengthen their local, regional and international public policies. In 2024, Expertise France had €800 million worth of projects under management, with 384 projects, 147 partner countries and 1,500 personnel on the ground.
About Contentactic
Contentactic is a French-based multilingual SEO/GEO content agency. This means we help our clients develop visibility strategies for SEO, GEO, AI, social media, marketplaces and more. And it means we can help them do it in 10+ languages covering 125+ markets. And when we say we do multilingual content, we’re talking about every aspect of multilingual content – from strategy, design and planning to writing, translation and localisation. Our specialty is nuanced, technical B2B content.
