David vs Goliath, SEO edition
In June 2025, a Dakar law firm contacted us. Specialty: OHADA law, African commercial litigation. Objective: become THE francophone reference on OHADA matters online.
The problem: on queries like "OHADA commercial litigation", "OHADA SME law", "OHADA arbitration", Google's top 5 results were dominated by 2 Paris firms (200 lawyers each), Wikipedia, Doctrine.fr and an institutional site.
The Dakar firm has 7 lawyers. Marketing budget: 400,000 FCFA/month. On paper, it's a lost cause.
9 months later, that same firm ranks #1 on 47 OHADA commercial queries, ahead of the Paris firms. How?
The topical authority theory
Google no longer ranks sites by "overall quality" but by expertise on a specific topic. A site covering 5% of a topic will never beat one covering 90% of it, even with 100x more backlinks.
The algorithm evaluates topical authority by looking at:
- Exhaustiveness: how many sub-topics are covered?
- Depth: does each article truly handle its question?
- Freshness: does the site keep publishing on the topic?
- Internal coherence: do articles logically reference each other?
- E-E-A-T signals: identified authors, dated updates, cited sources?
A large Paris firm publishes 4 OHADA articles per year, mixed with 800 articles on other topics. Its "OHADA density" is 0.5%. A small 100% OHADA firm easily reaches 80%.
The executed plan
We mapped the OHADA universe into 9 pillars + 73 satellites:
| Pillar | Satellites | Keywords targeted |
|---|---|---|
| Commercial company uniform act | 11 | 47 |
| OHADA insolvency procedures | 9 | 31 |
| CCJA arbitration | 8 | 28 |
| OHADA securities | 7 | 22 |
| Debt recovery | 9 | 38 |
| General commercial law | 10 | 41 |
| Corporate tax litigation | 7 | 24 |
| Foreign investment OHADA | 6 | 19 |
| Mediation and ADR | 6 | 15 |
| Total | 73 | 265 keywords |
Publishing pace: 2 articles per week, that is 9 months to cover everything. Each article is bylined by a firm lawyer with photo, bio, LinkedIn. Crucial for E-E-A-T.
The real budget
- Writing (2x80,000 FCFA x 73 articles): 11,680,000 over 9 months, 1,300,000/month
- Ahrefs + Surfer: 200,000/month
- Senior SEO consultant 8h/month: 320,000/month
- Monthly total: 1,820,000 FCFA for 9 months
That's more than the initial 400,000. But when we showed the firm that 47 #1 rankings on OHADA commercial queries would generate 30-50 qualified leads/month (each OHADA case = 800,000 to 5 million FCFA in fees), the investment made sense.
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9-month results
- Blog traffic: 0 to 8,200 visits/month
- #1 rankings: 0 to 47
- Consultation requests from site: 0 to 28/month
- 14 cases signed directly traceable to the blog
- Attributed revenue: 67 million FCFA in 9 months
The firm recouped the SEO investment in 4 months. It's now an annuity.
The 3 conditions to make it work
- Real expertise — topical authority is built on substance. If the content is empty, Google notices fast via behavior signals (bounce rate, time on page).
- Patience — no results before month 4. 80% of the effect appears between months 6 and 12.
- Editorial discipline — no temptation to "diversify the blog". The firm stayed 100% OHADA for 9 months.
FAQ
Can we be authority on 2 topics in parallel?
Not at the start. Establish the first authority, then launch the second in a separate silo (subdomain or distinct category).
What if we're generalist by nature?
Specialize your blog even if your business is broad. An accounting firm can be authority on "Senegal SME taxation" without changing its overall business.
Should we buy backlinks?
No. Topical authority builds without paid backlinks. Natural backlinks arrive when you become the reference (other sites cite you).
Minimum publishing pace?
1 article/week is a viable floor. Below that, the algo considers the site inactive.
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We can map your ideal topic and price your plan in 72 hours.
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Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.