It’s important to note that with billions of websites online, the web has become increasingly competitive for businesses. Some business websites like Amazon, Leboncoin, and Orange can register several million visits and generate up to billions of euros every day.

To enhance their digital presence and achieve these results, companies use various digital marketing levers including website optimization, natural referencing or SEO, digital advertising (SEA, PPC), social networks (SMO), and email marketing.

Today, 30 years after the launch of the first search engine website by Tim Berners-Lee in August 1991, search engines are at the forefront when it comes to lead generation and customer acquisition in most business sectors, knowing that 94% of internet traffic is managed by them according to HubSpot Marketing Research data.

That being said, for search engines, and mainly Google, to prioritize one web page over another in its result pages, the web page needs to position itself on queries either with the help of paid referencing (SEA) or with the help of natural referencing (SEO).

Exploring the potential of search engines is therefore of paramount importance given the essential role they play in directing users to the right websites at the right time.

Optimizing your natural referencing is essential to be visible on the web because you could have the most beautiful website in your industry or even your country. Without good referencing, your website will get lost among more than 2.2 million Google queries.

Therefore, placing your website on the first page of Google can be the key to attracting quality potential customers to your website.

This article aims to enlighten you on what SEO is and share with you some key information that could lead you towards a general understanding of the concept and assist you in getting started with your organization’s website referencing.

We will first simply answer some frequently asked questions about SEO.

The SEO FAQ

  • What is a search engine?
  • What is the role of a search engine?
  • What is SEO?
  • What are the main pillars of SEO?
  • What is the purpose of SEO?
  • What factors affect a website’s referencing?
  • Why is Google the search engine to prioritize in your SEO?
  • Key dates in the history of Google and SEO?

SEO is a relatively recent concept that frequently evolves. It appears to have originated from Generation Y, with its roots generally traced back to around the year 1994.

  • 1994: The first search engines and directories appear.
  • 1997: The birth of Google, which registered the domain google.com
  • Early 2000s: Google creates Pagerank to estimate the popularity of a website.
  • 2005: Google Analytics is launched, allowing simplified analysis of a website’s traffic and SEO performance.
  • 2006: Google launches several algorithm updates to improve the user experience of internet users.
  • 2008: The launch of Google Suggest helps users refine their search to get keyword proposals.
  • 2011: Google launches the Panda update aimed at cracking down on sites offering large quantities of poor-quality content.
  • 2012: Google launches the Penguin update to penalize sites with poor-quality links.
  • 2013: Google deploys a new algorithm to provide better results for conversational and semantic queries.
  • 2015: User experience becomes central to Google’s concerns, downgrading the referencing of sites without a mobile-friendly and functional version.
  • 2016: Confirmed in October 2015 and introduced gradually, the RankBrain algorithm now considers a site’s authority (netlinking) and its content part as equal. This update helped quality sites that could meet users’ needs to rise in the SERPs.
  • 2018: In an era where internet users are increasingly impatient, Google launches the Speed Update. The speed of a web page becomes a ranking factor for mobile searches. This negatively affects pages that offer a slow experience to users regardless of the technology used to build the page.
  • March 2019 Core Update: Occurring in March 2019, this update caused significant fluctuations in the positioning of sites on the SERP. Sites considered over-optimized at the technical level (Hn tags, title, meta description, Hn, URL…) were penalized.

Conversely, those offering excellent content were valued.

Another point, this March 2019 Core Update also brought corrections following the previous Medic Update, particularly to revalue sites that may have been unjustly penalized.


Google’s Algorithm

How Does Google’s Algorithm Work?


Google’s algorithm does the work for you by finding web pages that contain the keywords you used for your search, then ranking each page based on several factors, including how often the keyword appears on the page.

The highest-ranked pages appear at the top of Google’s search engine results pages (SERP), meaning the most relevant link for your query is theoretically the first listed by Google.

For webmasters, being widely cited on Google can lead to a significant increase in traffic and web visibility.

 

Analyzing Keywords

Google works hard to understand what people are searching for. This is the only way for it to provide relevant results and maintain the quality of the results it delivers.

Google’s mission is to provide users with reliable results. Using a language model, Google can decipher a user’s intent through a query, knowing what to look for in its index.

Search Matching


Keyword analysis is just the beginning, but the real work starts when the user finds what they’re looking for. Google searches for pages that match the query by looking in the index and on the site for the term that best matches the information sought by the user.

 

Ranking Pages


When searching, a user doesn’t care about the number of pages that contain information on their topic. All they care about is finding the right information. This is what this American company strives to provide us.

For a standard search, there may be tens of millions of sites containing relevant information. To ensure Google provides the best results, its algorithms are at work.

Ranking algorithms analyze hundreds of different factors with the goal of finding the best information the web has to offer.

Many factors are considered, such as content freshness, the number of occurrences of the search term, user experience

.

Context Questions


Not everyone will get the same search results, even if they enter the exact same keywords. Various factors, including history, search settings, and location, can affect the results generated.

For example, searching for “best hotels” in Toulouse will yield different results depending on your geographic location.

Google SEO Tips 


Also known as Google AutoComplete, Google Suggest is a keyword autocomplete feature in the search field.

Before the user has even finished their search, Google suggests keywords related to their query to better guide them.

A Search Box Optimization Agency offers an exclusive service to influence the keywords suggested by Google. This can involve removing a negative keyword or making your brand appear on a commercial keyword.

Influencing Google Suggest: E-reputation

Google’s suggestion appears based on the popularity of a term, the user’s location, and their search history. Its importance is such that it can impact a company’s e-reputation.

Our agency combines its skills with the latest technologies and tools to positively influence the keywords suggested by Google.

We thus strengthen your reputation to develop your popularity. The service also works on other search engines, Amazon, or even YouTube.

We help you take control of your online reputation. This way, we manage to remove negative suggestions that harm you.

E-reputation for Individuals and Professionals

We make your brand appear associated with a strategic keyword in Google Suggest within 90 days. This unique service that we master will allow you to strengthen your notoriety on the web.

Our agency establishes a quote based on a precise pricing grid. After signing the quote, you pay the invoice once the service has been performed. The price depends on the search volume of the keyword.

The Main SEO Criteria

User Experience (UX):


This is largely a must if you want to ensure a position in the top search results. Several important criteria for SEO can be distinguished:

  • Site ergonomics: appearance and quality

  • Bounce rate

  • Conversion rate

  • User journey (UX)

The following elements, when done well, can potentially earn you a lot of space in the result and make you more visible. On the other hand, neglecting the user experience aspect would be a serious mistake.

You risk being penalized by search engines, as they continue to raise their standards in the field. Do not disregard them!

Technical Site Elements:
These elements affect the user experience (UX). These factors are essential, especially for reducing the bounce rate or increasing the website’s conversion rate.

  • Page weight and loading speed (very important)

  • Website appearance and quality

  • Architecture and Sitemap

These various issues must be resolved, but they are just the tip of the iceberg. SEO indeed involves a multitude of actions and regularity.

All these actions will improve the appearance of your site on Google or search engines. Regardless, natural referencing takes time.

On-page SEO:

On-page or on-site optimization is a set of techniques aimed at improving the quality of the content of a website or webpage.

There are several elements that your keyword strategy must take into account:

  • Title Tag

  • Meta Tags (Meta description, robots, keywords)

  • Semantic Markup (H1-H6)

  • URLs

  • Page content (Body)

  • Internal linking (internal links)

Off-page Optimization :
The off-site part represents everything related to the site’s context and therefore the links redirecting to pages of the site.

This part includes:

  • Source of external links (backlinks from quality sites will be more relevant for Google)

  • Link anchor (term used to redirect to your website)

  • The quantity of links is also a factor, but betting on the quality of links is much more important than betting on the quantity of links.

How to Properly Optimize Your Natural Referencing in 2023?
It’s important to integrate SEO into your strategy in 2023 to gain visibility on search engine result pages. It’s an excellent opportunity to make a website or a business known.

How to properly optimize your natural referencing in 2024?

Integrating SEO into your strategy in 2024 is essential to gain visibility on search engine result pages. It’s an excellent opportunity to promote a website or a business.

Going Further in SEO: 10 Topics to Deepen Your Research

If you want to learn more about SEO, here is a list of ten common topics in natural referencing that are frequently researched by marketing specialists and website owners worldwide:

Keyword Research: Identifying the most relevant and useful keywords to target in order to improve rankings in search engines and attract traffic to a website.

On-Page Optimization: Optimizing individual web pages to improve their ranking in search engine results and make them more attractive to users.

Link Building: Acquiring high-quality links from other websites to a website to improve its authority and ranking in search engine results.

Technical SEO: Optimizing the technical infrastructure underpinning a website to improve its visibility and ranking in search engine results.

Content Marketing: Creating and promoting valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.

Local SEO: Optimizing a website and online presence to rank highly in search engine results for local queries.

Mobile Optimization: Ensuring a website is mobile-friendly and can be easily accessed and used on mobile devices.

User Experience (UX): Enhancing the overall experience of users on a website to increase their satisfaction and engagement.

Voice Search Optimization: Optimizing a website for voice search to improve its visibility and ranking in search results.

Video Optimization: Optimizing videos to improve their visibility and ranking in search results and on video-sharing platforms like YouTube.