SEO: Definition and guide to successful organic search

What is SEO?

SEO, or organic search (Search Engine Optimization), is a set of techniques aimed at improving a website’s position in search-engine results, such as Google.

SEO has one main goal: rank your site at the top of search results for strategic keywords. That lets you attract qualified, organic traffic to your site.

Here are the 5 key advantages of an SEO strategy:

• Increased visibility: your site appears in Google’s first results

• Targeted traffic: you attract visitors interested in your content, products, and services

• Optimal relevance: your pages answer users’ searches precisely

• Better ranking: you gain positions on your priority keywords

• Technical performance: your site becomes faster, better structured, and more accessible

SEO rests on 3 main pillars:

• Technical optimization of the website: that includes the site structure, fast loading, mobile compatibility, and so on.

• Content optimization: the content must be high quality, original, relevant for the targeted keywords, and well structured.

• Link acquisition (netlinking): links from other websites strengthen your site’s credibility in the eyes of search engines.

SEO is a continuous improvement process: to maintain and improve your positions, you have to regularly update your strategy and optimize your site.

Discover in this guide everything you need to know to succeed with your organic search strategy.

Semji helps you boost your website’s visibility and increase your traffic: our SEO solution analyzes your sector and defines a custom SEO strategy to rank you on your strategic keywords.

Why do SEO?

A pillar of inbound marketing, SEO’s mission is to attract visitors to your website: it is a site’s main traffic-acquisition lever.

Overall, SEO strengthens and improves a site’s visibility so you can gain positions on general and more specific queries that users search for. The ultimate goal of SEO is to bring your site into the best positions on search-results pages (to answer a user need and thus reach your traffic and conversion goals.

According to the Brightedge study, 51% of a website’s traffic comes on average from the organic channel, far ahead of social networks, which represent only 5%.

Thus, developing a lasting SEO strategy lets you grow and develop your visibility on the web. It involves several stakes for your company:

• Increase the visibility and traffic of your website;

• Reach Google’s first results;

• Reduce the acquisition costs of paid traffic;

• Improve customer satisfaction thanks to relevant content and well-ranked information;

• Generate leads and qualified prospects;

• Increase your revenue and profits.

SEO or SEA: the main differences to know

SEO and SEA are two levers that people tend to oppose. For good reason: SEO leads to organic results, obtained through technical ranking work. SEA generates instant traffic, in exchange for advertising costs.

Unlike SEA (Search Engine Advertising), organic results are obtained through ranking without ads, with the goal of answering users’ queries on search-results pages (SERP). SEO therefore applies to search engines but also refers to users’ needs.

For that, it is important to understand users’ expectations when they type a query on Google so you can bring them the best possible answer. Google being the most used search engine, with 94% market share in France and 92% worldwide, it is preferable to focus on it to build an SEO strategy.

Nevertheless, the two techniques are perfectly compatible! It is indeed possible to combine them to generate quality traffic. That is then called an SEM (Search Engine Marketing) strategy.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

• Capitalization, awareness, and increased trust over the long term to expand your market;

• Lasting effects even if the work stretches over time and with fewer resources;

• Difficulty reaching highly competitive keywords organically;

• Precise targeting of keywords;

• Full control of the strategy based on analyses and adjustments accordingly.

SEA (Search Engine Advertising)

• Fast investment on targeted keywords;

• Effects of limited duration, which end at the same time as the campaign;

• Response to short-term stakes;

• Potential to rank on all keywords (including the most competitive) provided you pay the price;

• Targeting options based on users’ geographic location or interests;

• A strategy driven by rules intended for advertisers.

How do you do SEO?

When Google’s robots crawl your site and try to decide which search results to display on the first page for different keywords, Google’s algorithms take into account 3 important families of criteria.

1. Technical optimization of the website (technical SEO)

Technical SEOguarantees that your site is technically high-performing and compliant with search-engine criteria. It is the skeleton of your site.

It is the first thing Google will see of your site. For Google to see your site, it has to index it in its database. To check that, you can type the “site:” command in Google’s search box followed by your domain name.

For example: “site.com”. The results displayed will show the pages of your site that have been indexed in the search-engine index. Google can therefore crawl your site and carry out an analysis of your site, in particular:

• Optimization of the site structure;

• Management of HTML tags (meta title and meta description);

• Optimization of heading tags (Hn) that structure the content;

• Management of URLs;

• The presence of an XML sitemap to make indexing by search engines easier;

• The robots.txt file;

• Loading speed;

• Mobile compatibility;

• Site security via the HTTPS protocol;

• Optimization of images (size, quality, and use of alt attributes to make them easier for search engines to interpret).

2. The quality and quantity of content

Content SEO uses writing and optimization techniques specially designed for the web.

A site’s content is essential for you to rank on the SERP and assert your expertise in users’ eyes. Quality, unique, well-structured, attractive content will have every chance of ranking better than generic content. It involves, among other things:

• Researching relevant keywords for the industry and the targeted users;

• Creating quality content that is informative, high-value, and able to answer users’ questions;

• Semantic optimization of tags;

• Keyword density while preserving the fluency of the content;

• Internal links to establish a logical structure for search engines and users;

• External links to reliable sources to strengthen the credibility of your content;

• Multimedia content (images, videos, infographics, and so on) to improve the user experience and make the content more attractive;

• Regular content updates (improvement and creation) to keep the information fresh;

• Answering search intents and the questions users ask on search engines.

Note: Semji is the leading software solution in France for optimizing your SEO content strategy. Semji is used by more than 500 major brands such as Leroy Merlin, Groupe Seb, Macif, Ouest-France, and many others.

3 – The popularity of the website (netlinking)

Netlinking(or link building) consists of obtaining links to your site (backlinks) from other reliable sites, to strengthen your site’s credibility in the eyes of search engines.

A website’s popularity is justified in particular through the number of links it receives from other websites. The more sites cite you or send their users to visit your website, the more interest Google will give you. This technique rests on a complete strategy, which covers:

• The quality of the links, which is higher if they come from reputable, relevant sites;

• Looking for partners in your industry or a related sector to obtain quality links;

• A balance between internal and external links, because internal links always strengthen your site’s structure and improve navigation;

• Diversity of sources so as to remain as natural as possible in the eyes of search engines;

• Informative, original, quality content so that your site, in turn, is a reliable source or link;

• A content strategy dedicated exclusively to link baiting (studies, infographics, in-depth analyses, dossiers, and so on) to encourage other sites to point to them;

• Maintenance of broken links on your site to maintain a good user experience and preserve your site’s credibility with search engines;

• Performance tracking with analysis tools to follow the performance of the backlinks obtained and adjust your strategy accordingly.

In summary: SEO aims to maximize a website’s online visibility, attract qualified traffic, and generate leads and revenue. A well-thought-out strategy, taking into account technical aspects, content, and netlinking, is essential to obtain lasting results.

Which criteria should you retain for your Google ranking?

We have talked about SEO criteria to take into consideration to succeed with your ranking strategy but what about them? Let’s try to see more clearly.

SEO takes into account nearly 200 criteria that are not communicated by Google but that many SEO experts decode every day to draw conclusions. Google wants to provide the best results to answer users’ needs as well as possible.

For that, Google’s algorithms rank websites based on On-Page and Off-Page criteria that we will detail without further delay.

1. On-Page criteria

On-page SEO(also known as “on-site SEO”) consists of optimizing different parts of your website that affect the ranking of your pages in search engines.

These are technical and editorial optimizations that you can apply on other pages of your site, such as the quality of your content or your HTML code, for example.

Here are examples of factors that directly influence how search-engine algorithms perceive your site, giving it or taking away credibility:

Analyzing meta tags

Every piece of content must be unique; a page’s title and meta description are no exception.

Title tags correspond to the titles and subtitles that structure your different paragraphs. These tags allow Google to understand the topic of your content. It is wise to insert your main keywords in the H1 and H2 of your pages.

A page must include a main title (H1) and only one. The H1 corresponds to the title of your page or article, while the title tag provides a title for search engines that will be displayed in the SERP.

• The title tag should not exceed about 70 characters.

• The meta description is of little use for SEO but is strongly recommended to encourage the user to click on your page rather than that of the competition. Its recommended length is between 70 and 150 characters. Beyond that, Google limits its display to 150 characters.

To understand the structure of a web page, you can use the Web Developer tool and then browse the “View Document Outline” tab.

Optimizing images and media

The weight and dimensions of your images must be optimized to limit the loading time of your pages. Search engines take into account the speed of your website; images that are too large or too heavy will take longer to load, which will have repercussions on the site’s overall loading time.

An image over 60 KB can generally be lightened. To compress your images, you can use Photoshop or ILoveIMG.

Also, search engines check that your images have alternative text; without it, they cannot read your images. Alternative text is in fact used by a screen-reading program to help blind users understand the content of your images. Search engines analyze images in the same way.

It is therefore preferable to describe the image precisely in order to help search engines understand the content of your pages.

The usability of your website

It is important to provide a good user experience with a site that works on desktop, tablet, and smartphone.

Optimizing page loading speed directly impacts the user experience, and therefore ranking in search results. Conversely, a long loading time risks increasing dissatisfaction and bounce rate, inevitably influencing content indexing.

Google has announced that 70% of pages need 7 seconds for the top of the content to load and 10 seconds to load fully. This negative finding implies that the longer the user has to wait for a page to load, the more they will tend to leave the page.

In addition, clean HTML code, without errors, correctly structured and compliant with standards, makes indexing by search engines easier. Finally, robots.txt files tell search-engine robots which pages to index.

The semantic field around keywords

To optimize organic search, it is essential to work the semantic field of keywords well by choosing relevant, priority, and long-tail terms. These keywords must then be placed strategically in the title tags, description, and body of the text.

Finally, the frequency of keyword appearance must be sufficient in the content without harming the user experience.

Optimizing your website’s linking

Good linking makes navigation easier for users and helps search engines understand the site.

That is why, to improve your site’s ranking, it is essential to optimize its internal and external linking.

Quality internal linking lets you logically connect all the pages of the site to one another. External linking, for its part, consists of placing relevant links pointing to other authoritative sites.

2. Off-Page criteria

Unlike On-Page SEO, Off-page SEO consists of strengthening the elements outside the website. It aims to increase your domain authority by obtaining links from other websites.

For example, Wikipedia is a site with very good “domain authority” that receives many links. You can see your domain authority score here.

Here are the main factors to optimize to strengthen your Off-Page SEO:

The domain authority of your site

Domain authority measures the popularity and credibility of a website. The older the domain, with quality content and backlinks from influential sites, the higher its authority will be.

This authority makes organic ranking and visibility in search results easier.

The quality and number of links that redirect to your pages (backlinks)

A site’s ranking depends a great deal on its backlinks. The more inbound links it has from high-traffic sites or sites that are authoritative in its sector, the better its positioning will be.

Quality backlinks bring popularity and strengthen the credibility of the targeted site.

The popularity of your site on social networks

A site’s visibility on social networks such as Facebook or Twitter increases its popularity. Frequent shares of content on these platforms generate additional visits.

This increased popularity improves indexing by search engines.

SEO trends not to miss

The evolution of SEO is constant, and the race for performance intensifies year after year in SEO markets. A motivation largely boosted by new tools, new algorithms, and new user requirements (as well as their receptiveness).

Artificial intelligence in SEO?

Artificial intelligence has revolutionized the way content is designed and optimized for ranking. A revolution that continually impacts how search engines and users interpret content, but also optimization techniques.

For example, algorithms such as BERT, MUM, and RankBrain integrate AI to analyze user search intents more deeply. Beyond simple keyword matching, the challenge is to better understand users’ language in order to bring them the most optimal answer possible.

Since 2024, Google has integrated generative AI directly into its search results with Google AI Overviews, and Google AI Mode has been available in the USA since May 2025.

On the execution side of SEO actions, AI also offers a certain number of advantages:

• Automation of time-consuming tasks such as keyword analysis;

• Automated generation of content (for example with Semji);

• Automatic analysis of ranking criteria to identify the actions to take.

However, despite these advances, data and content produced by AI still require human oversight and verification. The point of this review: ensure consistency, quality, compliance with SEO’s specific requirements, and a response to the goals set.

It is also recommended to build prompt skills for any professional who wants to integrate AI into their content-creation process. This is a preliminary phase that consists of giving the tool precise, structured instructions, to arrive at content infinitely close to your expectations. Conversely, a low-precision prompt will generate poor content that search engines can penalize.

AI Overviews: Google’s generative AI in search

AI Overviews was designed to provide condensed, precise information to users in a way that answers their queries on Google directly. As a second step, they will be able to interact with the artificial intelligence to refine their search, thanks to a conversational mode.

Concretely, AI Overviews uses AI to generate enriched search-result previews, called “snapshots.” They thus give users an overview of different types of content (website previews, links to approved sources, and so on). All with the goal of making it easier to search for (and obtain) precise, relevant information.

Note: AI Overviews does not apply to sensitive content (politics, religion, controversy, and so on), in order to preserve the quality of results in accordance with EEAT rules.

In any case, AI Overviews promises to revolutionize the SEO universe by offering a vertical experience but above all by putting visibility above traffic. This inversion will therefore lead to new ways of measuring SEO… and of using it in the future.

Voice search

Voice search is rising rapidly because of the rise of voice assistants and enriched results, among other things. They are recognized in particular for the benefit of a fast, convenient experience, plus an understanding of natural language, including in a limited context.

This transformation is undeniably redefining how users interact with search engines. Incidentally, it is the origin of strategic adjustments in ranking, such as increased optimization of “featured snippets” (voice excerpts highlighted on the SEO side).

Videos

Videos are a format particularly appreciated by users, and therefore by algorithms. For better assimilation, it is advisable to favor:

• A native integration (directly on the page);

• A short format, simple and high-value;

• The addition of subtitles and a transcript for editorial enrichment and organic ranking.

‘Mobile first’

With more than half of internet searches being done via mobile devices, the “mobile first” approach is now imperative. To guarantee optimal visibility, a responsive site is therefore essential to offer users a smooth experience, regardless of their screen size.

The speed and lightness of pages go hand in hand with this criterion. It is a question of usability, which extends to practical aspects (but just as essential for your business) such as easier navigation or the presence of buttons.

It is also recommended to take into account users’ reading and content-consumption habits from their smartphone. This behavior influences content creation in particular, from text to images.

Concise information, attractive visual elements, and a “scannable” structure are therefore essential. They will allow you to meet user expectations, optimize your site’s ranking in mobile search results, and stay competitive.

The essential SEO rules for ranking your website well

1. Do an SEO audit

The SEO audit is essential to evaluate the online health of your site. It should allow you to:

• Identify the areas for improvement;

• Pinpoint the technical problems to correct;

• Take stock of your visibility in search engines;

• Step back from the quality of the user experience;

• Aim for a better ranking and quality traffic.

However, an automated SEO audit will generate a certain amount of data whose reading, analysis, and processing require SEO skills. Hence the importance of being supported by an SEO expert, who will provide you with relevant recommendations and quickly define your field of action.

2. Determine your target

Defining your target precisely is an important step to categorize the different types of customers you want to reach and understand their needs and expectations. Once your targets are determined, you can more easily prioritize strategic keywords and create relevant content to attract them to your website and convert them into customers.

This approach will make it easier to accomplish several goals:

• Adjust your content (to be as relevant as possible);

• Adapt the online experience to the expectations of your future customers;

• Optimize your chances of ranking well in search-engine results according to the search intent of the targeted users.

For a target determined with precision and certainty, you will have to analyze your market and in particular its online behavior. Which keywords should you target? What are the emerging needs in terms of content? Using tools such as Google Analytics will help you answer these questions.

For example, for a cycling e-commerce site, one of my targets is:

• Man aged 30-40

• Athletic

• Senior executive

I therefore know that my target will use Google to buy bike parts, but also to find information around hikes, bike races, or bike repair. From my target’s stakes, I will be able to create adapted content.

3. Research and prioritize strategic keywords

As we mentioned earlier, search-engine algorithms are sensitive to the work done with strategic keywords. Whether they are short-tail or long-tail, they are of capital importance for the success of your content strategy.

To carry out this keyword research:

• List and prioritize the keywords directly linked to your semantic universe using tools such as Semrush, Ahrefs, or Yooda Insight

• Study the keywords your direct competitors rank for to identify additional keywords related to your sector

• Organize keywords by thematic clusters to match them to your different product or service lines

• Set up ranking tracking of your website on these keywords in order to evaluate your performance

• Prioritize the keywords to improve in order to define an SEO action plan that will allow your website to gain visibility on these strategic keywords

Thanks to this keyword research, you have inventoried all the keywords on which it is strategic to be visible in Google to grow your business.

4. Define your SEO goals

Defining clear SEO goals will allow you to calculate the ROI of the SEO action plan and evaluate the effectiveness of the actions taken, and therefore to obtain:

• An SEO traffic gain;

• An SEO lead gain;

• A gain in positions on strategic keywords in Google;

• A gain in awareness;

• A reduction in customer acquisition cost (SEO being known to be more profitable than SEA).

We advise you to formulate the goal with the SMART criteria to make it effective: Specific, Measurable, Acceptable, Realistic.

Example of an SEO goal: “Go from 50K monthly SEO traffic to 100K in 12 months.”

5. Establish your SEO strategy

All these steps conclude with the definition and deployment of a clear, concise, coherent, and structured SEO strategy. To guide you, here are the questions it must answer:

• Netlinking: How many Referring Domains (links from referring websites) should we obtain? What types of links should we obtain and how?

• Content: Which content should we optimize? What new content should we create? What semantic optimizations are indispensable for each piece of content? Which user signals are failing? How can we improve them?

• Technical SEO: What are the website’s technical flaws? How do we fix them?

Boost your visibility with our SEO solution

Semji is the SEO solution in service of your performance.

In addition to increasing traffic on your site, our solution is also dedicated to creating optimized content to strengthen your digital presence. Our team of SEO experts and our solutions help you:

• Make your content more high-performing and competitive thanks to custom recommendations;

• Boost your production of high-performing SEO content thanks to direct access to recommendations from your open-source CMS or your custom solution;

• Climb the rankings in search engines by exploiting AI’s potential in your SEO content.

    		[Request a demo!](/fr/demande-demo)

Frequently asked questions

What does SEO mean?

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) means “search engine optimization.” This discipline encompasses a set of techniques aimed at improving a website’s visibility in the organic results of search engines such as Google, without going through paid advertising.

What is SEO used for?

Organic search lets you attract a qualified audience to your site organically. This approach generates targeted traffic, increases your product and service sales, strengthens your online credibility, and positions you ahead of your competitors in searches. Good SEO practices guarantee a lasting presence on the web without spending on advertising.

How do you improve a site’s SEO?

Success in ranking a website comes from technical optimization (semantic markup, fast loading time), creating relevant content targeting strategic keywords, and a clear structure for crawling robots. Effective internal linking, combined with local SEO and quality external links, strengthens positioning in search results. Companies generally turn to SEO agencies or consultants to support them on their strategy.

What are the differences between SEO and SEA?

SEO and SEA represent two distinct approaches to appearing in Google search results. SEO aims to improve a site’s ranking for free by optimizing its content, while SEA relies on paid advertising placed at the top of results pages. SEA guarantees immediate but temporary exposure, whereas SEO builds a lasting presence.

How long does it take to see SEO results?

Organic ranking work shows its first effects between 3 and 6 months after it is put in place. This duration varies according to the sector’s competition, the quality of the content produced, and the initial state of the website. Progress becomes more marked after 6 to 12 months of regular actions, with a constant progression of ranking and organic traffic.

What are the indispensable SEO tools?

Google Search Console is the foundation for analyzing the technical health of a website. Other tools such as Screaming Frog let you audit page structure, while Semrush or Ahrefs are used to study keywords and the competition. An analysis tool such as Google Analytics measures traffic performance, while specialized solutions such as Semji help optimize content performance.