Can i get some insight as to why this is #1 on google?

[CassisGroup]

So... our results keep slipping little by little. I am trying to understand the rhyme and reason to it all (aren't we all?)
Since Penguin, one website seems to have strongly benefited from the update. And I can't seem to understand why except maybe for the lack of seo efforts which resulted in no bad efforts. 
Search for "chaussures grandes tailles" in google.FR, you will find what I am talking about.

This is what I seemed to have gathered.

The #1 result has the KW in both their title and description is using blatant keyword stuffing (ie just  astring of keyword with no phrase structure), has done little with links or optimization, does have 300 facebook fans (but they seem to have been bought according to the last 3 months activity). Text is very limited on their site. They have a lower authority than other websites.They are also a newcomer as far as the market goes.

It is important to note, that they also rank #1 on many of the related field keyword or top 3. So according to google this is a "winning" website as of now.and that is why it grabbed my attention.

The #2 results, is a big website, equivalent to zappos or the like, seems to have redone their optimization following penguin and to me seems to do a pretty good job at writing "natural" content for the user, not for google, as much as possible without killing their seo chances. Their authority should be good, and tons of people are linking to them. They also do use a lot of PR blog/article.(legit ones though I am not sure about before). They invest heavily in adwords and ads altogether (tv/radio/etc..). They are the big guy but are not specialized on this keyword.

The lower results, are not as representative, a mish mash of good and bad but all are specialized stores in this market including mine. They all get some ranking on some of the major keywords but not nearly as much as that #1 website which is killing it all (see semrush for more on it). So I thought I would focus on these 2 top (neither of which are mine) to start a conversation.Though feel free to comment if you have any hindsight on any of them.

Can anyone explain to me why the #1 can possibly be #1? I would love to hear everyone's opinion on the matter. 
I fully understand that in the long run that #1 might not be #1 forever,  but then again it has been several months now at least and the longer that last, the more likely they are to gain new (possibly repeat) customers...

[CassisGroup]

Thanks Donnie. Yes, I completely believe that the right attitude is what you are talking about above. I guess I am just trying to understand the rhyme and reason to it all because, while I believe in the long term it is not all about SEO, and it is more about the user and their experience (and conversion!), at the end of the day, they are not especially following that motto and yet something is working in a very strong way for them. So while I fully intend to apply the best to my own work, I do want to understand the reasoning in what I am doing or not doing, and the whys of the result I am and will be getting.
Basically figuring what the "good" is of what they are doing  Somehow it is taking me a while LOL

[SEODinosaur]

They are doing ok. But you can do better. I have always been up against some pretty challenging competitors. Don't only focus on what they are doing, spend more time focusing on what you can do to win. Take the good from what they are doing and do better. SEO is a challenge but as long as you dedicate time into being unique and valuable to the searchers the search engines will reward you:)

[CassisGroup]

Thanks for taking the time to answer. So going back to the original #1, this is what I am getting

title: Grandes chaussures et chaussure grandes tailles pour grandes pointures - Pas de Géant (granted no s on this one, so only half plural)

Description:  Pas de geant le site de vente en ligne de grandes chaussures grandes tailles pour femme a grandes pointures escarpins sandales bottes et autres chaussures grande taille femme42 43 44 45 pour trouver vos chaussures grandes pointureset grande taille femme

h1: pas de géant (actually sounds like they have quite a few different h1 on this page)

body: P_as de Géant_ vous propose une vaste gamme de chaussures tendance en grandes pointures pour femme! Des chaussures grandes tailles pour femme en pointure 42, 43, 44 et méme du 45. Les modèles de chaussures grandes pointures de Pas de Géant répondent à tous les styles, toutes les occasions et toutes les saisons : escarpins, sandales, bottes,…etc. Chausser de grandes chaussures que ce soit des escarpins, sandales et bottes glamour, casual, ou de détente en grandes pointures c’est aujourd’hui possible grâce à Pas de Géant !

I am sorry to be so insistent. But I really do want to understand how such a website can dominate a competitive market like this one. I really want to figure this out. Because while some it makes sense, the rest just seems to go completely against everything I am reading about Google new "be perfect" rules. And yes, they probably dont have bad marks against them like backlinks or else. but they sure dont seemt o fit under the perfect non optimized website that Google is now talking about. Extremely little copy, lots of KW use everywhere in not so natural ways, not good social activity. 
What i do see is that they don't have internal linking in their items description but do use the targeted keyword in the url and item name and most of the time in their derscription. Recently some of their pages have been triple ranking in google (on certain terms, their category page, and 2 items pages take the #3,4 and 5 position). So something they are doing must be working. Something I have seldom seen in this market.and i am just not getting it. especially given the quality of the site.

I guess I am still puzzled..

[SEODinosaur]

I disagree with no "SEO effort". I think "SEO effort" is the problem. People are still creating content for search engines, this is not how you earn rankings. The goal is to create content that is unique, educational, or entertaining. Set yourself apart from the competition. Earn your keep. Google wants to show the best possible results and they use users from which ever matrix they can gather to estimate who will rank.

My quote is "Give the people what they want and Google will give you to the people"

No SEO effort is not good however SEO effort the way people think of it (Spamming, taking whatever link you can get, buying links, cheap tactics) is wrong.

Create valuable content, target the right people and market your business.

[SEODinosaur]

sure no prob... These update apply in the US not sure about France...

New Panda Update - Over optimizing / Overstuffing keywords

Over optimizing is when a page on a site is using an exact keyword without variations  on a page. For Example:

Title: "Chaussures grandes tailles"

Description: "Chaussures  grandes tailles" bla bla bla

H1: "Chaussures grandes tailles"

Body: "Chaussures grandes tailles" 10 times 1 in bold, 1 underlined, and 1 in italic.

Overstuffing keywordsis when a page has 100 exact phrases "Chaussures grandes tailles" on a page with 10,000 words on it. This keeps the ratio low when comparing keywords to content.

Penguin Update

This was placed to prevent unnatural link building/spam

(When a user likes your page they will link to it. Naturally the link is going to be your Company name or Brand name.)

When a company links to a page on their site 100x with an exact keyword "Chaussures grandes tailles" without variation and without a brand name it looks unnatural. This can trigger the penguin update.

A natural link building structure should be:

70% Branding

20% Diverse Anchoring (big shoe, cool big shoe, amazing big shoe, best big shoe, etc...)

10% Exact

[CassisGroup]

Thanks Derek, keep us poste don what you find for sure!

[CassisGroup]

Yep these are the ones.. as far as keyword stuffing I was talking about the description of the home page  of #1. see the bold words in the attempted phrase below (for those who dont speak the language). This is far from natural looking to me.

Pas de geant le site de vente en ligne de grandes chaussures grandes tailles pour femme a grandes pointures escarpins sandales bottes et autres chaussures grande taille femme42 43 44 45 pour trouver vos chaussures grandes pointureset grande taille femme

About over optimization, that is definitely one I would want more feedback on.

Yes they dont do much , so over optimizing is far off, but every single product is named: ballerines grandes tailles XXX (or plus size shoe XXXX).. too me that is not very natural.?
I was advised against that in the past.

Also woudn't their "qui sommes nous?" page count as far as keyword stuffing?

I wouldn't even dare to write like that. Am basically trying to define if I am misunderstanding over optimization. (there is also quite a few broken links on that page)

As far as natural looking anchor, do you mind giving me an example so I can understand better?
 Are we saying that naming my product like that "plus size shoes claudia" , "plus size ballerinas erica" etc.. is the way to go then? That seems like over optimization to me.

I also noticed they have no links in their item description (internal linking) is that something that helping them as well then?

As you see, a sea of questions on this one

[SEODinosaur]

What sites are ranking #1 and #2?

When I ran this search "chaussures grandes tailles" :

#1 www.pasdegeant.com/  **Not **over optimizing and majority of their keywords are anchored natural (looking).

majority of their keywords are branded (same as their URL)

#2 www.sarenza.com/chaussure-grande-taille

Are these the two sites you are seeing? If not you may have personalized settings on.

[TheSEODR]

I have a competitor that also ranks well for competitive search terms with very few links and mediocre on-page optimization and social signals.

I asked the question on Q&A recently and was told that is it possible for them to have links that bots from site explorers can not see. Google bot is able to see them but the site explorer you use won't be able to show them.

I also learned that having done no SEO efforts can be better than having bad links pointing to your site.

I am still researching and learning how this is possible. I would like to see what more people in the industry have to say about this.