The share of French TPE-PMEs equipped with a website declined between 2024 and 2025, even though nearly all of them consider the web useful or necessary. This gap between belief and action raises a measurable question: what technical and organizational levers separate web presences that produce results from those that stagnate?
Web Presence of TPE-PMEs: The Numbers of Decline Measured by Afnic
The Afnic study “Succeeding with the Web” (2025 edition, panel of about 2,500 companies) provides a clear finding. The proportion of micro-enterprises, TPEs, and PMEs with a website dropped from 70% in 2024 to 61% in 2025. Presence on social networks follows the same trajectory, decreasing from 75% to 64% over the same period.
The paradox can be summed up in one line: 99% of the companies surveyed consider the web useful or necessary. The barrier is no longer conviction, but the ability to maintain and manage this presence over time.
| Indicator | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| TPE-PMEs with a website | 70% | 61% |
| TPE-PMEs on social networks | 75% | 64% |
| Perception of web usefulness | 99% | 99% |
These data suggest that generic advice (“create a website,” “be on social media”) is no longer sufficient. The challenge shifts towards maintenance, management, and regulatory compliance.
Resources like lescarnetsweb.com help structure this reflection by combining feedback and technical monitoring of current web tools.
DSA Compliance and Web Presence: Concrete Obligations Since 2024
The European Digital Services Act (DSA), which came into effect for all online platforms in February 2024, changes the rules of the game for any company that sells, publishes, or advertises on the web. Competing articles on online presence in 2024 do not mention it, even though the penalties are already in effect.
What the DSA Changes for a PME
The text imposes graduated obligations based on the size of the platform used. For a company selling on a marketplace, the DSA strengthens the seller’s responsibility for the compliance of their listings. Platforms must allow users to report illegal content, and professional sellers are required to provide verifiable identification information.
For online advertising, the DSA prohibits targeted advertising based on sensitive data and imposes transparency regarding the funding of ads. Any company using targeted advertising on European platforms must ensure that its practices comply with these constraints.
- Ensure that your seller profiles on marketplaces display the required identification mentions (name, address, registration number).
- Audit your online advertising campaigns to eliminate any targeting based on sensitive categories (political opinions, health data, sexual orientation).
- Establish a single point of contact for handling content reporting, even if your site is not a large platform.
Ignoring these obligations exposes companies to penalties that can reach a significant percentage of the annual global revenue of the concerned business.
Real-Time Investment on Social Networks: Arbitrating Rather Than Accumulating
The common reflex is to multiply accounts on each social network. The data from the decline measured by Afnic show that this strategy does not hold up over time for small structures.
Actual Hourly Cost of a Social Network for a TPE
Regularly publishing on a single professional social network requires, according to field feedback compiled by several observatories, between five and ten hours per week if content creation, moderation, and statistics analysis are included. Multiplying by three or four networks quickly exceeds the capacity of a small team.
The relevant question is not “on how many networks are you present?” but “on which one do you get measurable returns?”. Focusing efforts on a mastered channel generally yields better results than a diluted presence across five platforms.
Web Content Strategy: Publish Less, Structure Better
SERP competitors all recommend “publishing quality content” without defining what that means in practice. The difference between a blog that generates organic traffic and an inert blog often comes down to three technical choices.
- Target verified long-tail queries in a keyword research tool, rather than generic high-competition phrases.
- Update existing articles (data, links, structure) instead of systematically publishing new ones. Updated content performs better in search results than a fresh but superficial article.
- Structure each page around a unique search intent. A page that answers two different questions ranks less well than a page that addresses one in depth.
The ideal publication volume directly depends on available resources. For a TPE, two in-depth articles per month are better than eight rushed articles.
Local SEO and Google Business Profile: The Underutilized Lever
For any business with a geographic catchment area, the Google Business Profile remains the primary web contact point with potential customers. It appears before the website in local search results.
Keeping it updated (hours, recent photos, responses to reviews) takes less time than managing a social network and has a direct effect on local visibility. Customer reviews, in particular, influence both ranking in local results and the purchasing decision of prospects.
The decline in web presence of French TPE-PMEs between 2024 and 2025 does not reflect a disinterest in digital. It reflects a problem of resources and prioritization. Choosing a primary channel, complying with new regulatory obligations like the DSA, and focusing publications on structured content produces more sustainable results than the race for visibility in all directions.
