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Here’s a list of the top rules to get you ranking high on Google:

“If Google identifies an ‘overuse’ of specific keywords, it will actually penalise your site because it considers the copy to be unreadable or uninteresting.”

Continual improvement: SEO is not a “set and forget” concept. Remember, there’s a lot of jostling for position – and some companies put a lot of effort into constantly fine-tuning their site, then monitoring the results. But all sites will slip down the list if no work is done. So you need to be pro-active.

Technical quality: Your site should be technically ‘clean’. Google rewards sites that are fast, lightweight and obey the rules of technical quality. Systems like WordPress and Joomla (which form the backbone of most small-business sites) are already optimized, but can be optimized further.

Identify the keywords: Google Analytics, a free tool, gives you a complete set of invaluable reports,

Which form the basis of any SEO. It shows you the main keywords that visitors use to find your site.

Focus your marketing: Depending on your specialisation, only some keywords will be relevant. If your business depends on its locale, then your suburb would be a top keyword. However, if Google identifies an “overuse” of specific keywords, it will actually penalise your site because it considers the copy to be unreadable or uninteresting (Google says that keywords should not make up more than five to seven per cent of the copy).

This means you need to choose your keywords carefully, so they most accurately reflect your preferred market position. By using the right keywords, you attract the type of customer that you’re looking for. If you include every keyword, it will actually weaken the SEO, because competitor businesses will have a higher repetition of specific keywords and yet remain under the recommended percentage of use.