Quick reference

Ten SEO rules worth remembering

The things that come up most often, condensed. Each one links to a fuller explanation if you want the reasoning behind it.

TIP #01

Fix indexing before anything else

A page Google can't crawl will never rank, no matter how good it is. Check Search Console → Pages first, every time.

TIP #02

Measure titles in pixels

Google truncates by width, not character count. Two 55-character titles can behave completely differently.

TIP #03

One page, one job

Pages covering the same topic compete with each other instead of helping. Merge them or differentiate properly.

TIP #04

Match intent, not keywords

Search your target term. If guides rank and yours is a sales page, no amount of optimisation fixes that.

TIP #05

Internal links are free

The most underused lever in SEO. Descriptive anchors, related pages linked both ways, nothing more than three clicks deep.

TIP #06

Canonicals must return 200

Pointing one at a redirect gives search engines contradictory instructions — so they ignore it.

TIP #07

Mobile is the version that counts

Google indexes mobile-first. Content hidden on small screens is content hidden from Google entirely.

TIP #08

Skip the keyword density target

Not a real metric. Chasing a percentage is keyword stuffing with extra steps.

TIP #09

Compress the images

On most small sites this single fix does more for Core Web Vitals than everything else combined.

TIP #10

Nobody can guarantee rankings

Not you, not an agency, not anyone. Treat the promise as a warning sign.

BARS INDICATE HOW MUCH IMPACT EACH TYPICALLY HAS

More depth on any of these: the seven SEO principles, the technical SEO map, or how to audit your own site. You can check two of these against your own site right now with the free tools.