Hi, I have nearly finished creating a website for my dad's accountancy business. I have been looking at what competitors have been doing to get at the top of Google. I have typed in many things such as "Ascot accountants", "Accountants in Ascot", "Ascot Accountancy". One website that was at or near the top consistently was http://bit.ly/5tmAy . I have found two things that they have done which seem to be effective but I am not sure that they are allowed.

 

1. They have a keywords page at accountingpartnership.co.uk/keywords

This lists hundreds of keywords so if you type one of those keywords into Google then you will get to the keywords page. I suppose most people who get to that page will click home and will be on the website.

 

2. When I went on their Google Maps listing here

I found that there were links to many blogs. These blogs have the same posts for the same businesses. I know that Google ranks websites on how many links so that should be boosting their position on Google Maps and search.

 

I am not 100% certain that these are against the rules so I am posting this so I can find out. If the first method is not against the terms and conditions then I would be interested in doing that. Thanks

Google should penalise them if they think it's a bad strategy. If not, then it could be that it's a good strategy to follow. It's always the dilemma in seo - to follow your competitors or to forge your own path. If you do not feel comfortable following certain techniques, then it's probably best to avoid them and concentrate on other areas that your competitors have forgone.