The journal
Notes from the shop.
Plain-language takes on websites, local search, and AI visibility — for owners who'd rather run their business than read agency blogs.
Your best blog topics are already in your phone calls
Keyword tools only show what people already search for. But about 15% of Google searches every day are brand-new questions, and AI engines like ChatGPT cite content that reads like a direct answer. Here's how to pick topics that actually get found.
Read postLocal SEO for service businesses: the page structure that works
Multi-service supporting pages, location landing pages, and FAQ blog posts are what actually moves local rankings. Three popular agency shortcuts — DBA-for-city GBP names, keyword posts on Tumblr and Medium, and 'cloud link building' — are textbook Google policy violations. Here's how the real structure gets built.
Read postIf you run Google Ads, the math inside AI Overviews just changed
Paid click rates inside Google's AI Overviews fell from 19.7% to 6.34% between June 2024 and September 2025. For service businesses spending on Google Ads, the same dollar bought a third of the clicks by the end of that span — here's what to do with the budget.
Read postGoogle says 4 months to a year — why does your agency promise results in 30 days?
Google's own SEO docs cite 4-12 months before changes show real benefit. Agencies promising page-1 rankings in 30 days are either ranking you for keywords nobody searches or running tactics that collapse at the next core update. Here's what to ask.
Read postFour SEO services that sound technical enough to believe — all four rejected by Google itself
Duplicate-content cleanup, E-E-A-T optimization, schema-for-ranking, multiple-H1 fixes. Four invoice line items agencies still sell in 2026, every one explicitly rejected by Google's own docs.
Read postYour website is losing clicks to AI — here's what actually helps
Google's AI Overviews are quietly eating the top of the search results page. If you run a local business, the fix isn't more blog posts — it's making your service pages answer questions.
Read postGoogle told us what doesn't matter in SEO — some agencies haven't caught up
Google's official SEO starter guide lists seven things that don't meaningfully affect your ranking. Half of them are still showing up on agency invoices.
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