Search. In plain English.
Notes on SEO, local search, and AI search optimisation — written for the person doing the work.
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27 JUNE 2026 · SEARCH FOUNDATIONS
Service-area businesses: the GBP settings most owners get wrong.
Service-area businesses keep getting the same Google Business Profile settings wrong. Here's what to fix — hidden address, service areas, primary category, and more.
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26 JUNE 2026 · BRAND & ROADMAPS
Why most law firm names are forgettable (and what to do instead).
Most law firm names blur together because they're built from surnames and legal jargon. Here's why that hurts you in search and what to name your firm instead.
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25 JUNE 2026 · SEARCH FOUNDATIONS
How to get reviews without paying for them or asking robots.
You get more reviews by asking real clients at the right moment, making it easy, and following up once. No payment, no fake reviews, no bots.
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24 JUNE 2026 · FRACTIONAL CMO
Hiring an SEO agency: five questions that filter out the bad ones.
Five questions that separate SEO agencies worth hiring from the ones that will waste your money. What to ask, what good answers sound like, and the red flags.
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23 JUNE 2026 · BRAND & ROADMAPS
Naming a professional services business: three failure modes.
Professional services business names fail in three predictable ways. Learn to spot them before you file the paperwork — and before your clients can't find you.
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22 JUNE 2026 · SEARCH FOUNDATIONS
Local citations: which ones still matter in 2026, which to skip.
Local citations still matter in 2026, but only a handful drive real ranking power. Here's which directories to build, which to skip, and how to stop wasting time on dead platforms.
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21 JUNE 2026 · FRACTIONAL CMO
The board-ready marketing report: structure, length, frequency.
A board-ready marketing report needs a single page of outcomes, a section on what the numbers mean, and a clear next step. Here's the structure, length, and cadence that works.
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20 JUNE 2026 · SEARCH FOUNDATIONS
NAP consistency: the boring fix that beats every link-building scheme.
NAP consistency — matching your business name, address, and phone across every directory — is the unglamorous fix that stabilises local search rankings faster than most link campaigns ever will.
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19 JUNE 2026 · BRAND & ROADMAPS
Positioning statement vs tagline vs mission: three different jobs.
A positioning statement, tagline, and mission statement do three different jobs. Mixing them up wastes all three. Here's how to tell them apart and use each one correctly.
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18 JUNE 2026 · SEARCH FOUNDATIONS
Why your business doesn't appear when San Diego clients search for you.
Your San Diego business isn't showing up in local search because of fixable technical, profile, and content gaps. Here's what causes invisibility and how to resolve it.
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17 JUNE 2026 · FRACTIONAL CMO
When the founder is the marketer: the moment to bring in help.
Most founders handle marketing until it quietly breaks. Here's how to spot the moment when carrying it yourself stops being scrappy and starts costing you.
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16 JUNE 2026 · BRAND & ROADMAPS
Repositioning: when (and when not) to do it.
Repositioning makes sense when the market has shifted or your clients have changed — but it's the wrong move when the real problem is execution, not identity. Here's how to tell the difference.
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15 JUNE 2026 · SEARCH FOUNDATIONS
Google Business Profile: the categories that actually move the map pack.
Your Google Business Profile category choices directly control which map pack searches you appear in. Here's how to pick the ones that actually bring clients through the door.
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14 JUNE 2026 · FRACTIONAL CMO
Building a marketing function from zero: a 90-day playbook.
A 90-day playbook for building a marketing function from zero — what to do in weeks 1–12, what to skip, and when to bring in a Fractional CMO to lead it.
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13 JUNE 2026 · SEARCH FOUNDATIONS
The 12-point technical audit we run on every client site.
A 12-point technical audit covers the site issues that quietly block search visibility — crawlability, speed, structure, and more. Here's exactly what we check and why each point matters.
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12 JUNE 2026 · BRAND & ROADMAPS
Positioning a firm that does many things: the focus paradox.
Firms that do many things struggle to position clearly — not because they lack focus, but because they solve the wrong problem. Here's how to fix it without shrinking your service list.
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11 JUNE 2026 · SEARCH FOUNDATIONS
Core Web Vitals fixes you can ship this afternoon.
Core Web Vitals fixes don't all require a developer. Here are the changes you can make this afternoon to improve LCP, CLS, and INP without touching your codebase.
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10 JUNE 2026 · FRACTIONAL CMO
Strategic leadership for small teams: how to lead without managing.
Strategic leadership for small teams means setting direction clearly, removing blockers, and trusting your people to execute — without micromanaging every step. Here's how it works.
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9 JUNE 2026 · BRAND & ROADMAPS
Niching down: the math that makes it terrifying — and right.
Niching down feels like losing revenue. Here's the math that shows why a smaller audience almost always produces more clients, higher fees, and faster growth.
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8 JUNE 2026 · SEARCH FOUNDATIONS
HTTPS, mixed content, and the trust signals you can't fake.
HTTPS and mixed content errors are silent trust killers for small business websites. Here's what they are, why they matter for search, and how to fix them.
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7 JUNE 2026 · FRACTIONAL CMO
The annual marketing plan: the document that earns its existence.
An annual marketing plan earns its existence when it connects every tactic to a business goal, sets a clear budget, and gives the owner a way to say no to distractions.
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6 JUNE 2026 · SEARCH FOUNDATIONS
404s, 301s, and what to do with the old pages you don't need.
404s and 301 redirects explained for small business owners: when to delete a page, when to redirect it, and how to stop leaking search value through broken URLs.
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5 JUNE 2026 · BRAND & ROADMAPS
How to position yourself against a louder, larger competitor.
A smaller business can beat a louder competitor by owning the specific ground the bigger player ignores. Here's how to find that ground and hold it.
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4 JUNE 2026 · SEARCH FOUNDATIONS
JavaScript SEO: when your front end is hiding you from Google.
If your website relies heavily on JavaScript to display content, Google may not be reading it at all. Here's how to tell — and what to fix first.
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3 JUNE 2026 · FRACTIONAL CMO
Why most marketing strategies fail in execution, not design.
Most marketing strategies fail because the plan never connects to the people, systems, and daily decisions that actually drive results. Here's what breaks down—and how to fix it.
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2 JUNE 2026 · BRAND & ROADMAPS
The "who is this for" question that kills bad positioning fast.
The 'who is this for' question exposes weak positioning faster than any audit. Here's how to use it to sharpen your message and attract the clients you actually want.
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1 JUNE 2026 · SEARCH FOUNDATIONS
Image SEO: the boring 20-minute fix that compounds for years.
Fix your image alt text, file names, and file sizes in under 20 minutes. Here's why those three small changes keep paying off in search for years.
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31 MAY 2026 · FRACTIONAL CMO
Marketing strategy on one page: how to write it, how to use it.
A one-page marketing strategy tells you what you're selling, who wants it, and what to say next. Here's how to write one that actually guides decisions.
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30 MAY 2026 · SEARCH FOUNDATIONS
Why duplicate content is silently costing you rankings.
Duplicate content confuses search engines, splits ranking signals, and quietly buries pages you need found. Here's what causes it and how to fix it.
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29 MAY 2026 · BRAND & ROADMAPS
Positioning for service businesses: clarity beats cleverness.
Positioning for service businesses comes down to one thing: clarity. Learn why being specific about who you serve and what you do wins more clients than being clever.
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28 MAY 2026 · SEARCH FOUNDATIONS
Mobile-first indexing: what changed, what most sites haven't fixed.
Mobile-first indexing is now the default for every site Google crawls. Here's what actually changed, why most SME sites still have unfixed gaps, and what to do about it.
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27 MAY 2026 · FRACTIONAL CMO
Setting a marketing strategy when you have no data.
You can set a useful marketing strategy with no data — but only if you know what questions to ask first. Here's how to start from zero without wasting money.
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26 MAY 2026 · BRAND & ROADMAPS
The competitive frame: positioning isn't about you, it's about them.
Positioning isn't about your credentials or services — it's about the specific problem your ideal client is already trying to solve. Here's how to frame it around them.
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25 MAY 2026 · SEARCH FOUNDATIONS
Sitemap, robots.txt, canonical tags: three files that run your site's SEO.
Sitemap, robots.txt, and canonical tags are three small files that control what Google crawls, indexes, and treats as the authoritative version of your pages. Here's what each one does.
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24 MAY 2026 · FRACTIONAL CMO
The quarterly strategy review: the meeting most companies skip.
Most companies skip the quarterly strategy review and pay for it in drift, wasted spend, and missed pivots. Here is what the meeting is, why it matters, and how to run one.
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23 MAY 2026 · SEARCH FOUNDATIONS
Internal links: the free SEO most sites still get wrong.
Internal links are free SEO that most small business sites waste. Here's what they actually do, how to audit yours in an hour, and the mistakes worth fixing first.
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22 MAY 2026 · BRAND & ROADMAPS
Category design: when to invent a category, when to claim one.
Category design is one of the highest-leverage moves in positioning — but most SMEs use it wrong. Here's when to invent a category and when to claim one that already exists.
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21 MAY 2026 · SEARCH FOUNDATIONS
Crawl errors: how to find them in 20 minutes.
Crawl errors stop Google from indexing your pages. Here's how to find every broken URL, redirect loop, and blocked resource in under 20 minutes using free tools.
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20 MAY 2026 · FRACTIONAL CMO
What a Fractional CMO does in their first 30 days.
A fractional CMO's first 30 days follow a clear pattern: audit, align, and build a 90-day plan the business can actually execute. Here's what that looks like in practice.
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19 MAY 2026 · BRAND & ROADMAPS
The one-sentence positioning test: can a stranger repeat it?
Your positioning statement works only if a stranger can repeat it after one hearing. Here's a simple test — and what to do when they can't.
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18 MAY 2026 · SEARCH FOUNDATIONS
Schema markup, in plain English.
Schema markup is structured code you add to your website so search engines understand what your content means — not just what it says. Here's what it does and why it matters.
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17 MAY 2026 · SEARCH FOUNDATIONS
The plumbing under your homepage: what we audit first.
A technical SEO audit starts with crawlability, indexation, site speed, and structured data — not rankings. Here's what we check first and why the order matters.
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16 MAY 2026 · FRACTIONAL CMO
Fractional CMO vs agency: the difference that matters.
A fractional CMO sits inside your business and owns the strategy. An agency executes tasks. Here's how to tell which one your company actually needs.
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15 MAY 2026 · BRAND & ROADMAPS
Why most small business positioning statements sound identical.
Most small business positioning statements sound identical because owners describe what they do, not why buyers should choose them over everyone else. Here's how to fix that.
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14 MAY 2026 · SEARCH FOUNDATIONS
Core Web Vitals: the three numbers that decide if Google bothers.
Core Web Vitals are three Google metrics — LCP, INP, and CLS — that measure real loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability. Fail them and your rankings suffer.
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13 MAY 2026 · FRACTIONAL CMO
When you actually need a Fractional CMO (and when you don't).
You need a Fractional CMO when marketing strategy is the bottleneck — not execution. Here's how to tell the difference, and when it's a waste of your money.
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12 MAY 2026 · BRAND & ROADMAPS
Positioning, not branding: the difference that decides everything.
Positioning tells the market who you are for and why they should choose you. Branding makes that story visible. Confuse the two and neither works.
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11 MAY 2026 · SEARCH FOUNDATIONS
Why your slow site is a sales problem, not an IT problem.
A slow website costs you sales, not just search rankings. Here's why page speed is a revenue issue and what to do about it.