Blog
Straight answers about getting found, one question at a time.
No news, no round-ups, no “5 tips”. Each of these answers one question completely and then stops. They are grouped under the service they belong to, so you can read a whole subject in one sitting or take the one piece you came for.
Free check
See where you turn up when a customer searches your trade in your suburb.
6 min read
The three names on the map, and how they get picked
The Google Map pack is rebuilt for wherever the phone is standing.
6 min read
Work out what your radius is costing you per week
Drive time never lands on a statement.
7 min read
How to choose the suburbs worth owning
Export 12 months of invoices, score every suburb out of 12 on money, repeat, drive and story, adjust for competitor density, then rule a line.
5 min read
The swap test: cover the suburb name and read it again
Cover the suburb name on 2 of your location pages and read them again.
6 min read
The 15 minutes that produce content nobody can copy
Ask about a job, not about the suburb.
6 min read
What a uniqueness check actually measures
How two pages get compared, and where the line sits.
6 min read
Your primary category, and how to choose it
Read your primary category off your own listing in 20 seconds, choose it as a positioning decision, and add only the extra categories you can name a job in.
6 min read
Service area or shopfront: which one your listing should be
When to hide your address on a Google listing, what actually changes when you do, and why the suburb list underneath is a radius decision rather than admin.
6 min read
What to photograph for your Google profile
A 12-photo list you can finish on one job, the 1800px JPEG standard every file is saved at, and the photo types that cost a good operator work.
6 min read
The 5-star filter form breaks Google’s review rules
The form that hides your Google link from unhappy customers is prohibited.
6 min read
The 40-second ask that stays inside Google’s rules
Ten seconds at the door, 30 seconds that evening.
7 min read
What to write underneath a 1-star review
The reply is for the next reader, not the reviewer.
5 min read
What an AI assistant actually reads when it lands on your site
An AI assistant gets a file of text and tags, not the page you see.
5 min read
The 6 crawlers your robots.txt should let in
Six names in three pairs. One half indexes, the other fetches your page live.
5 min read
One question, 3 AI assistants, 3 different answers
Put one suburb question to 3 AI assistants properly: the wording, the log to keep, what the disagreements mean and what the test cannot tell you.
7 min read
Who actually owns your website? Here’s how to check in 5 minutes
Read the public domain record, find who your hosting invoice really comes from, and test whether you hold a login that can change your own phone number.
7 min read
The pages a trade website actually needs, and the ones that pad the invoice
The 7 pages that earn their place on a trade website, what each must carry, the 7 that only pad the invoice, and 4 questions to put to any quote.
7 min read
What you should be handed on launch day
The 9 things a finished build owes you: 4 logins in your name, a dated copy of the files, the check results with the warnings left in, and a tested enquiry form.
6 min read
Your signwriter asked for a vector. Here’s what he meant.
Why a plotter can’t cut a JPEG, the 2 tests that tell you which kind of logo file you’re holding, and which file each supplier actually needs.
6 min read
Why your green is 3 different greens
Screen, print, cut vinyl and embroidery are 4 unrelated colour systems.
7 min read
How to get your logo files off the bloke who made them
The 6 logo files to ask a past designer for, the email to send, 6 places to look when he stops answering, and how to check what lands is genuine.
3 min read
Does AI copy hurt your Google ranking?
AI tools now watermark the text they write. What Google actually rewards, the trap to avoid, and a quick test for every page on your site.
6 min read
The job you turn down is the best page on your site
Turn 10 knocked-back enquiries into a page that filters your phone: the 4 piles they sort into, the 3 lines each entry needs, and the 4 ways it gets ruined.
6 min read
Week 12 quietly repeats week 3
A year of fortnightly writing turns 12 pages into 38 pages and 703 pairs.
6 min read
What month one actually looks like
The first 4 weeks of a content retainer, week by week: what gets published, what you should be holding on day 28, and which complaints are fair that early.
6 min read
The 5 questions to ask any report you’re paying for
Five questions that separate a report describing work from one describing the weather, run section by section over a typical monthly SEO report.
6 min read
Write down your day-zero numbers before you hire anyone
What to write down and date before any marketer touches your business, and why that file must never be quietly edited afterwards.
6 min read
Find where the internet disagrees with you, in 20 minutes
Search your own business name, list every place your details appear, and mark each row confirmed, conflict or gap.
Free. 2 minutes. No call unless you ask for one.
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