Week of 6/24/26

We saw another paid search issue this week where the campaigns were working against each other.

The same keywords were showing up in multiple campaigns at the same time, including the brand name. That can create confusion inside the account. Instead of having a clear structure, the campaigns may end up competing for the same searches, which can push costs up and make performance harder to read.

A Google Ads account should make it easier to understand what is driving results, not harder. When campaigns overlap too much, the first step is usually cleaning up the structure before making bigger decisions. ●

Week of 6/17/26

We still see unsolicited sales calls come in around website services, SEO, ads, and other marketing work. Some are normal prospecting. Others make big promises before they understand the business, the market, or what is already in place.

Be especially cautious when someone offers to “grow the business” in exchange for a commission split. That kind of arrangement can sound simple, but it often skips over the harder questions: who controls the work, how results are tracked, what happens to leads, and whether the plan actually fits the business. If the wrong person gets access or starts making poor decisions, the damage can be difficult to recover from.

If you need help with SEO, ads, your website, or another service, it is usually better to start the search yourself. Talk to a few companies, ask clear questions, and make sure the approach makes sense before giving anyone access or control. ●

Week of 6/10/26

Another Google Ads observation this week. We see a lot of different issues with paid search, and one of the simplest ones is easy to overlook.

Google Ads is often talked about in terms of budgets, bids, and settings. Those things matter, but they are not what a customer sees first. A search ad still has to earn the click, and that usually starts with making the right keywords visible in the ad copy.

If someone searches for a specific service, product, or problem, the ad should make it clear that the business is relevant to that search. Good ad copy does not need to be clever or lead with broad claims like satisfaction guaranteed. It needs to be clear, specific, and connected to what the customer is already looking for. ●

Week of 6/3/26

We’ve seen Google Ads accounts where the first move is to turn on every automation and accept whatever recommendations Google puts in front of the advertiser.

That should raise a flag. Automation can be useful, but it still needs context. A good Google Ads conversation should include questions about goals, average order value, revenue, margins, daily budget, conversion tracking, and what actually counts as a good lead or sale.

If someone is only clicking through recommendations without asking how the business works, that is not strategy. It is account management without enough information. ●

Week of 5/27/26

People often say, “I need SEO,” when they are really talking about a broader marketing problem. They might mean their website is not converting, their Google Business Profile is weak, they need leads faster, or they are not showing up in the places customers are searching.

SEO has become a catch-all word. People use it the way some people say Coke for soda or Kleenex for tissue. But SEO is only one part of a digital marketing strategy. Organic search, paid ads, local visibility, website content, and tracking are related, but they are not the same thing.

Each area has its own requirements. Hiring an SEO company may help with one part of the problem, but it may miss other pieces that affect whether people can find you, trust you, and contact you. ●

Week of 5/20/26

A common pattern we see is a business owner trying to manage Google Ads on their own. Sometimes they have enough knowledge to get started, but not enough time to keep checking the account, questioning the recommendations, or knowing which changes are worth making.

The harder cases are the accounts that have been left on autopilot. A few broad recommendations get applied, automation takes over, and the spend keeps moving without much thought behind it. That does not always mean the account is broken, but it usually means someone needs to slow down and look at what is actually happening.

You do not always need a full agency setup and management. For many small business owners, a few hours of practical advice can help bring clarity to your Google Ads account and spend. From there, you can make the decision to manage yourself with guidance or hand it off to an expert. ●

Week of 5/13/26

We ran into another passwords and access situation recently. A client needed website changes made, but didn’t have access to their own website, hosting account, or domain login information. Everything had been set up through a third party years earlier, and turns out they never had the credentials in their possession.

Fortunately, we were able to recover everything and get the accounts back under the client’s control. But situations like this can become catastrophic if the wrong person controls your core digital assets and suddenly becomes unreachable.

Your website, domain, hosting, analytics, and business profiles should ultimately belong to you. We’ve talked about this before, but want to really emphasize the point that vendors and employees can be given access, but ownership and primary control should stay with the business. ●

Week of 5/6/26

A situation came up around platform fit. Someone started selling a few products on a simple site, and it worked at first. Over time, the needs changed. Inventory grew, orders picked up, and the limits of the platform became more obvious.

We walked through the options. Could the current site be improved with better design, forms, or integrations? In some cases, that is enough. In others, the gap is functional. Things like inventory management, checkout flexibility, or backend workflows are hard to patch together. Moving platforms usually means new URLs, which can be redirected, but it still introduces risk to existing search visibility if not handled carefully.

It comes down to whether you are stretching a tool beyond its purpose. If the core needs no longer fit, a move can make sense. If not, improving what you have is often the better path. ●

Week of 4/29/26

This came up in a review this week. Everything looked fine on the surface, but Search Console was showing two versions of the same site. One with www, one without. Both live, both getting indexed.

The site had a canonical set to the non-www version, which is the right idea. But the www version was still accessible, and there were no clean redirects forcing everything to one place. That creates mixed signals. The site is saying one thing, but behaving another way. Google tends to follow what actually happens, not just what is declared.

The fix is simple. Pick one version and make everything resolve to it. One site, one path, one set of signals. ●

Week of 4/22/26

Most of the time when someone says they need more “AI marketing,” they’re not lacking AI. They’re lacking the basics.

You’ll see it quickly. No real SEO. No consistent content. No clear path from traffic to conversion. But the focus is on tools that promise to automate everything. It sounds like progress, but there’s nothing solid underneath it.

AI can speed things up, but it doesn’t fix weak fundamentals. It tends to amplify whatever is already there. If the foundation is unclear, it just creates more noise, faster. The work is still the same. Get the basics in place, then use AI to build on top of it. ●

Week of 4/15/26

When you’re starting out, it’s common to worry about getting too much demand. People ask what happens if too many customers show up at once, or how they’ll keep up.

In reality, that kind of growth rarely hits all at once. Interest tends to build over time as your work gets seen and your reputation develops. You adjust along the way. You figure out capacity, hiring, and processes as things evolve.

If demand does increase, it usually means what you’re doing is working. Focus on doing the work well today and let growth meet you where you are. ●

Week of 4/8/26

A client recently made a change based on feedback from one person. It added complexity to their process and more work to their day-to-day. The intent was good. They didn’t want to ignore the feedback.

If one or two people raise a concern or have a request, it’s worth noting. It’s not always worth changing everything to accommodate it.

A better approach is to document the feedback and look for patterns. If it keeps coming up, that’s a signal. Until then, it’s just one data point. ●

Week of 4/1/26

There’s a lot of focus on backlinks in SEO, and they still matter. Links help validate authority, trust, and relevance. That hasn’t changed.

What is changing is how that authority gets recognized. Search and AI systems are pulling from across the web, not just individual pages. They’re looking for consistency. The same signals showing up in multiple places.

It’s less about how many links point to your site and more about whether the internet consistently recognizes you for a topic. Mentions, profiles, listings, citations, and content across platforms all contribute to that picture.

Links still matter, but they’re part of a broader footprint. The shift isn’t from SEO to something new. It’s from building links to building presence. ●

Week of 3/25/26

There’s a lot of talk right now about “showing up in AI,” as if it’s separate from SEO. From what we’re seeing, it isn’t.

The fundamentals still matter. Clear topics. Useful content. Strong structure. Descriptive headings. Real expertise. A site that’s easy to understand. If anything, AI-driven search makes those basics more important, not less.

What may be changing is how people interact with search. AI tools summarize answers, surface fewer links, and rely on information pulled from across the web. That makes your broader presence matter more, not just your website. ●

Week of 3/18/26

Before writing a blog post, it helps to have a few keywords in mind. Not to force the writing, but to give it direction.

When you know the phrases people might search for, it’s easier to stay focused. The title, headings, and structure tend to align naturally with the topic instead of drifting into something broader or unrelated.

Thinking about keywords first also makes the post more helpful for SEO, because it increases the chances that your content matches what someone is actually searching for. ●

Week of 3/11/26

Not all website traffic is the same. Some traffic is passive. Your brand shows up in a feed, an inbox, or an ad while someone is going about their day. They weren’t looking for you. You’re creating demand. Other traffic is active. Someone searches for exactly what you offer. The intent is already there.

Both can work. But if time or budget is limited, start where intent is highest. Make sure you show up when someone searches for what you do, and measure what actually turns into revenue.

Traffic matters. Intent matters more. ●

Week of 3/4/26

There’s an assumption in eCommerce that you have to offer free shipping. We don’t see it that way. Free shipping isn’t a requirement. It’s a strategic decision.

If you’re in a highly competitive category where multiple sellers carry the same product, you may need it to stay in the game. In other cases, especially when what you sell isn’t ubiquitous, charging for shipping can make sense. You can also use a minimum order threshold, but that number shouldn’t be arbitrary. It should be based on your margins, shipping costs, and average order value.

Understanding the free shipping equation requires looking at your data, your competition, and your unit-level economics. Otherwise, you’re not making a strategic decision. You’re just giving margin away. ●

Week of 2/25/26

We spent time with a client recently talking through SEO. Website changes. Content adjustments. The broader shifts happening with search and AI. At the end, they asked the most direct question: “If I do all of this, will Google rank my site higher?”

The honest answer is maybe. No one can guarantee rankings. You don’t know if something will move the needle until you test and measure it. But one thing is certain: if you make no changes at all, you’re guaranteeing that nothing improves. SEO isn’t certainty. It’s iteration.

Be cautious of anyone who promises specific rankings or overnight results. Search doesn’t work that way. ●

Week of 2/18/26

Keeping good records is one of those habits that’s easiest to form early and hardest to fix later. Tracking income, revenue, expenses, receipts, and mileage as they happen, or at least once a week, takes very little time when it’s routine. Accurate books lead to dependable numbers, and dependable numbers create a solid foundation for better decisions.

It’s easier to keep up than to catch up. ●

Week of 2/11/26

I told someone they should raise their prices because they weren’t even getting keystone. They asked what keystone meant.

When we started our eCommerce store in 1999, keystone was a common way retailers priced products purchased from distributors. It simply meant pricing at roughly double the wholesale cost. That logic makes sense as a starting point for retail, although it isn’t applied the same way to wholesalers selling direct.

Today, people don’t talk in those terms as much. The same idea shows up as gross margin, contribution margin, markup, or whether something clears a 2x. The language has changed, but the pricing conversation is still about margins and sustainability. ●