SEO Guides
A plain-English library for business owners and marketers who want to understand what actually moves rankings, organized by topic. No jargon for its own sake, no theory we don't use on real campaigns.
Local SEO
For most service businesses, this is the whole ballgame: the map pack and “near me” searches that turn into calls.
Technical SEO
The plumbing. Crawlability, page speed, and the Core Web Vitals Google actually measures. If search engines can't read your site fast, nothing else matters.
- On-Page SEO: The Elements That Actually Move Rankings
A complete framework for on-page optimization. The four elements that actually move rankings, the architecture decisions that make the rest compound, and the documentation process we use on every campaign.
Adam Bate·Sep 15, 2017 - The SEO Audit: How to Run One, What's In It, and How to Deliver Findings That Actually Get Implemented
A practical SEO audit framework. The performance review, technical audit, and content audit components, the tools, the deliverable formats that produce action versus the ones that produce nothing, and the strategic call about whether to run audits free or paid.
Adam Bate·Apr 20, 2016 - Interaction to Next Paint (INP): What Replaced FID and How to Optimize for It
INP replaced First Input Delay as a Core Web Vital in March 2024. A complete guide to what it measures, why it's stricter than FID, the thresholds that matter, and the optimization tactics that move sites from failing to passing.
Adam Bate·Feb 13, 2025 - SEO for WordPress Sites: Plugins, Architecture, and the Pieces That Still Matter
WordPress SEO advice that's still relevant in 2026, plus the pieces from the older playbook that have gone stale. Plugin recommendations, content siloing, child theming for safe customization, and the page-speed reality post Core Web Vitals.
Adam Bate·Apr 30, 2026 - Website Redesign SEO: A Nine-Step Process to Preserve Rankings Through a Migration
Most websites lose organic traffic after a redesign because the SEO work was an afterthought. The nine-step process for shipping a redesign that holds rankings, plus the specific traps (staging robots.txt, redirect mapping, template regressions) that cause the worst losses.
Adam Bate·Apr 30, 2026 - Sitebulb: The Desktop SEO Crawler We Actually Use
A full review of Sitebulb, the desktop SEO crawler our team has used for years. What it does well, where Screaming Frog still wins, and why the visualization layer is what makes Sitebulb worth keeping in the stack.
Adam Bate·Apr 30, 2026
Content & Keywords
Targeting the right searches and building pages that answer them better than the competition. Not about volume, about covering what brings in customers.
- Keyword Research: How to Identify the Right Keywords for SEO
A step-by-step framework for identifying keywords that drive qualified organic traffic. The keyword types that matter, the tools we use, the validation process, and the spreadsheet structure that makes the output actionable.
Adam Bate·Feb 13, 2025 - Keyword Mapping: Assigning the Right Keywords to the Right Pages
Keyword research tells you what to target. Keyword mapping decides which page targets what. The framework, the spreadsheet structure, the intent groups, and the competitive analysis process I use on every campaign.
Adam Bate·Jan 15, 2019 - Searcher Intent: How to Read What People Actually Want From a Query
A strategic framework for understanding searcher intent. The classic taxonomy, the modern intent signals, how AI search has shifted what intent means, and how to reverse-engineer Google's intent interpretation from the SERP itself.
Adam Bate·Apr 30, 2026 - What to Blog About: Choosing Topics That Actually Drive Traffic
The hardest part of content marketing is deciding what to write. The themes-then-validation framework I use, the Ahrefs walkthrough for finding traction-ready topics, the internal-linking strategy that makes blog content lift the rest of the site, and the pruning process for content that never earned its keep.
Adam Bate·Sep 4, 2020 - Multimedia SEO: Why Your Content Should Live in Five Formats
SEO stopped being a text-only sport a few years ago, and 2021 is the year that became impossible to ignore. The interesting question is no longer whether to produce multimedia. It's how to ship one piece of source content across five formats without quintupling the workload.
Devon Bate·Aug 19, 2021
AI Search
How you show up as more people start their search with AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity. The fundamentals still apply; how you get cited is shifting.
- AI SEO: Getting Cited in AI Search
AI SEO, GEO, and AEO are mostly new names for old work. How AI engines decide what to cite, why it's a layer on a real organic foundation rather than a shortcut, the honest measurement stance (leads, not visibility scores), and what it means for local businesses.
Devon Bate·Jun 10, 2026 - Google AI Overviews and SGE: How They Changed Search and What to Do About It
AI Overviews are the largest single shift in Google's SERP layout in a decade. What changed, the impact on click-through rates, the optimization tactics that work in the new layout, and where the dust is still settling.
Devon Bate·Apr 30, 2026 - How Google SERPs Have Evolved (and Where They're Going)
A history and current state of Google's search results page. From the original 10 blue links to universal search, featured snippets, knowledge panels, and AI Overviews. What each shift meant for SEO, and how to optimize for the modern SERP layout.
Devon Bate·Apr 30, 2026 - The Battery Problem Hiding Behind the AI Boom
AI search and the broader AI buildout are driving data center electricity demand straight into a wall. The interesting question isn't whether the grid can keep up. It's what kind of batteries will hold it together when it doesn't.
Devon Bate·Oct 22, 2024
Link Building
Earning the authority other sites pass you, without the shortcuts that get sites penalized.
- Link Building: How to Build Links That Actually Move Rankings
An honest guide to link building. The strategies that work, the ones that get sites penalized, the metrics worth watching, and the budget reality most SEO content avoids talking about.
Adam Bate·Aug 15, 2023 - Private Blog Networks: What They Are, How They Work, and Whether They Still Make Sense
PBNs have been declared dead in roughly every year since 2014, and they keep working anyway. A practical look at where the tactic still produces results in 2026, what AI changed, and why building one yourself usually doesn't make sense.
Adam Bate·Feb 10, 2024 - The Google Disavow Tool: Why You Almost Certainly Should Not Use It
A direct guide to Google's Disavow Links tool. What it is, the narrow circumstances where it's appropriate, the much wider circumstances where it isn't, and why the tool is misused often enough that we've written this anti-guide.
Devon Bate·Apr 30, 2026 - White Hat SEO: What It Actually Means and Where the Limits Are
A practical look at white hat SEO. The legitimate version of the strategy, the honest limits of "white hat only" promises, and the relationship between white hat, grey hat, and the realities of competing in modern search.
Adam Bate·Apr 30, 2026