Guides
Practical guides for small-business owners, and the people who build their websites, on being found in search, being read by AI assistants and turning visitors into customers. Each one gives the steps, a checklist and the official sources it relies on, with the month they were last checked.
How to get your business recommended by ChatGPT and other AI assistants
What ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Google's AI read before they name a business, the parts you control, the parts you don't, and a checklist.
Why AI assistants can't see your website, and how to fix it
The five usual reasons an assistant can't read your site (robots.txt, firewall and CDN blocks, JavaScript-only pages, noindex and snippet limits) and how to check each.
robots.txt for small businesses: what to allow, what to block
What robots.txt can and can't do, a safe starting file for a small-business site, how to choose about AI crawlers, and the common mistakes.
IndexNow explained: tell Bing about new pages, and who doesn't use it
What IndexNow does, which search engines take part and which don't, how the key file works, and the easiest way to switch it on.
The pages every small-business website needs
Home, services, contact, about, privacy and terms, FAQ, reviews, pricing and the 404 page: what each must contain, in the order to fix them.
How to turn more website visitors into enquiries
A clear opening line, one main button, real proof beside it, honest prices, less risk for the buyer and tap-to-call: what to change, and how to check it.
Why your site is slow, and what to fix first
The usual causes of a slow site, the order to fix them in, and the steps for WordPress, Shopify, Wix, Squarespace and Windows (IIS) hosting.
How your business shows up in Google: titles, descriptions and headings
The page title, the meta description and the headings: what each one does in Google's results, how to write them, and where to change them on your platform.
One address for each page: www, https, canonical tags and redirects
Pick https and one of www or no www, redirect everything else in one step, and name the proper address in a canonical tag: the steps per platform.
A sitemap for any site, including one built by hand
Where WordPress, Shopify, Wix and Squarespace publish your sitemap, how to write one by hand when nothing makes it for you, and how to submit it to Google.
Making your site usable by everyone
Readable contrast, alt text, labelled forms, a site that works with a keyboard, sensible headings and captions, with a hand-check list no scan can replace.
Making your site work on a phone
Keep phone visitors on your own site, set the viewport tag, make text readable and buttons tappable, and check the menu and forms on a real phone.
Security settings for a small-business website, by platform
Which security headers to send, which version details to hide, how to protect login cookies, and where each is set on IIS, Apache, nginx, Cloudflare and builders.
Stop people sending email as your business: SPF, DKIM and DMARC
The three DNS records that stop others sending email as you, how to add them for Google Workspace and Microsoft 365, and the safe order to tighten them.
Cookies and consent: what your site sets and when you need a banner
Which cookies your site sets on a first visit, which ones wait for consent, how the banner should remember a choice, and how to keep the cookie policy accurate.
How your links look when people share them
The Open Graph tags behind a link preview, the right size of share picture, giving each page its own preview, and how to refresh a preview that is out of date.
Getting your business details right for Google Maps and AI assistants
One name, address and phone everywhere: on the page, in the structured data Google and AI assistants read, and on your Business Profile, for each location.
Free tools
Quick checks that go with these guides, free and with no signup: