Field notes

Things I've tested, fixed, broken and learned.

Practical notes on SEO, paid media, analytics, websites, AI and whatever else I'm currently figuring out. Written while I'm still working it out, not years after.

LatestContent strategy

Hub and Spoke Content Strategy: How I Built Topic Hubs for My Own Site

What a hub and spoke content strategy is, why it builds topical authority, and how I turned a pile of blog posts into three guided topic hubs.

6 min read16 Oct 2026
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AI & Search

How to Show Up in Google AI Overviews (and AI Mode)

Google says there's nothing special to do to appear in AI Overviews. That's true, and it's not the whole story. What actually decides whether your page gets cited, and how to check.

8 min read16 Oct 2026
SEO

“Discovered – Currently Not Indexed”: How I Fixed It on My Own Site

My newer posts were stuck at “Discovered – currently not indexed”. Here’s what I fixed, what changed, and the impressions problem I found along the way.

7 min read16 Oct 2026
SEO

Schema Markup for Small Business: What I Learned Adding It to My Own Site

What schema markup is, whether it helps SEO, and which types a small business actually needs — from adding it to every page of this site.

6 min read14 Oct 2026
SEO

How to Get More Google Reviews Without Begging Your Customers

Most businesses don't have a review problem because customers dislike them. They have one because nobody ever asks. Here's a process that doesn't feel awkward.

6 min read19 Sept 2026
Strategy

SEO vs Google Ads: Which Should a NZ Small Business Do First?

The two channels solve different problems on different timelines. How to pick based on the problem you actually have, rather than on which one you were told to do.

6 min read10 Sept 2026
Conversion

Why Is My Website Getting Traffic But No Enquiries?

Visitors are arriving and your inbox is still quiet. Ten places the journey breaks down between a click and an enquiry, and how to find yours.

6 min read1 Sept 2026
SEO

How Much Does SEO Cost in New Zealand in 2026?

Why SEO quotes range from $500 to $5,000 a month, what sits behind the difference, and the questions to ask before you sign anything.

6 min read21 Aug 2026
AI & Search

How Do I Get My Business to Show Up in ChatGPT?

There's no button that submits your business to ChatGPT. Here's what actually makes AI tools able to find, understand and trust you enough to recommend you.

7 min read10 Aug 2026
SEO

Why Is My Website Not Showing on Google? 10 Things to Check

Ten checks that explain why a website isn't appearing in search, from indexing problems and technical blockers to targeting searches nobody is actually making.

8 min read30 Jul 2026
Paid Media

Meta Ads for Small Business: Set Up Your First Campaign

How to launch your first Meta Ads campaign in the right order, tracking, budget, targeting, and creative, without wasting your spend.

6 min read20 Jul 2026
Websites

Core Web Vitals in 2026: What Small Businesses Must Fix

The Core Web Vitals metric most small business sites still fail in 2026, and the free five-minute checks that catch it.

6 min read10 Jul 2026
SEO

Local SEO for NZ Small Business: A No-Fluff Starter Guide

What to fix on your Google Business Profile first, and what to skip, if you want to show up in local search.

5 min read30 Jun 2026
AI & Search

E-E-A-T Explained: The Trust Signals AI Search Checks

What E-E-A-T means, why Experience is the signal Google and AI search weigh most in 2026, and how to build it as a small business.

7 min read19 Jun 2026
SEO

Google's 2026 Changes: What They Mean for Your Digital Marketing Right Now

Google has made more changes in the first half of 2026 than most years combined. Here is what is actually happening and what to do about it now.

6 min read5 Jun 2026
SEO

How to Do a Content Audit on Your Small Business Website

How to audit your small business website content using free tools. Find which pages to keep, improve, consolidate, or remove, and stop ranking problems before they compound.

10 min read2 Jun 2026
SEO

Keyword Cannibalisation for Small Business: Spot It, Fix It

Keyword cannibalisation is silently killing your small business rankings. Here's how to spot it on your site today and fix it in four practical steps.

8 min read26 May 2026
AI & Search

How to Audit Your Brand's Visibility in AI Search

A repeatable framework for testing whether ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and Gemini know your business exists, describe it accurately, and recommend it to the people you want.

10 min read9 May 2026
AI

The AI Tools I Actually Use for SEO Work, and How I Use Them

The three AI tools that stayed in my weekly workflow, why most others didn't, and the step-by-step process I use to turn a brief into an SEO strategy in about two hours.

9 min read18 Apr 2026
Paid Media

The Google Ads Audit Checklist: 15 Checks I Run on Every Account

A complete Google Ads audit checklist you can run yourself in about an hour, plus a free tracker template. The 15 checks that find wasted spend, in the order I work through them.

11 min read5 Apr 2026
Strategy

Why Most Digital Marketing Strategies Fail Before They Start

It's rarely the tactics. Six decisions to make before you spend anything on ads, SEO or social, and how to tell if your current strategy skipped them.

8 min read22 Mar 2026