News and notes
Search changes constantly and most of the commentary about it is written by people who do not have to live with the consequences. These are shorter, dated pieces: what actually changed, what it means if you sell something, and what we have found building the software that has to keep working afterwards.
- AI search3 min read
Google says there is no such thing as optimising for AI Overviews. It is half right
Google has repeatedly said there is no separate set of tactics for AI Overviews and no way to request a citation. That is true of the tactics being sold. It is not true of the work, and the distinction is worth money.
- Search3 min read
Four habits worth stealing from the big SEO suites
The large SEO platforms are built on a handful of ideas that hold up regardless of which tool you pay for. Here are the four worth copying, and the one habit they all encourage that quietly costs you money.
- Search2 min read
Five checks worth running before you rewrite a page
Most page rewrites lose more than they gain, because the page was not the problem. Five checks, in order, that tell you whether rewriting is the right move at all.
- Build notes3 min read
Writing a 3D game with AI assistance is not as easy as it is made out to be
A co-operative 3D game built in the browser with AI assistance — what the machine was genuinely good at, what it could not supply, and why the interesting part is the engine rather than the automation.
- Sites worth a look2 min read
Sites worth a look: a software agency site with no stock photography in it
A small UK software agency site that does four unfashionable things — states what it builds, shows work that is live, publishes one contact route and keeps it answered, and loads in well under a second.
The long versions live in the guides
Where a post describes a method in outline, there is usually a guide that works it through in full, with the arithmetic.