My first job in search engine optimisation was in 1997. So much has changed - SEO is more nuanced than ever before, with every character, every comma having an effect.
In addition to writing about SEO and speaking at various conferences, I enjoy actioning it myself too. There's nothing quite like sending a client a graph showing their organic traffic skyrocketing - without them having to increase their monthly spend.
As Chair of the Queen Margaret College Foundation Trust, I am always looking for practical ways to strengthen the connections within our wider QMC community. The QMC Business Directory is one of those projects. I created, coded and host the entire directory as a way of helping QMC families, alumni, supporters and friends discover and support businesses with a genuine connection to the school.
The idea behind the directory is simple. We have an incredibly talented, generous and enterprising community, but it is not always easy to know who does what, where they are based, or how to contact them. The directory brings those connections together in one clear, fast and useful place.
Visitors can browse all listed businesses, explore different categories such as Business, Community and Advisory, or search for a specific type of service. Each listing is designed to be simple to use, with direct links, contact details, location information, maps and an easy vCard download, so details can be saved straight to a phone.
I also built the directory with search in mind. For each business, a listing provides another useful, relevant page online, with structured information that can help search engines understand who they are, what they do, and how they are connected to the QMC community. That can be valuable for traditional SEO, but it also matters for AI Search. As more people use AI tools to find businesses, services and recommendations, clear, well-structured, trustworthy pages become even more important.
Speed was also a major priority. I wanted the directory to feel light, quick and easy to use, especially on mobile. There is no point creating a community resource if it is slow, clunky or difficult to navigate. The aim was to make something that people could use naturally, whether they are looking for a business now or simply saving a contact for later.
Members of the QMC community can also add their own business, helping the directory grow into an increasingly useful resource over time.
For me, this project reflects what the Foundation Trust is all about: generosity, connection and long-term support for the school community. The QMC Business Directory is not just a list of businesses. It is a practical way to support one another, improve visibility for QMC-connected enterprises, and create a stronger network around the school.
For my Mastodon instance, I created a new little logo today.
Along with a matching banner. It’s actually silly how pleased I am with them.
I finally set up a Mastodon instance; https://toot.kiwi
I love Mastodon, and can’t wait to see what becomes of my server. (After I open it up to the public of course).
I bought the domain back when saying something on Mastodon was called ‘tooting’ – those days are long gone but I still like it.
Find me here; Mastodon
The Spinoff are doing a special week dedicated to screens. It’s like Shark week but more digital. 🙂
They took me up on my offer to write an article about digital safety for kids. How much screen time is too much, how much it too little – etc.
In a previous life I worked in education and was involved in hours of discussion around digital safety for young people, different approaches, etc.
It’s great to be able to continue some of those conversations in this very different, Covid-19 era.
It can be hard to talk about, but we have to acknowledge that our children can be at risk when they’re spending time in digital spaces we’re not familiar with. Just as parents talk with their offspring and help them navigate difficult situations in the playground, we need to do the same with digital communication.
Peter Mahoney in the Spinoff
The pandemic really has changed everything with screen time. Kids expect (and need to) socialise – which leaves them doing that online in games we don’t play, interacting with people we don’t know.
Video calling has become totally the norm for hours at a time.
Just three years ago in 2019 a major survey in NZ found kids used screens around two hours a day. Current (last month’s) data puts that figure at just over five! And that’s not five total, that’s on top of what’s needed for schoolwork.
It’s a dangerous playground out there – but at the same time it’s best to teach kids how to navigate it all in the safest way we can provide.
Definitely don’t throw them to the digital wolves or keep them ‘locked in the house’.
Just like we help teach our children what to look out for in the physical world, how to interact in the physical world, and how to play their part in keeping them safe in it too – we can and should do the same thing in the digital world.
Just like a builder’s house is never finished, so too do SEO people end up overlooking their own sites. I really must do better!
I work out of a really affordable (actually cheap) shared studio workspace in Te Aro, Wellington. Just off Cuba Street.
We’ve just made a one-page website to try to fill a current vacancy! Have a look, and come and join us.
It happens. Your WordPress installation stops behaving as it should and just returns a white screen.
It can affect the whole site or just the Dashboard and login pages.
It’s not terrible to troubleshoot though, just try the following (in this order):
The white screen of death is definitely worrying when it crops up – but it’s not hard to resolve.
There are a few features in WordPress we take for granted, like easily being able to insert a ‘Read More’ break in our posts.
But in the new WordPress 5 editor (which was called Gutenberg during its development) finding that isn’t as easy as it should be.
Like all elements in the new editor you need to add it as a block – but you will not find it by searching for a block called read more.
Bizarrely, it’s just called more.
When it actually inserts into the editor it is named read more, which suggests to me this is a an oversight that will hopefully be fixed soon!
I’ve been doing search engine optimisation for 21 years now.
That means my SEO experience is old enough to legally drink through the USA, although it’s been able to drink in the UK and NZ for quite some time.
Cheers!
I just finished up a presentation at the Wellington WordPress Meetup all about WordPress speed, image optimisation, and its ultimate effect on SEO.
The slides from the talk can be viewed here.
I also referred to a settings file to import into WP Rocket which will work well with most WordPress sites – you can grab that here.
(I also made my own silly GIF for it! “SEO is a many headed hydra.”)