Let’s face it, caching is boring. Of all the cool things we make as web developers or interesting problems we fix as technical SEOs, the least exciting is probably caching. On top of that I’ve been battling with the Next.js caching documentation which usually sends me to sleep or confuses the hell out of me, and with the introduction of Next.js 16 we also saw Cache Components, another feature in…
Audit Next.js applications for performance, security, speed & crawlability and learn about the common mistakes when using the framework. Over the last year or two, AI-assisted "vibe coding" has fundamentally changed how people approach new projects, including non-technical people. Tools like Replit , Bolt and others aim to remove a lot of the traditional ‘hassle’ of things like deployment and…
You may have seen the length of this article and thought it would be better to summarise it using AI. That would be a good reflection of what SEOs are dealing with as we move towards a new year. Less attention, more summaries, and less clicks. AI is everywhere whether you like it or not, and brands are suffering from a loss of traffic. I don’t think it’s that users have shorter attention spans,…
This is a subject that is now impossible to ignore. I’ve talked about AI in my newsletter ( go subscribe, obvs ) a couple of times, but I wanted to put my thoughts in one place and cover a few important aspects of it, and give some practical advice. This is an article for both marketers who implement, but also business leaders who strategise - those who are interested in how this technology could…
I work with various content writers on a regular basis, be it in-house marketing teams, freelancers, founders or CEOs. And at some point during the work, there will inevitably be some target keywords. And what I am seeing more and more is people giving me content that is entirely generated with AI. You can spot it a mile off. Writing should be focused on something interesting - the value of…
Somehow I have only just head about Mermaid! As someone who creates a lot of diagrams in ‘infinite canvas’ tools such as Figma or Freeform I am finding Mermaid a nice tool to get ideas down even faster, so I’ve put together this article with some examples in the hope you’ll find it just as useful. What is Mermaid? Mermaid is a JavaScript based framework for creating diagrams with plain text. Type…
You may have heard about the European Accessibility Act which goes into effect in June 2025. You may also be thinking “oh crap, I have no idea what this is” - and trust me, you’re not the only one. Let’s have a quick look at what is is and how it may impact your business. Digital Accessibility Fundamentally, digital access is essential, and this should include people with disabilities. It is my…
I miss the old internet. I’m of course referring to the world wide web, but only sad nerds would correct you on such a pedantic level (I do this regularly). There was something magical about the early days of the internet. If you’re old enough to remember when the web was a more simple place then maybe you share the same nostalgic feeling for it as I do. Take the title of this article, which is a…
I originally wrote this post back in 2016 and had to update a lot of it as some of the apps were no longer working! So I’ve moved over to my new site and updated it a bit. I love Mac OS. Honestly it makes my life so much easier just using Mac, and how it syncs is awesome. Since M1 came along the performance is unreal too. So here’s a little(ish) list of my favourite Mac OS stuff that I use…
In short, it’s important to stop thinking about SEO as a separate marketing function within your business. “Modern SEO” is just a term I use to encompass the approach we should be taking to SEO that ensures businesses see the practice with a wider strategic lens. Good SEOs go Beyond Keywords The approach isn’t revolutionary, and in fact many great SEOs I know are already on the same page,…
I wrote this back in 2021 when WhatsApp planned on changing some of their terms, I think it’s still very relevant now so I’ve moved to my new site. I’m constantly presented with the argument “I’ve got nothing to hide”. Or “if you’re doing something wrong you shouldn’t have privacy anyway”. It’s an odd and frankly pretty dumb argument. Firstly, if you have nothing to hide are you living at all? I…
A logo? An idea? People often associate brands with cost; i.e. it will cost more for a brand because it’s popular. Sometimes yes. Brands are often something referred to when discussing luxury goods, but not everyone buys brands just to show off about it. Ultimately many brands rely heavily on the simple fact that their product or service is very good. Coca-cola has many loyal followers, and as it…
A Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is a concept taken from The Lean Startup, a book that is often seen as a sort of bible for tech startups in early stages. Defined by Eric Ries on his blog an MVP: “Is that version of a new product which allows a team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about customers with the least effort”. Seems simple enough. But here’s the problem: a lot of teams,…
I thought I'd share my note taking system, as I've had a few people comment on it. I use this whenever I take notes using pen and paper, and using the same system every time means it's way easier to read back through a notebook to understand & action what I've written. I quickly realised my style of note taking is very similar to Bullet Journal although personally I find that system far too much…
It all begins with an idea.