Guides
Long-form reading on getting
found, picked, and called.
Honest takes on SEO, conversion, AI search, and web design for service businesses. Implementable, not theoretical.
Topics
AI search
All ai search guides →- / 01
AEO vs GEO vs SEO: what's the difference?
Three acronyms, three search surfaces, and the one your phone is starting to depend on.
- / 02
What is generative engine optimization (GEO)?
The discipline of getting your business named inside the answers ChatGPT, Perplexity, and AI Overviews give to real buyers.
- / 03
What is answer engine optimization (AEO)?
Featured snippets, voice search, People Also Ask. The discipline of being the answer instead of one of ten options.
- / 04
How to rank in ChatGPT (and what 'rank' actually means)
ChatGPT does not return ten links, it composes an answer. Here is what the citation logic actually rewards.
- / 05
What is llms.txt? The new file AI crawlers actually read
A markdown file at your domain root that tells AI engines which pages matter. Why it exists, who proposed it, and whether to bother.
- / 06
llms.txt setup guide: how to publish one for your service business
Step by step, with a working example you can copy and adapt in under an hour.
- / 07
How to rank in Google AI Overviews
Above the blue links and below the ads, the AI-generated answer is rewriting the top of the SERP. Here is what it actually rewards.
- / 08
How to rank in Perplexity
Perplexity exposes its citations openly, which makes it the best testing surface in AI search. Here is what its retrieval logic actually rewards.
- / 09
AI SEO for contractors
ChatGPT and Perplexity name two or three contractors when a homeowner asks. Here is how to make sure your business is one of them.
- / 10
GEO for service businesses: the practical playbook
Generative engine optimization, sequenced for service businesses with limited time, real budgets, and high-ticket clients to win.
- / 01
Local SEO for contractors
The five disciplines that decide whether the homeowner three blocks away calls you or your competitor.
- / 02
Best SEO for contractors: how to actually evaluate an agency
Most contractor SEO is sold as a black box. Here is how to ask the right questions, spot the red flags, and tell a real partner from a reseller.
- / 03
Google Business Profile for contractors: the 2026 setup playbook
Every field, every attribute, every photo, every post. The configuration that wins the local pack and the configuration that gets your profile suspended.
- / 04
How to audit your service business SEO in one afternoon
A step-by-step framework to find what's broken, what's missing, and what to fix first. Free tools only, no specialist software required.
- / 05
Local SEO checklist for small business (2026)
The 47 specific items that move local pack ranking, organized by impact. Print it, run through it, ship the fixes.
- / 06
Local SEO vs national SEO: which one your business actually needs
The strategies overlap on fundamentals and diverge on tactics. Pick wrong and you waste budget on the wrong fight.
- / 07
Schema markup for service businesses (with copy-paste JSON-LD)
The four schema types that move ranking for service businesses, with working examples you can adapt in under an hour.
- / 08
SEO for a small service business: the practical playbook
Six disciplines, sequenced over 6 months, that move a small service business from invisible to consistently booked.
Conversion
All conversion guides →- / 01
Service business website conversion rate: what to expect, what counts as good
The benchmarks, the drivers, and the threshold that separates a site that books work from a site that bleeds leads.
- / 02
Average website conversion rate (and why the average is misleading)
Industry averages get quoted everywhere but rarely reflect what your business should actually expect. Here is the data, the segmentation that matters, and the right benchmark for your category.
- / 03
CTA button design for service businesses
What the button says, where it sits, what it looks like. The choices that turn a visitor into a phone call.
- / 04
Lead form optimization for service businesses
The seven fields that produce qualified leads, the twelve fields that scare buyers off, and the architecture that converts at 5%+ instead of 1%.
- / 05
Contact form conversion rate: what's normal, what's broken
How often a visitor to your contact page should actually fill out the form, and how to fix the page when they do not.
- / 06
Landing page optimization for service businesses
What to put above the fold, what to cut, and the structure that turns paid or referral traffic into booked calls.
- / 07
A/B testing for low traffic sites: what works, what doesn't
Why most CRO advice fails service businesses with under 5,000 visits a month, and the testing approach that actually produces useful signal at low volumes.
Web design
All web design guides →- / 01
How much does a website cost for a service business?
Honest pricing ranges, what you get at each tier, and the hidden costs nobody warns you about.
- / 02
7 signs your website is actively costing you leads
Most service business websites lose leads in the first 10 seconds. Here's exactly how, and what to do about it.
- / 03
Custom website vs. template: which does your business actually need?
When a template is fine, when it's quietly holding you back, and how to tell the difference.
- / 04
Modern website design examples (and what 'modern' actually means in 2026)
The aesthetics, the technical foundation, and the specific design moves that separate a real 2026 site from a SquareSpace template that copied a 2018 trend.
- / 05
Service business website examples that actually convert
What separates the sites that book work from the sites that bleed leads. Eight structural patterns drawn from service-business sites that are doing it right.
- / 06
Website redesign RFP template (with the questions that actually matter)
What to include, how to structure it, and the scoring criteria that surface real partners instead of generic agency pitches.
- / 07
Average cost of a website redesign (2026)
Why redesigns cost differently from new builds, what's actually in scope, and the hidden costs that wreck budgets.
- / 08
What should a small business website contain?
The pages every small business needs, the pages most websites skip, and the pages that look optional but quietly cost leads when missing.