Blog
Practical notes on getting found — no filler, no recycled listicles.
By Adam Whitaker · Local SEO · 9 min read ·
Local SEO for walk-in businesses: how to actually increase foot traffic
Almost every local SEO guide is written for businesses that drive to the customer. If the customer comes to you, several of the standard instructions are wrong — one of them badly.
By Adam Whitaker · Hiring an Agency · 8 min read ·
How to choose a local SEO agency without getting burned
Most of what goes wrong in an SEO engagement is visible before you sign. Here is what to ask, what should end the conversation, and what a fair arrangement looks like.
By Adam Whitaker · AI Marketing · 8 min read ·
AI Search Is Changing SEO: What Every Small Business Needs to Know in 2026
Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity are reshaping how customers find businesses. Here is how to adapt your SEO strategy before it is too late.
By Adam Whitaker · Tips & Trends · 7 min read ·
We Analyzed 50 Small Business Websites: Here Are the 7 Most Common Mistakes
We audited 50 real small business websites and found the same critical mistakes over and over. Here is what we found, and how to fix each one.
By Adam Whitaker · Web Design · 7 min read ·
How Much Does a Custom Website Cost in 2026? Honest Pricing Breakdown
We break down real website pricing, from DIY builders to custom agency builds, so you can budget smartly and avoid overpaying.
By Adam Whitaker · SEO · 8 min read ·
The Complete SEO Guide for Home Service Businesses in 2026
Everything plumbers, HVAC techs, roofers, and landscapers need to know about ranking on Google and getting more local leads in 2026.
Notes on search, AI visibility and websites that earn their keep, written for business owners rather than for other marketers. No listicles, no reposted press releases, and nothing published purely to keep a content calendar full.
What gets written here
Mostly the questions that come up repeatedly on first calls, answered properly and once. What a custom website actually costs and why quotes vary by a factor of five. How AI search is changing what it means to rank, and what a local business should do about it in practical terms. The mistakes that show up over and over in small business websites. The full local SEO picture for a home service business, start to finish.
Where a post makes a factual claim about how Google or an AI engine behaves, it says where that comes from. Where something is an opinion or a bet on where things are heading, it says that too. The distinction gets blurred constantly in this industry, usually in whichever direction sells the service.
The short version, if you never read another post
Fix your Google Business Profile before you do anything else, because it is free and it is the single highest-leverage asset a local business has. Get reviews arriving continuously rather than in bursts. Make sure every page on your site says something a competitor could not have written. Answer the phone. Most of what agencies sell above that line is a multiplier on those four things, and a multiplier on zero is still zero.
Questions about anything published here are welcome. Call or text (443) 521-3491, or email adam@pufferfishmedia.biz.