Website Maintenance

Website SSL Certificate: The Padlock That Quietly Expires

A website SSL certificate expires like milk, and visitors get a scary warning. Here's how to check yours in 30 seconds and who should renew it.

Website Down for Maintenance? Tell Google 503, Not 404

Website down for maintenance? A 503 tells Google to come back later, while a 404 can get pages dropped. Here's how to check what yours sends.

Website Backup: If It’s Not Tested, It’s Just a Rumor

Website backup basics for small business owners: what to save, how often, where to keep it, and why a backup you never tested is just a hopeful rumor.

Fake Googlebot Traffic: Your Visitor Log Is Full of Liars

Bots dressed as Googlebot are scraping small business sites for AI. How to spot a fake, why robots.txt won't stop it, and what's actually worth fixing.

Blog Comment Spam: Google Says It’s Your Problem Now

Google just updated its user-generated spam guidance. Here's how to clean up blog comment spam, lock down quote tools and keep junk pages out of search.

WordPress 7.2 Is Coming. Don’t Update It on Day One.

WordPress 7.2 lands December 8 with a new default theme called Ipsum. Here's what it means for your small business site and how to update safely.
Bold graphic reading "Your 404 page is a dead end for customers." with a giant 404 in lime and pink on a deep purple background

404 Page: Where Your Lost Visitors Quietly Leave

Your 404 page is where curious visitors land when a link breaks. Here is what a good one needs, how to need it less, and a 10-second way to check yours.

WordPress Security Update: AI Helped Find Bugs. Your Turn.

WordPress 7.1.3 patched 7 holes, some found by AI. What this WordPress security update means for your small business site, plugins and backups.

Contact Form Not Sending Emails? Your Leads Are in Spam Jail

Contact form not sending emails? Here's why website leads quietly land in spam, how to test your form in two minutes, and the DNS fix that stops it.