Illustrated image of a man upset at seeing his SEO decline

Why Your SEO Might Be Stuck – and How Solo Businesses Can Fix It

Chris Grant (he/him) August 01, 2025 0 Comments

As a solo entrepreneur or one-person business, you wear every hat—from finance to customer support. SEO can feel like just another chore that never pays off. Before you give up, consider this: it’s often the way SEO is set up, not your lack of skill, that holds you back. Three Common Roadblocks for Solo Businesses 1. SEO Isn’t Part of Your Daily Routine When SEO lives in a “to-do” list...

How to describe your images using the WordPress Media Library

Introduction Images do far more than decorate your site - they tell your brand’s story, engage visitors, and help you stand out in search results. By taking a few moments to add clear, descriptive Titles, Alt Text, and Descriptions to your media, you not only make your content more inclusive for users with visual impairments, but you also signal to search engines exactly what your site offers....

Google Confirms: CSS Class Names Don’t Influence SEO

Jenny O'Brien July 30, 2025 0 Comments

There’s an SEO myth that naming your CSS classes after your target keywords will give your pages a rankings boost. At O’Brien Media, we believe in separating fact from fiction—so when Google’s own Martin Splitt and John Mueller addressed this in the latest Search Off the Record podcast, we took notice. Class Names: Harmless Styling, No Ranking Power During the episode, Splitt was...

Future‑proofing Your Website: An AI Access Strategy for 2025

Chris Grant (he/him) July 28, 2025 0 Comments

Artificial intelligence is woven into modern search, social media and customer service. Voice assistants parse online text to answer queries, large language models summarise documentation, and generative AI tools are being built into everyday business software. As a website owner, deciding whether to allow AI systems to train on your content is no longer an abstract legal issue—it can directly...

How to Tackle SEO Content: July 2025 Top Tips from Google

Chris Grant (he/him) July 21, 2025 0 Comments

At O’Brien Media, we get it: great content is the key to SEO success. Google’s own John Mueller and Martin Splitt recently shared some awesome tips on creating content that works for both your readers and your business. Here’s how you can use their insights on your site. Get Your Content Spot On Content is still the number one ranking factor. Instead of fluffing out your posts to hit a...

AI Access Control for Websites – Pros, Cons & How to Block AI Training

Chris Grant (he/him) July 20, 2025 0 Comments

AI Access Control: Weighing the Pros and Cons of Allowing or Preventing AI Training on Your Website As AI continues to transform how we create, search for and consume information, many businesses are weighing up whether to allow AI developers to train their models on publicly available website content. In this post, we’ll explore the advantages and drawbacks of both allowing and preventing AI...

Man working on an iMac with a WooCommerce dashboard on screen

WooCommerce 10.0 Has Arrived: Plan Your Upgrade Carefully

Chris Grant (he/him) July 16, 2025 0 Comments

Why Your Small Business Should Plan Its Upgrade Carefully WooCommerce 10.0 Release Date: 14 July 2025 WooCommerce 10.0 is now available, delivering major enhancements in accessibility, marketing flexibility and performance. While these improvements promise a smoother shopping experience and richer storefront capabilities, upgrading a live store without proper checks can lead to broken layouts,...

What Is a Whitepaper?

Ever stumbled across the term “whitepaper” and wondered what it really means? You’re not alone. Whether you’re exploring new software, researching a vendor, or just curious about marketing jargon, whitepapers pop up everywhere. This guide will walk you through exactly what a whitepaper is, why organisations use them, and the different flavours you might encounter. Definition A whitepaper...

How Long Does SEO Take to Deliver Results? Insights from Google

Chris Grant (he/him) July 11, 2025 0 Comments

One of the most common questions we hear at O’Brien Media is: “How long will it take for SEO to start working?” In a recent Q&A session, Google’s own experts John Mueller and Martin Splitt explained why timelines can vary so much, and how you can set realistic expectations for your SEO investment. In this post, we’ll dive deeper into their insights, share best practices to speed up...

What does ‘above zero’ or ‘below zero’ mean on my account balance?

Anything 'above zero' is a credit balance. This means if you left us tomorrow - and your bills were up to date - we'd refund you this money to take your balance back to £0. If you're not leaving then this amount will carry over to pay a future invoice. In some cases you may have an "above zero" balance when you are less than a month away from a yearly renewal, as to ensure we have your current...

Year: 2025