John K Mitchell's Misc Blog

Technical SEO for Non-Experts: Fixing Common Website Issues Without Coding
Technical SEO Made Simple: A Practical Guide for Small Business Owners


Technical SEO doesn’t have to be scary, complicated, or time-consuming.

If you run a small business website, you’ve probably come across terms like crawl errors, Core Web Vitals, or indexing issues. And if we’re being honest, they don’t exactly sound friendly. They sound like something a developer should deal with, not someone who’s already juggling customers, emails, stock, and everything else that comes with running a business.

But here’s the reality: most technical SEO is much simpler than it sounds.

You don’t need to learn coding. You don’t need to dig into complicated systems. And you definitely don’t need to wait weeks for a developer every time something small needs fixing.

In most cases, technical SEO for small business owners comes down to two things: spotting problems early and fixing a handful of common issues. That’s it.

This guide is designed to keep things simple and practical. https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/?p=3035

Long-Tail Keywords: The Smart Way for Small Businesses to Get Found Online
Why Long-Tail Keywords Are The Smart Way for Small Businesses to Get Found Online


This is where small businesses can quietly beat bigger competitors.

If you’ve ever tried to get your website noticed on Google, you’ve probably come across the idea of keywords. You might even have tried targeting obvious ones like “accountant” or “plumber” and quickly realised just how competitive things can be. Bigger companies, national brands, and directories often dominate those search results, leaving smaller businesses wondering how they’re supposed to compete.

This is where long-tail keywords come in. They’re not flashy. They don’t always bring in huge numbers of visitors. But they are one of the most practical and effective ways for a small business website to attract the right kind of traffic.

Instead of chasing broad, highly competitive terms, long-tail keywords help you focus on what your potential customers are actually searching for. https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/?p=3026

The Futility of Chasing a Perfect 100 in Google Lighthouse
Should you Chase a Perfect 100 in Google Lighthouse?


This article is as non-technical as it can be.

If you’ve ever run your website through Google Lighthouse and seen a score that isn’t 100, chances are you’ve felt that little itch to “fix it.” Maybe you’ve even spent hours tweaking things, chasing that perfect score like it’s some kind of gold medal. But here’s the honest truth: for most small business owners, trying to get 100 in Lighthouse is a poor use of your time.

That might sound a bit bold, especially when everyone talks about optimisation, speed, and performance. But once you understand what Lighthouse is actually telling you – and more importantly, what it isn’t telling you – things start to make a lot more sense.

In this article, we’ll walk through where to find Lighthouse, what the scores really mean, and why there’s a clear point where improving your score simply isn’t worth the effort. https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/?p=3021

Google Search Console Impression Emails: What’s Going On and Why You Can Relax
Recent Google Search Console Impression Emails: What’s Going On and Why You Can Relax


If you’ve had a strange email today from Google about impressions, don’t panic.

Over the past day or so, a lot of small business owners have received emails with the subject starting  "Monitor the  Google Search traffic to ..." from Google saying that Google Search Console has started collecting Search impressions from the 12th of April. If that made you pause for a moment, you’re not alone. It’s the sort of message that sounds important, slightly technical, and just vague enough to make you wonder if something has changed with your website.

Let’s clear this up straight away. This is nothing to worry about.

In fact, Google has been collecting impression data for a very long time. This isn’t new, and it doesn’t mean your site has suddenly changed, stopped working, or lost visibility. https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/2026/04/google-search-console-impression-emails-whats-going-on-and-why-you-can-relax/

The Hidden Dangers of Automatic SEO Audit Tools for Small Business Websites
SEO Automatic Audits and The Hidden Dangers for Small Business Websites


Having spent 3 hours looking at and then answering a client's questions about an online SEO audit report recently I thought it was worth writing this article to help small business owners who may be tempted to use one of these tools.

Quick, easy SEO fixes sound tempting. Plug your website into a tool, get a score, follow a checklist, and boom—rankings sorted. That’s the promise. But for small business owners, relying too heavily on automatic SEO audit tools can quietly lead you in the wrong direction, waste your time, and even damage your website’s performance.

Let’s break down what’s really going on behind those neat reports—and why you should treat them with caution.


Why Automatic SEO Tools Feel So Appealing (and Why That’s a Problem)


If you're running a small business, your time is stretched thin. You’ve got customers to serve, invoices to chase, and a hundred other things pulling at your attention. https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/2026/04/the-hidden-dangers-of-automatic-seo-audit-tools-for-small-business-websites/

The Hidden Dangers of Automatic SEO Audit Tools for Small Business Websites
SEO Automatic Audits and The Hidden Dangers for Small Business Websites


Having spent 3 hours looking at and answering a client's questions about an online SEO audit report recently I thought it was worth writing this article to help small business owners who may be tempted to use one of these tools.

Quick, easy SEO fixes sound tempting. Plug your website into a tool, get a score, follow a checklist, and boom—rankings sorted. That’s the promise. But for small business owners, relying too heavily on automatic SEO audit tools can quietly lead you in the wrong direction, waste your time, and even damage your website’s performance.

Let’s break down what’s really going on behind those neat reports—and why you should treat them with caution.


Why Automatic SEO Tools Feel So Appealing (and Why That’s a Problem)


If you're running a small business, your time is stretched thin. You’ve got customers to serve, invoices to chase, and a hundred other things pulling at your attention. https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/2026/04/the-hidden-dangers-of-automatic-seo-audit-tools-for-small-business-websites/

Why It’s Okay Not to Be for Everybody in Your Business
Why It’s Okay Not to Be for Everybody in Your Business


You don’t need everyone to like your business to succeed. In fact, trying to appeal to everyone is one of the quickest ways to blend in, lose focus, and waste time. The truth is simple: the more clearly you define who you’re for, the easier it becomes to attract the right customers and grow your business with confidence.

That might feel uncomfortable at first. Turning people away (even indirectly) can feel risky, especially if you’re a small business owner trying to make every sale count. But here’s the thing—being “not for everyone” doesn’t limit your business. It sharpens it. It gives you direction. It helps you stand out in a noisy world where customers are overwhelmed with choice.

In this post, we’ll look at why narrowing your focus actually makes your business stronger, how different target audiences work in real life, and why it’s perfectly fine—smart, even—to change your focus over time. https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/?p=3008

Google Search Console Impression Bug: What It Means for Your Small Business
Google Search Console Impression Bug: What It Means for Your Small Business


Short version: Google has confirmed that a long-running bug in Search Console inflated impression data since 13 May 2025. As they fix it, your reported impressions will likely drop — but don’t panic. Nothing about your actual visibility or traffic has suddenly got worse.

If you run a small business and keep an eye on your website performance, this update might feel a bit unsettling at first. One day your numbers look strong, the next they dip — and you’re left wondering what’s gone wrong. The good news? Probably nothing at all. This is a reporting issue, not a ranking or traffic issue.

Google has confirmed that due to a logging error, impression counts in Search Console were higher than they should have been for quite some time. Now that they’ve identified the problem, they’re rolling out a fix. As that happens, impression numbers will adjust downward to reflect reality more accurately. https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/2026/04/google-search-console-impression-bug-what-it-means-for-your-small-business/

Google Search Console Impression Bug: What It Means for Your Small Business
Google Search Console Impression Bug: What It Means for Your Small Business


Short version: Google has confirmed that a long-running bug in Search Console inflated impression data since 13 May 2025. As they fix it, your reported impressions will likely drop — but don’t panic. Nothing about your actual visibility or traffic has suddenly got worse.

If you run a small business and keep an eye on your website performance, this update might feel a bit unsettling at first. One day your numbers look strong, the next they dip — and you’re left wondering what’s gone wrong. The good news? Probably nothing at all. This is a reporting issue, not a ranking or traffic issue.

Google has confirmed that due to a logging error, impression counts in Search Console were higher than they should have been for quite some time. Now that they’ve identified the problem, they’re rolling out a fix. As that happens, impression numbers will adjust downward to reflect reality more accurately. https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/?p=3012