Notes from the field.

I asked ChatGPT to recommend local businesses in my own trades. Here's what it named, what they had in common, and the one rule I found in OpenAI's docs.

What SEO work fits a plumbing business, in what order, and how to check in Search Console if it's working. No hacks, no guarantees, cited to Google.

Real 2026 price ranges for small business video, what drives the number up or down, and how to budget before you call anyone.

Why builders with the best work lose in search, and the four things that change it: indexing, project pages, your Business Profile, and real photography.

Exact Google categories for a plumbing company, how to set services and service areas, what photos to add, and Google's answers to plumbers' top questions.

Most Dallas-Fort Worth home service businesses lose the map pack for reasons that have nothing to do with quality. Here's what actually drives Google Maps ranking across DFW.

A gallery is not a strategy. Here's why individual project pages outrank service pages for contractors, and how to structure them so they actually get found.

Image quality affects search performance through engagement, links, and image search — not just page weight. Here's the actual mechanism, and what to fix first.

A practical image SEO checklist for contractor websites — descriptive alt text, image file names, formats, compression, responsive images, lazy loading, and image sitemaps.

A page-by-page guide to contractor website design and structure — homepage, service pages, project pages, about page, client testimonials, and contact. What each page needs to generate leads.

A step-by-step guide to Google Business Profile optimization for contractors and home service businesses — categories, service areas, photos, Google Posts, and reviews.