Get Found on Google and AI Search

10 Sept

I’m launching a new SEO service for small businesses using Squarespace. It has grown quite naturally out of work I have already been doing for my own businesses and for clients, and out of a part of marketing that I genuinely enjoy: understanding what people are searching for, working out why one page performs better than another, improving the words on the page, and creating useful content that helps the right people find a business.

My own experience with SEO has been very hands-on. I am largely self-taught, but I have used that approach to get Live Sell Academy Ltd to the top of Google’s organic search results for relevant live presenter training searches, as well as appearing in AI search. I have also helped Matrescence Coaching achieve strong organic visibility for Working Parent Coaching Ltd. Those results made me realise that this was something I wanted to offer more deliberately as a service.

Squarespace SEO for Small Businesses

I like Squarespace because it gives small businesses a practical way to build and manage a professional website without needing a developer for every small change. The problem is that a good-looking website is not automatically a visible one. A site can be beautifully designed and still struggle to appear when potential customers search for the services it offers.

That is where my new SEO service comes in. I help small businesses with Squarespace websites improve their visibility, sharpen their website copy and create useful content that helps more of the right people find them. The focus is not on traffic for the sake of traffic. It is on understanding what potential customers are actually searching for and making sure your website is clear, relevant and useful when they do.

If you want to get yourself a Squarespace website remember to use code GIMME10 at checkout for a 10% discount.

Start with what people are actually searching for

One of the things I enjoy most about SEO is the research. Businesses often describe themselves using language that makes perfect sense internally but is not the language their customers use when they search. That creates a disconnect.

So before rewriting a page or adding a blog, I want to understand the demand. What are people typing into Google? Which terms have real search volume? Which are commercially relevant? Which services are worth prioritising? Which topics are already crowded, and where might there be a realistic opportunity to compete?

That process matters because SEO works best when the website copy reflects genuine search behaviour rather than assumptions about what people might type.

Better visibility is only useful if it leads somewhere

I am not especially interested in chasing vanity metrics. More traffic sounds good, but if those visitors have no intention of buying, enquiring or engaging, then the value is limited.

For most small service businesses, the more useful question is whether the website is helping the right people find them at the moment they are actively looking for what they offer. A smaller number of relevant visitors can be far more valuable than a large volume of general traffic.

That is why my approach is rooted in relevance. The goal is to improve visibility, but also to make sure the website gives people a clear reason to stay, trust what they see and take the next step.

The copy matters as much as the keywords

My background has taught me a great deal about how customers make decisions. Before moving into consultancy, I spent more than 28 years at QVC, ultimately serving as Director of Merchandising, and I also produced and directed more than 15,000 hours of live broadcast content across 15 countries.

That experience shaped the way I think about websites. A customer needs to understand what you offer, why it matters, and why you are a credible choice. SEO can help bring someone to the page, but the page still has to do its job once they arrive.

That is why my SEO work often includes rewriting website copy. Sometimes the biggest improvement is not technical. It is making the offer clearer, improving the structure of a service page, tightening the message, or creating content around the questions customers are already asking.

Google is only part of the picture now

Search is changing quickly. Google remains important, but people are also increasingly using AI-powered search tools to find information, compare options and discover businesses.

For small businesses, this makes clarity even more important. Your website needs to explain who you are, what you do, who you help and why you are credible. Search engines and AI systems can only work with the information they can understand.

That is why I prefer the phrase Get Found on Google and AI Search. It describes the outcome in plain English without getting lost in technical language. The underlying work still involves SEO, but the objective is broader: helping your business become easier to find and easier to understand wherever people are searching.

Useful content still has a role to play

I still believe in blogs and content, but only when they have a clear purpose. I do not think small businesses need to publish content simply to keep Google happy.

A useful article can answer a real customer question, support an important service page, demonstrate expertise, and help search engines better understand what the business is about. It can also help a potential customer make a decision before they ever get in touch.

The important thing is that the content has a reason to exist. One strong article that addresses a genuine customer need is more useful than several generic posts written because someone said a business should “blog more”.

Practical SEO, without the jargon

SEO can become unnecessarily complicated very quickly. There are plenty of technical terms, but most small business owners do not need a lesson in acronyms. They need to understand what is holding the website back, what should be fixed first, which searches are worth targeting, which pages need improving, and whether the work is producing better visibility and enquiries.

That is the kind of SEO service I want to offer. Practical, commercially grounded and easy to understand.

I am also an Associate Certified Coach, and that experience influences the way I work. Good coaching is often about asking better questions, testing assumptions and getting to the heart of what someone is really trying to achieve. Those same skills are useful in SEO, because sometimes the real problem is not a missing keyword. It is that the business is not yet clear enough about its audience, its offer or the message it wants the website to communicate.

A new service for small businesses using Squarespace

This is a new service I am launching, but it is built on experience I have already been applying in practice. I have seen what can happen when keyword research, clear copy, useful content and a focused website structure all work together.

If you have a Squarespace website and you are not sure why it is not getting found, or you know the copy and content could be doing more for your business, that is exactly the kind of problem I want to help with.

The aim is simple: improve your visibility on Google and AI Search, make the website clearer, and help more of the right people find you.