Notes on local web, quietly compounding.
Practical pieces on small-business websites, local SEO, AI search visibility, and what we learn running real client engagements out of Greenville, NC. No SEO myth-busting clickbait, no hot takes — just what works.
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Fix in public, month 2: the tracker broke. Here's what I'm doing about it.
Month-2 update on Mainsail's build-in-public AI-search visibility climb. The automated portion of the tracker failed — Perplexity changed its UI, Google's CAPTCHA blocked the script. Plus what shipped this month, what I'd actually want the data to show, and the rebuild plan for month-3.
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We hit #1 for 'Greenville SEO' — and the conversion data made me change what we're chasing
Three weeks after the content sprint, the homepage ranked #1 in the local pack and #1.5 organic for our hardest commercial keyword from anywhere in the country. The Google Search Console data and the Google Business Profile data told two very different stories. Here's what the gap taught me about query intent — and what we're doing instead.
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Eleven pieces in a weekend: what we shipped, what it cost, and what I'd cut in hindsight
Honest behind-the-scenes look at shipping eleven cornerstone Learn, Compare, and Journal pieces in one weekend — the methodology, the actual API + research costs (under $3), the pieces I'd write again, and the two I'd skip if I had it back.
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Why we publish our prices when nobody else does
Most agencies hide their pricing behind 'request a quote' — the price gets calibrated to what you'll pay, not what the work costs. Mainsail publishes its prices on the homepage. Why I made that call, what it cost me in inbound volume, and why I'd do it again.
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I audited 25 Greenville business websites. Here's what I found.
Mobile-fit, load speed, schema markup, AI-search citation — graded across 25 real Eastern NC small-business websites. The headline number: 0% appear in AI search for their own category. Here's the full breakdown.
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Fix in public, month 1: foundation laid
What I shipped this week to start fixing Mainsail's AI-search invisibility. The diffs, the rationale, and an honest list of what's still broken.
Read more → - · 8 min read
We couldn't find our own studio in AI search
A local SEO studio that doesn't show up in ChatGPT. Why, what we're fixing, and a monthly public tracker so you can watch the climb.
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Why we're starting this journal
A short note on why a 2-person studio is publishing a blog in 2026, what we'll write about, and what we won't.
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