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How to Safely Merge Categories in WordPress Using PHP (Free Script)

Moving WordPress posts from one category to another, easy and fast, with a free PHP script

Output from the UltimateWB free WordPress PHP script to move posts from one category to another

As a WordPress site grows, category structures can easily become bloated, redundant, or outdated. Reorganizing your taxonomy manually through the WordPress admin dashboard works fine for a handful of posts, but if you need to merge hundreds - or thousands - of articles from one category into another, doing it manually is a slow, tedious chore.

While plugins exist for taxonomy management, adding extra

Posted in WordPress Customization | Tagged bulk action, bulk-edit plugin alternative, move wordpress posts, php, php script, plugin alternative, taxonomy, WordPress, wordpress categories, wordpress customization, wordpress script | Leave a comment

How to Whitelist Googlebot, Bingbot in CSF

WHM ConfigServer Security & Firewall, CSF ignore file

One way to prevent server load spikes and maintain fast performance is to block problematic IP addresses and IP ranges. However, you have to make sure that legitimate crawlers, such as Googlebot and Bingbot, are not accidentally blocked from accessing your websites. Don't crash your SEO! We covered this important step in, “How to Stop High Server Load from Distributed Botnets, Scrapers, and Database Queue Locks”. If you don't know how to do this whitelisting, this tutorial is for

Posted in Coding, Server Admin & Security | Tagged bingbot, ConfigServer Security & Firewall, csf, csf.ignore, csf.rignore, domain masks, firewall, Googlebot, ignore, ignore files, ignore ip, lfd, nano text editor, reverse dns ignore, seo, terminal, whitelist crawlers, whm | Leave a comment

How to Edit .htaccess on the Site Level or Add Rules Globally

In "How to Stop High Server Load from Distributed Botnets, Scrapers, and Database Queue Locks" we talked about how to fix your high server loads. That included adding rules to your site's .htaccess file, or updating the rules globally. If you don't know how to do that yet, this guide is for you.

Crucial First Step: Make a Backup

Before touching .htaccess, always make a copy. A single typo in this file will cause a "500 Internal Server Error" and take

Posted in Coding, Server Admin & Security | Tagged .htaccess, 500 Internal Server Error, apache, apache configuration, cpanel, file manager, global apache configuration, global rules, include editor, nano text editor, post virtual host include, pre main include, pre virtualhost include, show hidden files, terminal, whm | Leave a comment

How to Stop High Server Load from Distributed Botnets, Scrapers, and Database Queue Locks

When a server load spikes to 30, 50, or 100+, most sysadmins panic and start haphazardly restarting services or blocking random IP addresses. However, modern attacks are rarely as simple as a single bad IP.

Today’s botnets use distributed Layer 7 (HTTP) floods, rotating through hundreds of unique IPs with only 1 connection each, exploiting web server application queues, fake WordPress scanners, background AJAX polling scripts, and WordPress admin-ajax.php endpoints that lock up MySQL.

This comprehensive guide covers how to diagnose,

Posted in Coding, Server Admin & Security | Tagged .htaccess, 127.0.0.1, 403 Forbidden errors, 404 errors, ajax, ajax polling, ajax requests, apache, apache rate limiting, automated system tasks, bingbot, botnets, cache, caching, cpu, cpu load, cron jobs, csf, csf whitelist, CT_BLOCK_TIME, CT_LIMIT, CT_PORTS, database polling, database queue locks, ddos attacks, distributed attack, Googlebot, high server load, http, ip address, Jeypack, layer 7, linux, load averages, mibew messenger, mod_evasive, mysql, operator refresh time, php, processes, RAM, scrapers, script, server attack, server load, server load spike, subnet attack, sysadmin commands, whitelist, whm, xmlrpc.php | Leave a comment

The Ultimate Guide to MySQL Query Optimization

PHPMyAdmin MySQL Explain Analyze command for optimizing slow queries

At its core, query optimization comes down to one goal: Make the database read as few rows as possible.

If MySQL reads 300,000 rows to return 5 results, it is slow. If it reads 5 rows to return 5 results, it is lightning fast.

In The Developer’s Guide to Identifying Slow MySQL Queries, we covered the mechanics of finding your slowest queries using server logs and gave a brief introduction to the EXPLAIN command.

But once you’ve identified a slow query,

Posted in Coding, Server Admin & Security | Tagged boolean mode, composite indexes, covering index, deferred join, ESR, explain, explain analyze, fulltext, indexes, like vs fulltext, match against, mysql, mysql database, mysql query optimization, natural language mode, order by, RAM, slow mysql queries, where | Leave a comment

The “AI Employee” Illusion: Why Fully Automated SEO Is Still Marketing Fiction

Illustration of AI doing SEO keyword research to write content

The tech world is currently obsessed with "autonomous agents." If you scroll through Reddit, X, or tech startup forums, you will inevitably run into viral playbooks written by developers claiming they have successfully replaced their entire marketing department with a machine. The headlines write themselves: "My AI employee runs my SEO while I sleep, and Google has no idea."

These posts offer highly seductive blueprints. They promise that with a simple terminal tool, a few API connections, and a

Posted in AI, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) | Tagged ai, ai agent, AI hallucinations, AI SEO, ai slop, api, authority, boost traffic, GitHub, google search engine ranking, llm, seo | Leave a comment

Why Webflow, WordPress, Squarespace & Wix Fall Short on Page Backups (And the UltimateWB Fix)

The UltimateWB Page History tool for the "Ask David!" page. Yes, we've experimented on this page too :-)

As a web developer, there is a distinct type of panic that sets in when your phone rings and a client says: "I was trying to update the text on the homepage, and... I think I broke something."

You open the site, and sure enough, the layout you meticulously optimized for speed, design, and user experience is completely skewed.

On many website

Posted in Compare Website Builders | Tagged browser cache, granular control, page backups, page history, page history tool, recovery tools, squarespace, styles manager, user friendly, wayback machine, webflow, website backup, Wix, WordPress | Leave a comment

Should You Choose a Drag-and-Drop Website Builder?

UltimateWB Page Editor, showing the ultimatewb.com homepage

Yes, we use UltimateWB for our own website too. This is what the Edit Page for our homepage looks like - WYSIWYG - What You See Is What You Get. In another words, user friendly.

Welcome back to another edition of Ask David!, where we cut through web design marketing hype and talk about how websites actually work in the real world.

Today’s question comes from a site owner standing at a very common crossroad:

“I was thinking i

Posted in Ask David! | Tagged bloat, clean code, cms, css, DOM, dom size, drag-and-drop, drag-and-drop alternative, drag-and-drop website builder, fast website, javascript, responsive, slow load times, styles manager, user experience, visual editing, WYSIWYG | Leave a comment

How to Connect a Custom Domain to a Free Website (No Coding Required)

If you bought a custom domain name from a domain provider like Wix, GoDaddy, Squarespace, or Namecheap to start a simple website or blog, you may have run into an annoying surprise: all the "free" website builders charge a monthly subscription fee just to let you connect your own domain name - except for one. Ironically, it's the one that got out of the domain name selling business years ago.

If you're on a tight budget, a

Posted in Compare Website Builders | Tagged Cloudflare, custom domain, github pages, godaddy, Google Sites, namecheap, squarespace, vercel, Wix | Leave a comment

What is the Biggest Drawback of Wix, Squarespace, Webflow, and WordPress?

Illustration showing the drawbacks of WordPress (plugins security and issues), Wix (redesign trap worse with hosting lock-in), Webflow (complicated, doesn

We recently received an excellent question from a reader who is trying to cut through the marketing noise to choose the right website platform:

“Ask David!” question: "I am researching which website builder I should use and found UltimateWB. Can you tell me what you think is the biggest drawback of Wix, Squarespace, Webflow, and WordPress?"

If you only read the homepages of the major website builders, everything looks flawless. They all promise fast, beautiful, and easy-to-build sites.

But as

Posted in Ask David!, Compare Website Builders | Tagged absolute positioning, absolute positioning vs responsive design, bloat, css, fast website, high maintenance, html, learning curve, open-source, php, plugin, redesign website, responsive, saas, security risks, slow website, squarespace, third-party plugins, webflow, Wix, WordPress | Leave a comment

Crucial First Step: Make a Backup

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