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Recent Posts
- Thinking About Switching From WordPress? What Should You Consider Before You Move?
- The Airtable Acquisition Raises a Bigger Question: Do You Really Own the Software Your Business Runs On?
- How to Use Google Search Console’s New Generative AI Data to Improve Your SEO
- How to Update the Same Website Content on Multiple Pages at Once
- Discovered vs. Crawled Not Indexed in Google Search Console: What’s the Difference and How to Fix Each
- The Small Business Guide to Auditing Google Ads and Website Costs
- Do Professional Writers Still Need SEO in the Age of AI?
- Search Engine First vs. People First Content: Why Generic FAQ Dumps Harm Your SEO
- Looking for a Website Builder Without AI? Which One Should You Choose?
- Keyword Cannibalization: How to Find and Fix the Pages Stealing Your Own Google Traffic
- Why Great Content Gets Stuck on Page 8 (And How to Fix It)
- Why MySQL FULLTEXT Search Returns 0 Results (And How to Fix It)
- The Reality of Domain Speculation on New TLD Launches: Is It Still Worth It?
- The Hidden Domain Name Lock-In: Which Registrars Restrict Nameservers?
- Paying $10,000 a Month for SEO? Here’s How to Tell If You’re Getting Your Money’s Worth
- Introducing New WordPress Magazine Layouts in UltimateWB 9 (With Early Access)
- How to Fix the WordPress “Critical Error” on the Widgets Page After a PHP Upgrade
- The Hidden Risk of SaaS Website Builders: Lessons from the Recent Wix Outage
Categories
Tag Archives: slow website
What is the Biggest Drawback of Wix, Squarespace, Webflow, and WordPress?
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
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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
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Why Have My Indexed Pages on Google Decreased? (Real Causes + Fixes Most Sites Miss)
Seeing your indexed pages drop in Google can feel like your website is quietly disappearing.
One day everything looks stable… the next, your index count is down - and you’re left wondering if your rankings are about to follow.
If you’re asking “Why have my indexed pages on Google decreased?”, here’s the reality:
This is common - but it’s not random.
Google doesn’t just “lose” pages. When your indexed count drops, it’s almost always the result of a decision
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Posted in Ask David!, Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Tagged broken links, cannibalization, canonicalization, crawl efficiency, crawlability, crawled, disallow, duplicate content, engagement, google search engine ranking, indexed pages, indexing, internal links, keywords, noindex, noindex tags, not indexed, redirect chains, redirect loops, redirect url, relevance, reliability, robots.txt, search engine optimization, seo, sitemap, slow website, target keywords, thin pages, trust, user intent, wasted crawl budget
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Your Website is Your Silent Salesperson: Is “Basic” Costing You Money?
Should I upgrade my website?
Every dollar matters when you’re building a small business. Early on, it’s natural to look for the fastest and cheapest way to get online, which is why so many businesses start with “basic” website templates.
At first glance, these platforms seem practical. They’re quick, affordable, and require little technical knowledge. But over time, a more important question emerges:
What is your current website actually costing you in lost trust, missed leads, and reduced conversions?
Because
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Posted in Ask David!, Business, Website Design
Tagged bloat, bounce rate, conversion optimization, conversions, convert leads, core web vitals, crawlability, custom websites, design trends, digital marketing, fast load times, fast website, first impressions, indexing, mobile friendly, online business, plugins, responsive, roi, scalability, seo, slow website, small business, templates, trustworthy, up-to-date, ux design, visibility, web development, website builder, website design, website performance, website ROI
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WordPress Kirki Customizer Takeover: The Automatic Bait-and-Switch Plugin Trend
The WordPress community is currently witnessing a troubling and "despicable" trend: the acquisition and subsequent "bloating" of popular, lightweight plugins. This isn't just a manual update issue - it is a systemic problem where sites are being fundamentally changed through automatic updates without the owner’s consent.
The recent crisis involving the Kirki Customizer framework and the historical "bait-and-switch" of WP User Avatar serve as a reminder in why the WordPress "plugin stack" model is a risky gamble for
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Posted in Compare Website Builders, Technology in the News, Website Security
Tagged auto-update, bloat, BuddyX, Droip, fatal errors, feature creep, Kirki Customizer, plugins, ProfilePress, Reign, security issues, security liability, slow website, Themeum, third-party plugins, website security, WordPress, WP User Avatar, XStore
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Are free website builders worth it for small businesses?
Or do free website builders hurt more than they help?
When you’re growing a small business, keeping expenses low feels like the only smart move. So it’s natural to try every free website builder you can find - Wix free plan, Weebly free plan, Webnode, Google Sites, you name it.
On the surface, they seem perfect:
✔ quick setup
✔ no upfront cost
✔ drag-and-drop builder
✔ decent starter templates
But here’s the real question every small business eventually
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Posted in Compare Website Builders
Tagged bounce rate, build trust, cookie-cutter, custom domain, drag-and-drop website builder, fast website, fast-loading times, free website builderes, generate leads, Google Sites, growth, meta tags, mobile-friendly, outdated, red flag, reliability, responsive, scalability, seo, sitemap, slow website, trust, webnode, weebly, Wix
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Google Algorithm Penalties Explained: What They Are, Why They Happen, and How to Recover
Google doesn’t like surprises. Website owners, on the other hand, often get one they didn’t ask for: a sudden drop in traffic, rankings vanishing overnight, and pages that once dominated search results quietly disappearing.
In most cases, that shock traces back to Google algorithm penalties.
If you’ve ever wondered what Google actually penalizes, how algorithmic penalties differ from manual actions, or whether recovery is even possible, this guide breaks it all down - clearly, accurately, and
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Posted in AI, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Website Traffic
Tagged ai, AI content, AI-generated content, auto-generated content, backlink cleanup, backlink profile, backlinks, bounce rate, content depth, content quality, core web vitals, crawl, credibility, duplicate content, E-E-A-T, engagement, engagement signals, experience, expertise, fast-loading website, google algorithm, google algorithm penalties, Google algorithm update, google core updates, google panda, google penguin, Google rankings, Google Search Console, helpful content, high-quality content, keyword stuffing, layout shift, link spam, low-quality, mobile-friendly, page experience, search engine optimization, search engine ranking, search intent, search intent match, seo, seo guide, slow load times, slow website, spammy, thin content, thin pages, trust, user experience, ux signals, visibility, website optimization, website traffic
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Top 10 Things That Instantly Make a Website Feel “Off” 😬
First impressions happen fast - often within a few seconds of landing on a website.
With website builders like UltimateWB making it easier than ever to launch polished, fast, mobile-friendly sites, users have zero patience for sloppy experiences. One small misstep and your site feels unprofessional, untrustworthy, or just “off.”
So what gives that “off” feeling? Here are 10 things that instantly throw up red flags for visitors - and how to avoid them.
1. 🔒 No
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Posted in Website Design
Tagged 404 errors, autoplay video issues, autoplay videos, bad website design, bloat, broken layouts, broken links SEO, broken lists, build trust, clashing colors, fast website, fix website bounce rate, headings, https, HTTPS warning, improve website UX, mobile web design, mobile-friendly, navigation, no ssl, not secure warning, popups, professional website tips, responsive web design, slow load times, slow website, slow website fix, spacing, ssl, structure, submenus, user-friendly websites, UX design tips, web design checklist 2025, web design errors, website first impressions, website mistakes 2025, website red flags, website trust signals, what makes a website feel off, white space
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Does Google have a 410 redirect budget?
The concept of a fixed "410 redirect budget" for websites is not a formally defined term by Google. However, the number of 410 (Gone) responses in your .htaccess file can indirectly impact your website's SEO in a few ways:
- Crawl Budget: While not a strict budget, search engines like Google have a finite amount of resources to crawl and index your website. Excessive 410 responses can signal to the search engine that these pages are no longer relevant, potentially diverting
Posted in Ask David!, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Website Design
Tagged 410 redirect, bloat, bounce rate, broken links, duplicate content, fast loading times, high-quality content, htaccess, redirect, search engine optimization, search engine ranking, seo, slow website, technical seo, user engagement, user experience, website health
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Modernize Your Website: Avoiding Outdated Design Trends
A website that looks outdated can be a red flag to visitors. It may give the impression that the business behind it is inactive, unprofessional, or not paying attention. If your site still uses old design elements or loads slowly, you could be turning people away without realizing it. So, what makes a website look outdated - and what can you do to keep yours looking current?
The Telltale Signs of an Outdated Website
Several factors can contribute to making
... Continue readingHow come Joomla is so complicated? Is it worth it to learn?
Many people choose Joomla because it’s a well-known name, but fame doesn’t always equal a good user experience. In reality, Joomla often comes with a “complexity tax” - it forces you to work much harder than necessary to get basic results.
To understand why it feels so “clunky,” and if it’s worth the effort, we have to look at why it was built this way in the first place and how that “legacy logic” affects you today.
The History: Born
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Posted in Ask David!, Compare Website Builders
Tagged bloat, cms, compatibility, compatibility issues, contact form, fast website, html, image galleries, joomla, joomla alternative, Mambo, Miro International, open source, open-source, security issues, seo, slow website, third-party plugins, web development
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