From the field
Insights, not opinions.
One to two essays a month on service-business websites, local SEO, WCAG 2.2, Core Web Vitals, and AI in engineering. Written by Gabriel Rosales. Not AI-generated content, but field notes from ten years of production work.
Recent writing
- 01 Local SEO
Hub-and-spoke SEO: why local service businesses don't need 165 pages to rank
Most local SEO advice gets it wrong. Here's the honest breakdown of what actually works for service-area businesses, and when combo pages help vs. hurt.
- 02 Service Businesses
How a project actually goes: a walkthrough for solo-shop owners
Discovery call, written proposal, design before code, two revision rounds, DNS cutover, walkthrough Loom. The honest, week-by-week process for one-truck operators considering a custom build.
- 03 Shopify
The two Shopifys: Liquid + webhooks vs Hydrogen + Functions in 2026
Shopify isn't one platform anymore. It's two stacks, and most teams pick wrong. A developer's map of when Liquid still wins, when headless pays off, and the middle ground most brands actually want.
- 04 Service Businesses
How to choose a website builder for a service business in 2026
Squarespace vs. WordPress vs. custom vs. 'AI-built.' An honest 3-year cost and tradeoff breakdown for service-business owners.
- 05 Service Businesses
The service-business website checklist
Every page, every form, every signal. What a working service-business site actually needs in 2026, and what to leave out.
- 06 Performance
Why your site's INP score is a leading indicator of conversion
INP replaced FID as a Core Web Vital in March 2024. Slow interactions cost you leads. Here's the measurement, the math, and the fixes.
Want this kind of thinking on your site?
Salt & Scale builds the websites these essays are about. One engineer, end to end.