The wiki · page 20 of 25

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Evergreen guides — kept current, backed by our own scan data, written in plain talk. Every article opens with the answer, not a preamble.

14 — Content

What Is a Content Audit?

A content audit is a systematic review of all the content on a website to assess its performance, quality, and relevance, then decide what to keep, improve, consolidate, or remove. It typically inventories every page, gathers data like traffic, rankings, and engagement, and evaluates each piece against current goals. The outcome is an action plan that strengthens strong content, fixes underperforming pages, resolves overlap, and prunes dead weight. Done periodically, a content audit keeps a site lean, accurate, and effective rather than letting old content quietly drag down performance.

UPDATED 2026-07-09 · READ →

What Is a Readability Score?

A readability score is a numerical measure of how easy a piece of text is to read and understand, usually based on formulas that analyze sentence length and word complexity. Popular measures like the Flesch Reading Ease and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level estimate the education level or ease required to comprehend the text. Readability scores help writers keep content clear and accessible to their intended audience. They are a useful guide, not a strict rule, and should support good writing judgment rather than replace it.

UPDATED 2026-07-09 · READ →

What Is Tone of Voice?

Tone of voice is the consistent personality and style expressed through a brand's written and spoken communication, covering word choice, sentence style, attitude, and emotional feel. It is how a business sounds, not just what it says, and it shapes how customers perceive the brand. A well-defined tone of voice makes communication recognizable, builds trust, and differentiates a business from competitors. It should reflect the brand's values and suit its audience, staying consistent across the website, emails, social media, and every other customer touchpoint.

UPDATED 2026-07-09 · READ →

What Is Alt Text?

Alt text (alternative text) is a short written description of an image, added in a webpage's HTML so screen readers can read it aloud and search engines can understand what the image shows. It appears in place of the image when a file fails to load. Good alt text describes an image's content and purpose in plain language, supporting both accessibility for blind and low-vision users and image SEO.

UPDATED 2026-07-09 · READ →

What Is a URL Slug?

A URL slug is the part of a web address that identifies a specific page, the readable text after the domain and any folders, such as "emergency-plumbing" in example.com/web-design-for-plumbers. Slugs are usually lowercase, use hyphens between words, and describe the page's content. A clear, keyword-relevant slug helps users and search engines understand what a page is about before they even open it, supporting both usability and SEO.

UPDATED 2026-07-09 · READ →

What Is a Featured Image?

A featured image is the main representative image assigned to a page or blog post, used as its thumbnail across a website and often as the preview image when the page is shared on social media or listed in search. In content management systems like WordPress it is a dedicated field separate from images placed within the body text. A strong featured image sets visual tone, aids recognition, and improves click-through in feeds and search.

UPDATED 2026-07-09 · READ →

What Is Content Refreshing?

Content refreshing is the practice of updating existing web pages, correcting outdated facts, adding new information, improving structure, and re-optimizing, rather than publishing brand-new pages. The goal is to keep content accurate, useful, and competitive in search over time. Because search engines favor current, high-quality information and pages naturally decay in rankings, refreshing proven pages often delivers more SEO value per hour than constantly creating new ones.

UPDATED 2026-07-09 · READ →

Blog vs Website: What's the Difference?

A website is the full collection of pages that represents your business online, while a blog is a specific section of a website, or a standalone site, made up of regularly updated, dated articles. Every blog is a kind of website, but not every website has a blog. A website's core pages, home, services, contact, stay mostly static, whereas a blog publishes fresh, time-stamped posts to attract search traffic and build authority. Most businesses run a blog inside a larger website rather than as a separate thing.

UPDATED 2026-07-10 · READ →

What Is a Vanity URL?

A vanity URL is a short, memorable, branded web address created to be easy to say, type, and remember, usually pointing to a longer or less friendly destination URL through a redirect. Examples include a campaign link like brand.com/summer or a shortened share link on your own domain. Businesses use them on print materials, TV ads, radio, business cards, and social profiles where a long URL would be awkward. They improve recall and trust and, when built on your own domain with tracking, let you measure how a specific channel performs.

UPDATED 2026-07-10 · READ →

15 — Accessibility

What Is WCAG?

WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) is the internationally recognized technical standard, published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), that defines how to make web content usable by people with disabilities. It organizes requirements under four principles — perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust — and sets three conformance levels (A, AA, AAA). WCAG 2.1 Level AA is the benchmark most US courts, agencies, and businesses treat as the practical target for an accessible website.

UPDATED 2026-07-09 · READ →

What Is Screen Reader Compatibility?

Screen reader compatibility is the degree to which a website works correctly with assistive software that converts on-screen content into synthesized speech or braille for blind and low-vision users. A compatible site exposes meaningful text, proper heading structure, labeled controls, and logical reading order so tools like JAWS, NVDA, and VoiceOver can announce and operate every element. It is achieved through semantic HTML and correct ARIA usage, and it is a core requirement of WCAG and US accessibility law.

UPDATED 2026-07-09 · READ →

What Is Color Contrast Ratio?

Color contrast ratio is a numerical measure of the difference in perceived brightness between two colors — typically text and its background — expressed as a ratio from 1:1 (identical) to 21:1 (black on white). WCAG uses it to ensure text is readable for people with low vision or color blindness. The standard requires at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text at Level AA, making contrast one of the most common and easily measured accessibility requirements.

UPDATED 2026-07-09 · READ →

What Is Keyboard Navigation?

Keyboard navigation is the ability to operate a website using only a keyboard — moving between links, buttons, form fields, and menus with keys like Tab, Enter, Space, and arrows — without needing a mouse. It is essential for people with motor disabilities, blind users of screen readers, and many power users. WCAG requires that all functionality be keyboard-operable, with a visible focus indicator and no traps, making keyboard access a foundational pillar of an accessible website.

UPDATED 2026-07-09 · READ →

What Is ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications)?

ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) is a W3C specification that adds attributes to HTML to communicate the role, state, and properties of interface elements to assistive technologies like screen readers. It fills gaps where standard HTML cannot express a component's meaning — such as custom tabs, sliders, or live-updating regions. ARIA does not change appearance or behavior; it only conveys semantics. Its guiding principle is that native HTML should be used first, with ARIA added only when necessary.

UPDATED 2026-07-09 · READ →

What Are Accessible Forms?

Accessible forms are web forms designed so that everyone, including people using screen readers, keyboards, or other assistive technology, can understand, complete, and submit them without barriers. They use programmatically associated labels, clear instructions, keyboard operability, visible focus, and accessible error handling that identifies mistakes in text, not color alone. Because forms drive bookings, quotes, and checkouts, accessible forms are both a WCAG requirement and a direct driver of conversions for local businesses.

UPDATED 2026-07-09 · READ →

What Is a Focus Indicator?

A focus indicator is the visible cue — usually an outline, ring, or highlight — that shows which interactive element on a page currently has keyboard focus. It acts as the keyboard user's equivalent of a mouse cursor, revealing where a Tab press will land and what Enter will activate. WCAG requires a visible focus indicator with sufficient contrast, and removing it without a replacement makes a site unusable for keyboard and screen reader users, so it is a foundational accessibility feature.

UPDATED 2026-07-09 · READ →

What Is an Accessibility Audit?

An accessibility audit is a structured evaluation of a website against accessibility standards — most often WCAG 2.1 or 2.2 Level AA — to identify barriers that prevent people with disabilities from using it. It combines automated scanning with manual testing using keyboards and screen readers, then documents each issue, its severity, the WCAG criterion it fails, and how to fix it. For US businesses, an audit is the foundation for both ADA-related compliance and genuinely usable, inclusive websites.

UPDATED 2026-07-09 · READ →

What Is Section 508 Compliance?

Section 508 is a US federal law — part of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 — that requires federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology, including websites, accessible to people with disabilities. The 2018 refresh of its standards formally adopts WCAG 2.0 Level AA as the technical benchmark. Section 508 directly governs federal agencies and often extends to their contractors and grant recipients, making it a key standard for any business working with the federal government.

UPDATED 2026-07-09 · READ →

What Is Inclusive Design?

Inclusive design is an approach to designing products and websites that considers the full range of human diversity — ability, age, language, culture, device, and context — so that as many people as possible can use them well. Rather than designing for an 'average' user and adapting afterward, it starts from varied needs and treats them as a source of better solutions. It overlaps with accessibility but is broader, aiming for experiences that work naturally for everyone.

UPDATED 2026-07-09 · READ →

What Is a Focus State?

A focus state is the visible indicator showing which element currently has keyboard focus, most often a ring or outline around a link, button, or form field. As a user moves through a page with the Tab key, the focus state marks where they are, so they can see what they are about to activate. It is essential for anyone navigating without a mouse, including keyboard-only and assistive-technology users. Removing the focus outline for looks makes a site unusable for these visitors and breaks accessibility guidelines.

UPDATED 2026-07-10 · READ →

16 — Branding

What Is Brand Identity?

Brand identity is the collection of visible and expressive elements a business uses to present itself and be recognized: its name, logo, colors, typography, imagery, voice, and messaging. Together these signals shape how customers perceive the company and distinguish it from competitors. For a local business, a clear brand identity makes a plumber, dentist, or restaurant feel established, trustworthy, and easy to remember across a website, signage, trucks, and social media.

UPDATED 2026-07-09 · READ →

Logo vs Wordmark: What's the Difference?

A logo is any graphic mark that identifies a business, an umbrella term that includes symbols, combination marks, and text-based designs. A wordmark is a specific type of logo made entirely of the company's name set in custom or carefully chosen typography, with no separate icon. Every wordmark is a logo, but not every logo is a wordmark. Local businesses often use a combination mark, an icon plus a wordmark, so it can flex between a website header, a truck, and a small app icon.

UPDATED 2026-07-09 · READ →

What Is Brand Consistency?

Brand consistency is the practice of presenting your business the same way, same logo, colors, typography, voice, and messaging, across every place a customer encounters it: website, Google Business Profile, social media, signage, vehicles, invoices, and email. Consistency builds recognition and trust because repeated, unified signals make a business feel established and reliable. For local businesses, it is a low-cost, high-impact discipline: the same brand shown consistently across touchpoints looks larger and more credible than a fragmented one.

UPDATED 2026-07-09 · READ →

What Are Brand Guidelines?

Brand guidelines are a documented set of rules that define how a business's brand should look and sound, covering logo usage, colors, typography, imagery, and voice. They act as a reference so anyone creating materials, employees, printers, web designers, or ad vendors, applies the brand consistently. For local businesses, a concise brand guide (often a single PDF) prevents the drift that makes a company look fragmented, keeping the website, signage, vehicles, and social media unmistakably the same brand.

UPDATED 2026-07-09 · READ →

What Is a Brand Color System?

A brand color system is a defined, organized set of colors a business uses consistently across all its materials, specified in exact values and assigned clear roles. It typically includes primary colors, secondary and accent colors, and neutrals, each documented in HEX, RGB, CMYK, and sometimes Pantone so they reproduce identically on screen and in print. For local businesses, a proper color system ensures the same blue or green appears on the website, truck, signage, and invoices, driving instant recognition.

UPDATED 2026-07-09 · READ →

What Is a Tagline?

A tagline is a short, memorable phrase a business uses to summarize its value, personality, or promise, typically a handful of words that appear alongside the logo and across marketing. It helps customers quickly grasp what makes the company worth choosing and makes the brand more memorable. For local businesses, an effective tagline often signals a specific benefit (fast response, honest pricing, guaranteed work) rather than a vague slogan, reinforcing the brand across the website, signage, trucks, and ads.

UPDATED 2026-07-09 · READ →

What Is Brand Voice?

Brand voice is the consistent personality and tone a business expresses in its writing and speech, the word choices, style, and attitude that make its communication recognizably its own. It shows up in website copy, emails, social posts, review requests, and even voicemail greetings. For local businesses, a well-defined brand voice (for example, friendly and plain-spoken, or polished and premium) makes marketing feel cohesive and trustworthy, and gives everyone who writes for the business a shared standard to follow.

UPDATED 2026-07-09 · READ →

What Is Visual Identity?

Visual identity is the set of visual design elements a business uses to be recognized, its logo, color palette, typography, imagery, iconography, and layout style. It is the design-focused portion of a brand's overall identity, the part customers see rather than read or hear. For local businesses, a strong visual identity makes the website, signage, vehicles, and social media instantly recognizable and professional, signaling trust and quality before a single word is read or a conversation begins.

UPDATED 2026-07-09 · READ →

What Is a Brand Asset?

A brand asset is any distinctive, reusable file or element that represents a business's brand, such as its logo files, color codes, fonts, photography, icons, templates, and even a tagline or jingle. These assets are the tangible building blocks used to create consistent branded materials. For local businesses, keeping brand assets organized in a shared, versioned library ensures staff and vendors always use the correct logo, colors, and images, preventing the inconsistency that makes a company look unprofessional.

UPDATED 2026-07-09 · READ →

What Is Rebranding?

Rebranding is the process of significantly changing a business's brand, its name, logo, visual identity, messaging, or positioning, to better reflect what the company has become or wants to be. It ranges from a light refresh (updating the logo and colors) to a full rebrand (a new name and identity). For local businesses, rebranding is used after ownership changes, mergers, outdated identities, expanded services, or reputation resets, and it must be managed carefully to protect existing recognition and search visibility.

UPDATED 2026-07-09 · READ →

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