James Yorke

Never mind the backlinks. Step 1: Make something worth finding. Step 2: Make sure people can find it. Step 3: Check the backlinks and rankings if you really must. The SEO Pistols have spoken. 🤘 #SEO

Shoreditch in one photo. The old building disappears. The towers go up. The graffiti stays. The culture becomes the marketing for the thing that replaces it.

Built a tiny experiment called The Website Optimiser. Keep clicking “optimise for conversion” and watch a distinctive website slowly turn into generic SaaS. Not everything distinctive is friction. Check it out: brokeninternetclub.com/websi…

Went out at lunch to try discovering things without using the internet. Didn't really work. The one place I photographed was somewhere I'd been sent by Too Good To Go to collect a surprise bag. I went looking for serendipity. An app had already manufactured some.

The internet is behaving oddly, so I’ve assembled a Toolkit. Calculators, checks and small contraptions for examining what the web is becoming — and occasionally interfering with it. brokeninternetclub.com/toolk… What should go in the box next?

I built a high street on the internet. 36 independent UK shops, record stores, publishers, makers and other good places. No marketplace. No paid listings. No algorithm deciding what deserves the corner unit. Just doors worth opening. brokeninternetclub.com/inter…

I made a small tool to find out how much of your internet presence you actually own. 12 questions. 2 minutes. It checks how screwed you’d be if Google, LinkedIn or another giant platform suddenly stopped sending people your way. Internet Health Check: brokeninternetclub.com/inter…

SEO taught me to distrust work that only passes basic checks. AI made my YouTube banner at the right dimensions. It still didn’t fit properly. The spec was satisfied. The outcome wasn’t. As AI speeds up production, testing and judgement matter more.

I don’t think the future of work is just “using AI”. It’s learning how to direct it. I’ve been using ChatGPT Work and Sites to go from idea > brief > output > live page. Less prompting. More judgement. The skill is knowing what good looks like.

Internet Field Trip: destinations wanted. Send me a website that feels clearly made by a person: a tiny tool, obsessive archive, ancient forum or strangely specific database. Something useful, peculiar or cared for beyond reason. Drop the link. Tell me why it’s worth visiting.

Every few years, the internet changes shape. New platforms. New interfaces. New algorithms. The safest bet isn’t mastering one platform. It’s building things that survive the shift: knowledge, trust, reputation and an audience that can move with you.

Unpopular SEO opinion: Most of us have NO idea how to measure “visibility” in a zero-click SERP. We’re all just staring at impressions like they mean something. How are you actually measuring impact right now?

AI gives the what. We deliver done. Last week at #brightonSEO I shared how to “Escape the SERP”: build tiny tools, prove with one KPI, add a clear CTA. Slides + tools + 28-day plan: becomeknown.co.uk/escape-the… Ship small. Measure simply. Move budget fast.

Calm before the storm at @brightonseo. I'll be on the Skyline stage on the track starting at 11:10am today talking about building assets that get clicks in a world with AI Overviews. #brightonSEO