About
Wollongong-born-and-raised Melburnian.
> 12+ years in…
> 12+ years in…
Articles by Neil
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Neil Boland shared thisAnyone who works in digital or owns a .com.au or .net.au domain: SIGN THIS PETITION. https://c.org/bB7Dzs8kgF An excerpt (CoPilot summary) as to why: What auDA's proposed .au rule changes could mean for small businesses · auDA has accepted recommendations that change eligibility rules for .com.au and .net.au domains. · The proposed change would require a registered Business Name or Trade Mark that exactly matches the domain name. · Previously, an active ABN or ACN could be sufficient for eligibility. · Critics claim this could affect around 2.7 million domains (about 80% of all .com.au and .net.au registrations). Many existing domain holders may need to: · Register a new Business Name or Trade Mark. · Update domain ownership records with their registrar. · The proposal is expected to increase costs for businesses registering or renewing domains. · Concerns have been raised that some businesses could unintentionally become ineligible to renew their domains if they do not meet the new requirements. · Registrars could face significant administrative workloads processing large numbers of ownership and eligibility updates. Industry opponents argue the change could create confusion, increase compliance costs, and risk disruption for Australian businesses that rely on their domains. ➡️ Courtesy of Gumbo Web Advice ⬅️
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Neil Boland shared thisHey all, I wrote a thing about AI* at Gumbo Web Advice. In the web search space specifically. Us nerds in digital and marketing get it. But I still get questions about what AI is every week, from mates, clients, businesses and others. So here's a super easy explainer for how AI works in web search: https://lnkd.in/grZT3R6S 🔗 I could, of course, just post it here on LinkedIn, but what kind of 'digital marketer' would I be if I didn't try to pry you away from this platform to my website? 😅 I know the algo will probably punish me, but I'll take the hit for you all. *Artificial Intelligence, DUH.
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Neil Boland shared thisToday, I saw an article by Jess Wheeler (who I am connected to, but don't know personally; I just love his work at his blog), and I was inspired to: a. Link to it in my Gumbo Web Advice bio on Instagram and... b. end up writing a whole article within a similar ballpark to his subject, after just starting to write a simple caption for sharing Jess's post (I've been bottling this one up for ages now). Also inspired by a shockingly dour display of garments at Myer and my fury at my fellow musos who use AI distastefully (which most of it is in the blues scene in particular — no more drifting cigarette smoke and pork pie hats, please lads).The Push and Pull Between Sad and Shouting SamenessThe Push and Pull Between Sad and Shouting Sameness
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Neil Boland shared thisI'm just going to come out and say it: I'm looking for work. And I'll also say this transparently: the last couple of years of employment in digital have been very challenging for me. Not from an 'ability to do the job' point of view, but from the point of view of the situations I was in. But I got through it, and provided some great results when helping those enterprises overcome challenges they had in the digital space — digitising previous 'analog' processes, SEO, new website builds, all that. This last bit, I can do for the next organisation, whether you're a small business that needs *anything* done by *someone else* via Gumbo Web Advice or a bigger crew who'd like me in-house to drive strategy and subsequent positive outcomes; stalk my website now: www.neilboland.online Meanwhile, here's me playing the (Looking for Work) Blues in Sydney last year. Dishevelled, but happy as a pig in [you know what]. If you're looking for a digital leader to help steer you in the right direction, save me from $100 blues gigs and the 'subsidy beer' of questionable quality that comes with it.
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Neil Boland shared thisGood lord, has this ever described my experience in SEO as the 'solo practitioner'. Especially in larger organisations. Thank you for this, Pedro Dias. If you work in a marketing team under campaign cycle-based conditions, and are looking at 'adding SEO to the marketing mix', you MUST read this.
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Neil Boland shared thisNew things on the way: art and work. Last Friday, 10 songs-worth of rhythm tracks recorded in a day. With enough time to pack up and trek to AAMI Park for kick-off. 🌩️ This upcoming album...being done in the downstairs rumpus room of a classic Melbourne Green Wedge home among the gum trees, on a Mac with no physical mixing console. It was almost a deliberate decision to reduce the 'tools' at hand in order to just dig deep better into creating*. Seems to working so far. As will I be...somewhere else, by April. ⚒️ *𝘐'𝘮 𝘴��𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦'𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘹𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 '10 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘐 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘺' 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘪𝘵. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤 𝘓𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘥𝘐𝘯-𝘦𝘳𝘴.
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Neil Boland posted thisWho is a woman who’s made an impact on your career? #IWD26 Allie Metz, SEO copywriting Sensei.
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Neil Boland shared thisLook, I was having a laugh (kinda) in my last post, so here's something from Matt Diggity in really clear terms that to me says what we need to say about AI in search. I think at the end of the day, we're wasting time on here trying to freak each other out with today's acronym for LinkedIn glory, while we could be looking at this from the point of view of one thing that hasn't changed: The quality of search results—whether they are served as generative answers in the AI overview, or content or an onsite experience that puts a commercial intent eCommerce link at the top of the 'Traditional Ten*'—is paramount for the likes of Google, Bing etc. And for now, while the LLMs are taking notes, the largely linkless results [EDIT, March 2026: no longer completely 'linkless', but probably still highly non-click-enticing within the GPT/Gemini etc environment] in the likes of ChatGPT still have to be valuable to the searcher. And yes, many results are terrible, many are great; whether terrible or great, it's all only going to get better. And that's when I predict SGE-type results will start to be monetised more. The ol' 'attract and convert' routine — get the users in the habit of using your platform for free, then hit 'em with good old-fashioned commercials (I mean, the TV and the 'wireless' has done it for decades). Remember when Google was new and basically ad-free? Well, I think that's where we are with ChatGPT and the like. But it won't be like that forever — as if they aren't going to generate an answer by compiling knowledge from several web sources, but then also say "This result is brought to you by [a singular relevant commercial entity paying to be seen within context of an answer related to their business]". And to build an audience to sell these 'ads' to, what has to be the best it can be to attract the eyes to the ads? The free stuff, of course. Stop me if this all sounds familiar... #generativesearchresults #aiandseo #togetheratlast #letsallgetalongNeil Boland shared thisEveryone's panicking about AI killing SEO… Meanwhile, AI search drives less than 1% of traffic to most websites. SEO expert Glenn Gabe just dropped some reality-checking data that should calm everyone down. After setting up AI search tracking across multiple sites, he found something shocking: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and all AI search tools combined drive less than 0.5% of traffic for most websites. Google organic search? Still 70-90% of total traffic. Here's what he discovered across different site types: • B2C ecommerce site: AI search = 0.3%, Google organic = 78% • News publisher: AI search = 0.4%, Google organic = 82% • Health/medical site: AI search = 0.2%, Google organic = 86% • Niche vertical site: AI search = 0.3%, Google organic = 75% AI search is still tiny today, but it's growing 300% year-over-year. Meanwhile, Google organic still pays the bills. The smart move is preparing for both. The best part? Most AI search optimization tactics stem from good SEO practices. Quality content, strong technical SEO, and user experience matter for both Google and AI search. Your years of SEO experience aren’t worthless. They’re more valuable than ever.
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Neil Boland posted thisI'm seeing that my LinkedIn feed is almost 100% either frightened hysteria or tech bro flexes and bold claims about certain search engine things right now. And I'm feeling a little left out, because I haven't joined in and said anything about AI or ChatGPT on here. So here it is: "Anything about AI or chatGPT on here."
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David Warmuz 🔜 ICANN-SiGMA-NamesCon Thanks David. Yeah, I thought people only used laugh reacts maliciously on Facebook, not here as well.
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Neil Boland liked thisNeil Boland liked thisI’ve read some good books this year, but Jonas Astrup Beck ’s AI Doesn’t Care What It Amplifies - You Should, is my #1. I have never before highlighted so much good sense in one small book. Concise, coherent, and hard-hitting guidance on AI adoption in organisations, all based on VANGUARD CONSULTING LIMITED humanistic systems wisdom and case studies. #2026mustread
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Neil Boland reacted on thisNeil Boland reacted on thisQuietly celebrating 16 years since I founded The View From Here today. If you pinch and zoom on the photo, you’ll see they were pretty humble beginnings. Back in 2010, I started with a Pantone mug, a MacBook Pro and a Moleskine diary, trying to carve out a design practice in Traralgon after about 10 years working in Melbourne studios. It was a dusty office with no natural light (that smoky blue wall) and sharing the tenancy with a couple of finance-y guys who had no idea what I did. To be fair, I didn’t really know what they did either. A lot has changed since then. Back then I was a typographer, concept designer and Adobe specialist. Websites weren’t responsive, social media barely existed and nobody was calling themselves a content creator. The constant through all of it has been communication. Over 16 years I’ve worked with and employed some incredible people, travelled interstate and internationally, and built deep experience across industries including logistics, transport, tourism, health, professional services and government. I definitely didn’t imagine, sitting at that laminate desk, that one day I’d be advising CEOs, general managers and founders of family businesses employing hundreds of people and turning over hundreds of millions. The name The View From Here came from the idea of bringing my unique perspective to solving problems. Sixteen years later, that perspective is broader than I ever imagined, and I’ve never been more confident in our ability to use it. I’m grateful to the people who’ve worked with me, the clients who’ve backed us, and especially my wife and kids, who’ve been my rock and foundation through all of it. CODA — Not sure of the exact date but business rego has 21.09.2010. I’m pretty sure I had been working a few weeks prior to the certificate arriving, so I’m not sure of the exact start date but what 16 year olds can remember details like that.
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Neil Boland reacted on thisNeil Boland reacted on thisI have an SEO confession to make: When AI overviews launched, we changed almost nothing about how we work. No GEO strategy, no AI content layer, no emergency meeting… nothing. Clients showed up in the answers anyway Is this because we’re geniuses?? Maaaybe, but probs not. Actually, it’s because a strong SEO foundation was already doing the job before GEO even existed… and it kept doing it while everyone declared it dead. So much for those shiny GEO hacks… 😏
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Neil Boland reacted on thisNeil Boland reacted on thisSEO pricing has become a bit of a race to the bottom and it's making clients respect the SEO/GEO work less - I said it. Every year the "SEO" line item gets cheaper somewhere. $500 a month, $300 a month, claude can do it all for you for free. So the number a client has in their head for what it should cost keeps dropping, and the value of the work itself hasn't gotten less. Migrations are a great example. New site build, half a million on the dev agency's invoice, great value. Then the SEO quote comes in at about 10-15% of that to make sure the traffic they've spent years building survives the move, and that number can't fit in the budget... We've got this a bit backwards. Some of it is our industry to blame to be honest. Everything seems the same, so the client isn't wrong to compare because that's just what the market looks like from where they're sitting. I was chatting with prospect yesterday who told me last week our quote was triple the other agency's and I think it was. But she also said she didn't need another monthly report telling her what was wrong, she needed someone to actually fix it. She did understand that we were selling a solution and not a product but thats not all the time. Most clients will get there too but we’ve got to price it fairly and educate.
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