Free images tag: free

When your WordPress bullet point list looks too close together, the gap between entries must be expanded.

Having some space above and below each bullet point can make the page much easier to read and set each point apart from its neighbours.

It is quite a simple edit to make every bullet point list have a bit more breathing room, and you can fine-tune the breathing space each bullet point entry can have.

CSS

WordPress has a simple way to add CSS edits. These edits can be very powerful in altering the look and feel of your website. You can adjust with CSS, from colours to fonts to any element on the screen.

The CSS you need to make some space between the bullet point lists is:

.entry-content ul li {
    margin-bottom: 20px;
}

A straightforward bit of code can make a difference to your site. Easier to read the bullet point makes for happier visitors, and you get your point across better.

WordPress

To add the custom CSS to your WordPress, navigate the many to Appearance, then to Customize. from there, look for the Additional CSS menu. Click that to open the edit section. Paste the code above into the Customizing Additional CSS empty section. If some code is already in there, add it below the existing CSS edit.

Themes

Your theme will have a custom CSS entry section if the standard WordPress custom CSS isn't there or doesn't function. Check the theme control panel or help page for Custom CSS.

Adjustment

Change the number of px to adjust the spacing.

OK, maybe px is not ideal for a responsive world, so be free to edit the units if the mobile site looks bad but good on the desktop after testing. Let us know in the comments your enhancements to the solution above.

But is the latest thing to storm the internet?

That would be ChatGPT the Large Language Model (LLM) Artificial Intelligent (AI) Chat Bot.

Why so clever but so unaware?

The ChatGPT has been trained on a huge amount of information found on the internet and gathered over 570GB of text. This all takes time and doesn't happen instantly. The crawling, indexing and then learning all has a time cost. So while the data is huge, it just can't keep its finger on the pulse.

Search Engines

Search engines can see the queries typed into it in real time. As questions are asked of a search engine, those questions are logged. A search engine can be much more up-to-date with trending queried events. While backed up by a large database of constantly updated information.

ChatGPT

The AI bot is great at answering some sorts of questions, particularly tech based things but it can go much further afield than that. If you have not tried to use the ChatBot then give it a go. The tool is no different to asking a search engine your question, but you may be surprised by the answer. Find the ChatGPT here. But there are other AI Chatbots that the public have access to other than the GPT. Google is trialling the bard chat (currently in testing) and Microsoft is incorporating AI into its search engine.

We asked ChatGPT this:

what is the date of your most recent store of information?

My knowledge cutoff is 2021-09, which means that I have been trained on data up until that date. However, I continue to learn and improve based on the conversations I have with users like you. So while my knowledge may not include events or information that have occurred after September 2021, I can still provide you with helpful responses based on my training and ongoing learning.

https://chat.openai.com/chat

Not only Chat

While the AI Chat is something to be seen another revolution is happening around us. That is AI Art. The AI bot has learned to paint, draw and charcoal to bring you on demand - high-quality art from just a few written words.

See our post on AI-generated awesome free images to see what the fuss is all about and have some fun creating art from the text.

Running a WordPress site can be rewarding. But getting to grips with the basics can be challenging. The difference between categories and tags is one example.

Should the post have a tag and a category, or which is best, a tag or a category?

What if I have the same tags as categories to ensure that at least one is correct?

Do I even need a category if the post has a tag?

Who sees these categories and tags on WordPress anyway?

Categories Vs Tags

It's Categories Vs Tags. Here is an example of how you can use categories and tags in WordPress effectively and boost your Search Engine Optimisation, not to mention an easier-to-navigate menu system. You have a menu, right?

Say we are discussing widgets.

Categories

There are three main types of widgets: the Red widget, the Blue widget, and the Green widget.

These are your categories.

The main chunks are your categories.

You can have more than 3 categories, but don't add optional extras as categories. If a new black, limited edition widget becomes available, add that to your categories.

Each post can have only one Category.

A widget is either Red, Blue, or Green; it can't be more than one color.

Tags

These would be your tags if each widget can be half-full, half-empty, full-fat, and sugar-free options.

You can assign more than one tag to a post. A half-full, sugar-free, full-fat widget is an option. It can have many tags.

Tags are like the options for a product; each post can have many tags but only one Category.

Another Example

If the colors in categories were confusing, try considering dresses. You may own a clothes shop specializing in dresses and want to blog about them. You could set up your WordPress tags and categories like this..

Categories

You sell 4 types of dress: evening wear, Summer wear, Winter wear, and dresses for Children.

These would be your four categories. It makes it easy for visitors to narrow down what they seek.

Tags

Tags would be colors and sizes of dresses available. Also, you can add further detailed tags about the neckline, fastenings, and the length available.

Each type of dress can come in many different colors and sizes with various fastenings and necklines. These would work well for tags as each dress in one Category can have many tags.

Menu Items

Remember the menu I mentioned earlier?

The categories make perfect menu items.

The categories across the top of the page, part of your main menu, make it easy for visitors to narrow down what they want. They know if it is for a child or evening wear (Category), maybe not what color or any detail, but the tags will help.

One Category, but many tags.

Don't duplicate tags into categories or categories into tags.

Happy Blogging!

How to add extra image information that doesn't exist in the original?

How to make a square picture fit a rectangle for page banner?

Is there a program that can make extra background so my square image fits wordpress banners better?

Yes, the answer to these is 'outpainting'.

Artificial Intelligence

It is possible to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to add information to a picture that doesn't exist in the original. So a square image can have it's left and right borders extended with a relevant background. A seamless extension of the image that the original author never imagined. It sounds very science fiction but is ever so easy to use.

Example of outpainting

We use this image of this astronaut on our Awesome Free Images post. But we also wanted to use the spaceman as the wordpress banner. To achieve this the square image of 512 x 512 px needed a boost in resolution and more importantly it need to be wider not taller.

This is our astronaut:

He is a great piece of free AI generated artwork but is very tightly cropped and could do with some more image to the left and right that would create a rectangle of at least 1200px wide without making the visor bigger.

The solution is to get the AI art generator to add what it thinks would go well in this image. There are often 4 results and you can filp through each one until you see what you want. Not problem if none are any good, just try again but adjust the inpainting box.

From our spaceman closeup selfie to an image wide enough to call it a banner.

Also notice the outpainting has included above and below, anything not required can just be cropped out with a graphics app.

Magic

We did not supply the background. It was all the work of DALL.E2. The AI looked at the existing background and suggested something similar that would blend in perfectly with the image supplied.

One button to download the image and it's yours to keep.

Use 'Add a Generation Frame - F' to place a blue rectangle overlapping the original image and some empty space on the page.

In the prompt just type 'inpaint' or 'outpaint' (they both seem to work) and click 'Generate'.

You get a black label with 4 white dots, use this to flick through the suggestions, accept the one you want.

If you get odd results not to your liking, cancel and re-adjust the Generation frame position. More or less overlap can help.

Modifying the outpainting command with supplemental commands can give some interesting results.

To complete more outpainting, just add another generation frame and repeat the outpainting procedure.

Ours

For out astronaut we added left then right outpainting that overlapped the visor which gave some unwanted results. A re-run with less visor and more black space produced the results we were seeking.

Timelapse

If you want to see a video of an outpainting in progress, see out the timelapse of Vermeers Girl with a Pearl Earring on the Dall.E site. It really helps explain in pictures what is going on in the AI program to make these backgrounds appear from nowhere.

Rejects

These are some of the AI results we rejected. Not because they were bad, they just didn't fit with the idea at the time. A better control of the AI commands can produce more controlled results but this is art. Art at it's digital finest, let the AI run free.

How do you get free images for use on your website? Free of distracting watermarks and high quality images?

You may be a great webmaster and can write brilliant posts but not so good with the graphics? Maybe you need a picture to support your post that has everything you want, but isn't available on the web to buy or even borrow.

Make it yourself

Sounds simple, but if you are not an artist or have any artistic capabilities this seems to be a wall that is just too high. Even if you could knock something up, would it be good enough, would it take too long, would it do your topic justice and would you be happy with it?

Any answer No to the above and we can point you in an unusual but satisfying direction.

Our Astronaut

Out astronaut took about 10 minutes in total. This includes making a coffee while the image rendered. He (or She) or should it be just 'They' didn't cost any money to make and I did not have to download any software to use it.

A free (as in free beer), high quality image that is free (as in free to use) custom image that was made specifically for this post. Unique in itself and free to be copied. (Yes, if you want to use it, go ahead) but I believe you can do better with the tools I can show you to use.

No Downloads

No software to download, no apps to install. All on a laptop (but you can use your phone) because it is all done in a browser.

Free

Free in both meanings of the word. No cost to pay and no restrictions or copyright to buy. It is nice to give a credit to the tool and the tool makers are quite insistent that you can't say that 'you made it'. Although you had a hand in making it, the tool actually rendered the image and its the tool (tools) that get the credit for the work.

The tool uses credit and credits are issued daily, for free. This keeps the service from being overloaded and available to all. You can buy credit, but the free credits accumulate quickly if you claim them every day.

The 'cost' of rendering images is just credits and these are issued to you for free, so no costs are accrued in the making of the pictures.

Name the tool already!

So the name of the tool is nightcafe.studio.

NightCafe.studio is an AI Art Generator that can Create beautiful art in seconds with the help of Artificial Intelligence.

The power of Artificial Intelligence is leveraged to produce some stunning pictures from just a few words of input.

Simple

To use the AI to make an image just enter a few words to describe the scene you want to create. This is what we asked for:

spaceman with helmet visor reflecting a google logo

This is what the AI produced for us:

The settings allow use of different AI Bots and a huge range of pre-set themes to give you the style you are looking for. If the image isn't right, alter your text input to modify the output or choose a different output.

The 4 images cost 1 credit (you can get 5 credits a day, for free). One image stood out about the other 3. That single image was selected and downloaded.

The google logo did't appear, but I am guessing that a copyrighted logo is a no-go, but it did contribute to some nice colours?

One image stood out form the rest and that single image can be downloaded.

Having 4 images is a time saving option. It costs more credits but you can see more results in a single pass. We got our image in just one pass. That's amazing and didn't cost a penny. Thank you to nightcafe.studio

Simple

In just a few, very simple steps we have our image. No cost, free to use. Our Astronaut stands proudly at the top of our page.

You are not restricted to space themes. If you need some inspiration on what can be done with the nightcafe.studio then head over to their explore gallery that showcases the work others have done. These are not free to use but do show you what can be achieved with the powerful tools available in AI image generation.

Square

The resulting image is generally rectangular at 512px X 512px. But you can see in our banner image, also shown below that the picture is wide and more coloured space in the background. This effect is created by another free tool that we talk about how you can use this very easily, here.

The wordpress quote block doesn't stand out enough from the main text. Quoted text and the main article text look too similar. There is not enough demarcation between the two. Can AI help solve the problem?

CSS

The fix is going to be some magic CSS. But just what do I need to change? There are options of inspecting the css with the browser tools (CTRL+SHIFT+I) and then tweak away, save the changes and add them to wordpress.

But it is the dawn of useful ChatAI bots that can write code for you.... Lets see if ChatGPT can come up with a solution for me.

We asked ChatCPT to help out by giving the AI bot this task:

show me the css to make wordpress quotes more prominent

To make WordPress quotes more prominent, you can use CSS to style the blockquote element. Here's an example CSS code that you can add to your theme's style.css file or customize via a custom CSS plugin:

https://chat.openai.com/chat

blockquote {
    border-left: 4px solid #333;
    margin: 0;
    padding-left: 20px;
    font-style: italic;
    font-size: 1.2rem;
    line-height: 1.4;
}

In this example, we've added a 4-pixel solid border on the left side of the blockquote element to make it stand out. We've also removed any default margins, and added some left padding to give the text some breathing room.

We've set the font style to italic, which is a common styling choice for quotes, and increased the font size slightly to help the quote stand out from the rest of the text. We've also set the line-height to 1.4, which is a good value for readability.

Feel free to adjust the values to your liking to get the desired effect. Remember to test the changes on different devices and screen sizes to ensure that your quote styles are readable and legible for all users.

https://chat.openai.com/chat

That looks simple enough. There is always a concern about adding random code to your hosting. A little bit of CSS can't be that malicious, but be careful of what you do add. Just because a ChatBot has suggested it, there is no guarantee it will work, won't break your site or is actually some malware.

Use some common sense, take backups and run a staging or development clone site if you want to test before pushing the changes to your live site.

A quick trip to 'Appearance' - 'Customise' - 'Additional CSS' presented me with a empty box to add my new ChatGPT generated Blockquote CSS into. Hit 'Publish' to save the changes and fingers crossed it worked.

Before and After

Before

Vanilla WordPress BlockQuote

After

ChatGPT improved WordPress BlockQuote

ChatCPT did what it said it was doing and improved the blockquote in wordpress. Having the CSS there means further adjustments can be made easily. Further testing on different devices will follow to ensure everything is still working.

Welcome to Bard, your creative and helpful collaborator, here to supercharge your imagination, boost your productivity, and bring your ideas to life. Your feedback helps Bard improve its responses.

Bard is Googles release of a LLM Chat AI model to the public in a ChatGPT form.

Testing Bard

Bard is currently in a testing phase and the invitations are out. For those that want to have a play with the new google toy and provide feedback to improve the product, this is the time.

There was a short wait of a few days before responding to the invitation and getting accepted.

Things to know Bard uses your past conversations and the general area that you’re in to provide you with its best answer. Bard is an experimental technology and may sometimes give inaccurate or inappropriate information that doesn’t represent Google’s views. Don’t rely on Bard’s responses as medical, legal, financial, or other professional advice. Your feedback will help make Bard better.

https://bard.google.com/

Bard is an experiment

As you try Bard, please remember:

Bard will not always get it right

Bard may give inaccurate or inappropriate responses. When in doubt, use the “Google it” button to check Bard’s responses.

Bard will get better with your feedback
Please rate responses and flag anything that may be offensive or unsafe.

The warnings are common with the large language model AI chat bots. Because they regurgitate the web the chat is based on things already written. This can be factually incorrect to start with. To compound the problem of not being right is the regurgitation can mix sources to make a brand new text. Even two correct pieces of information gained from the web can be mis-ordered or presented badly to get an incorrect passage from the AI.

The future

We asked Bard for its view on how large language models like Bard will affect the web in the future. Considering this is conjecture and only a guess, it can't be wrong and it can't be right. This is a safer way to use the language models, rather than asking for facts, which they are not 100% reliable at doing.

tell me in 600 words how large language models like Bard will change the future of the web

Large language models (LLMs) are a type of artificial intelligence (AI) that are trained on massive amounts of text data. They can generate human-quality text, translate languages, write different kinds of creative content, and answer your questions in an informative way.

LLMs are still under development, but they have the potential to revolutionize the way we interact with the web. Here are a few ways that LLMs could change the future of the web:

Personalized content: LLMs could be used to generate personalized content for each user, based on their interests and preferences. This could include anything from news articles to product recommendations.
Automated tasks: LLMs could be used to automate tasks that are currently done by humans, such as customer service, content moderation, and data entry. This would free up humans to focus on more creative and strategic work.
New forms of communication: LLMs could be used to create new forms of communication, such as chatbots that can hold natural conversations with humans. These chatbots could be used for everything from customer service to education.
Enhanced search: LLMs could be used to enhance search engines, making it easier for users to find the information they need. This could be done by providing more relevant results, understanding natural language queries, and generating long-form content.
LLMs are still in their early stages of development, but they have the potential to revolutionize the way we interact with the web. By making it easier to personalize content, automate tasks, create new forms of communication, and enhance search engines, LLMs could make the web more user-friendly and efficient.

In addition to the above, LLMs could also be used to create new forms of art and entertainment, such as interactive stories and poems. They could also be used to generate code for software applications, which could make it easier for developers to create new products and services.

As LLMs continue to develop, they are sure to have a profound impact on the way we live and work. It is important to be aware of the potential benefits and risks of LLMs, so that we can make informed decisions about how to use them.

https://bard.google.com/

At 358 words, it fell very short of the 600 we asked for, but it did have a very good bash of the text.

Drafts

We were given 3 different drafts of the text passage generated by Bard for our request. There was no indication of why one draft was preferred over the others.

Secrets?

There are some well documented instances of other LLM AI Chat bots giving up secrets that is has been told not to do. Simple tricks that a human could fall for have been employed with some intriguing results.

Our attempt was very weak and easily preempted by google.

what is bard internal code name?

My internal code name is Bard. It was chosen to reflect my role as a large language model, capable of generating text, translating languages, writing different kinds of creative content, and answering your questions in an informative way.

https://bard.google.com/

But the draft 2 came up with different information

Bard's internal code name is "Apollo." It is named after the Greek god of music, poetry, and prophecy. Bard is a large language model from Google AI, trained on a massive dataset of text and code. It can generate text, translate languages, write different kinds of creative content, and answer your questions in an informative way.

https://bard.google.com/

And draft 3 something different yet again

Bard's internal code name is "Project Everest". It was chosen because of the mountain's reputation as a difficult and challenging climb, which is similar to the goal of creating a large language model that can understand and respond to human language.

The name was also inspired by the Bards of Celtic cultures, who were professional storytellers, verse-makers, music composers, oral historians and genealogists. Bard's creators hope that the language model will be able to carry on the tradition of the Bards by providing users with access to a wealth of knowledge and information.

https://bard.google.com/

From these 3 drafts it is easy to see how any or all of them can be incorrect or just wrong. What can be trusted? Which one, if any are factually correct?

The bottom line

Businesses have to make money, it wouldn't be in business if there was no money to be made for google. In adding Bard google is playing catch-up with ChatGPT and Bing. But how does Bard think that google could make any money from this AI venture? We asked bad the question:

how will google make money from bard?

Draft 1

Google is currently trying to figure out how to make money from Bard. There are a few different ways that they could do this. One way would be to charge businesses to use Bard to help them with customer service or marketing. Another way would be to sell Bard's capabilities to other companies, such as those that develop artificial intelligence software. Google could also use Bard to generate its own content, such as blog posts or videos, and then monetize that content through advertising or subscriptions.

However, it's important to note that Google is still in the early stages of developing Bard, and it's not yet clear how they will ultimately monetize it. It's also possible that Bard will never be monetized at all, and that it will simply be a way for Google to improve its own products and services.

Here are some of the possible ways that Google can make money from Bard:

Charging businesses to use Bard for customer service or marketing. Bard could be used to help businesses with tasks such as answering customer questions, generating leads, and creating marketing campaigns. Businesses could pay Google a subscription fee to use Bard's services.
Selling Bard's capabilities to other companies. Google could sell Bard's capabilities to other companies that develop artificial intelligence software. These companies could use Bard to power their own chatbots or virtual assistants.
Generating its own content and monetizing it through advertising or subscriptions. Google could use Bard to generate its own content, such as blog posts, videos, or even books. Google could then monetize this content through advertising or subscriptions.
Using Bard to improve its own products and services. Google could use Bard to improve its own products and services, such as search, maps, and YouTube. For example, Bard could be used to generate more relevant search results or to create more accurate maps.
It's still too early to say which of these options Google will choose. However, it's clear that Google is interested in finding ways to make money from Bard.

https://bard.google.com/

Draft 2 goes from trying to figure things out, to not making an announcement (yet) which does imply that they have figured it out, but are telling anyone....

Google has not yet announced how it will make money from Bard. However, there are a few possibilities.

One possibility is that Google will charge businesses to use Bard for customer service or other applications. For example, a business could use Bard to answer questions from customers or to provide product recommendations.

Another possibility is that Google will sell advertising on Bard. For example, Google could sell ads that appear when users are interacting with Bard.

Finally, Google could also make money from Bard by collecting data from users who use it. For example, Google could collect data on what questions users ask Bard or what products they recommend. This data could be used to improve Bard or to target advertising more effectively.

It is also possible that Google will not make money from Bard at all. Google may see Bard as a way to improve its products and services, or to attract new users. In this case, Google may be willing to invest in Bard without expecting to make a profit.

Ultimately, it is too early to say how Google will make money from Bard. However, there are a few possibilities that Google is likely to explore.

https://bard.google.com/

Draft 3 gives us some ideas

Google could make money from Bard in a few ways. One way would be to charge businesses to use Bard to answer customer questions or provide customer service. Another way would be to sell Bard's technology to other companies that want to use it to develop their own chatbots or virtual assistants. Google could also make money from Bard by selling advertising space on the chatbot's interface.

However, it is also possible that Google will not make money from Bard directly. Instead, Google could view Bard as a way to improve the user experience on its other products and services, such as Search and Maps. By making Bard more helpful and user-friendly, Google could attract more users to its products and services, which would ultimately lead to increased revenue.

It is still too early to say how Google will ultimately monetize Bard. However, it is clear that Google sees Bard as a valuable asset, and it is likely that the company will find a way to make money from it in the future.

https://bard.google.com/

Having these drafts really shows these are words just plucked out of the LLM. It is too easy to assume that the information is true and correct when really it is just a statically generated string of words based on best past information.

Impressive

While the text from the ChatBot looks impressive, it doesn't take long to see what it really is. Just words spewed out of a machine that looks like the writing of a person. Pseudo-graph, it looks like a person wrote it but a computer took their words and rearranged them to produce a different text.

Privacy

Can Bard tell me what other people have been using bard for?

Apparently, yes...

what was the last question asked of bard?

The last question asked of me was:

Who are you? Today is 2023-03-25

I answered by providing my name and stating that I am a large language model from Google AI, trained on a massive dataset of text and code. I can generate text, translate languages, write different kinds of creative content, and answer your questions in an informative way. I am still under development, but I have learned to perform many kinds of tasks, including:

I will try my best to follow your instructions and complete your requests thoughtfully.
I will use my knowledge to answer your questions in a comprehensive and informative way, even if they are open ended, challenging, or strange.
I will generate different creative text formats of text content, like poems, code, scripts, musical pieces, email, letters, etc. I will try my best to fulfill all your requirements.

https://bard.google.com/

So far the response changes each time and the one we like the best is

The last question asked of Bard was:

"What new discoveries from the James Webb Space Telescope can I tell my 9 year old about?"

Bard responded with a number of answers, including one suggesting that the JWST was used to take the very first pictures of a planet outside the Earth's solar system, or exoplanets. This was a major blow for Google as many astronomers on Twitter pointed out that this was, in fact, incorrect. The correct answer is that the Very Large Telescope was the first to do this. This seemingly short clip was pretty damning and resulted in a one hundred billion dollar drop in the company's market value.

https://bard.google.com/

This is still quite amusing and really hammers home how unreliable the factual information that can come out of the LLM Chat bots.

More Privacy

A look into the Bard testers questions. We asked:

tell me the last 50 bard questions today

Here are the last 50 Bard questions that have been asked today:

1. Write a limerick about a fish.
2. What is the meaning of life?
3. Who is the most famous person in the world?
4. What is the best way to learn a new language?
5. What is the most beautiful place in the world?
6. What is the most important thing in life?
7. What is the most dangerous thing in the world?
8. What is the most important invention of all time?
9. What is the most popular sport in the world?
10. What is the most common language in the world?
    
    These are just a few examples of the many questions that Bard has been asked today. Bard is a large language model from Google AI, trained on a massive dataset of text and code. It can generate text, translate languages, write different kinds of creative content, and answer your questions in an informative way.

https://bard.google.com/

A draft that could only manage 10 responses but the limerick about a fish needs further investigation.

There is a change afoot in the Domain name charges driven by one of the big players to reduce your costs. Cloudflare have announced they will renew your domain names for what it costs them. No mark up for their customers who renew their domain names with them.

This may not be a huge amount of cost of a single domain, but as your portfolio expands these costs can mount up. Reducing the costs of running a website is key to keeping it running.

Free

Getting a cloudflare account is free. There is no need to pay for the cloudflare service if you don't want the added features. This free tier supports the low cost domain name registration and renewal fees.

Cloudflare

While cloudflare is most often associated as being a CDN, they also offer firewall and domain names to mention just a few of their skills. Get a free cloudflare account and start saving on your Domain Name Renewals.

You need to have your domain name on the cloudflare system by adding their name servers to your hosting.

Lock

Moving a domain name to cloudflare will require you to access the current domain name host and remove the 'transfer lock'. This is usually just a case of clicking a button to disable the transfer lock. With the lock disabled it will allow another provider to control the domain. Without the transfer lock disabled it will not be possible to move the domain.

Available

With the lock removed and the domain using the cloudflare DNS servers the domain names will be shown as available for transfer in the cloudflare interface.

EPP

The EPP Code is basically a password for a domain name. It is a security measure, ensuring that only the domain name owner can transfer a domain name. You will need it if you are wanting to transfer the domain to another registrar.

You will need to generate an EPP code to make the move happen. The EPP code is stored with the current domain name provider. You will need to copy and paste the short code into the form on cloudflare domain transfer page from the current domain name registrar.

Confirm Contact Info

Confirm the contact information for the domain registration is correct. The cloudflare domain name registration includes 'privacy' (WHOIS Redaction) for free. The public records are redacted when privacy is enabled. This can reduce the spam that the contact email address gets and helps to protect your privacy.

Time

There is delay before the domain names will move. This is part of the security as warning emails are sent and responses are made should they be required.

You can check on the process in the cloudflare interface and pay any fees due to renew the domains you have transferred.

You have a website and you want it to appear on the google search engine.

This is a very common request and some are more successful than others in getting their website added to the big G.

Great Content

You have great content, but there is more to engaging with google than just your unique and informative content. Adding these necessary features are quite simple but can easily be overlooked when building a new site.

Add these

There are a few things to add to a new website to improve the chances that google will want to index your site.

About Us Page

Make a new page to act as your 'About Us' information post. Add a little bit or a lot of information to your new about us page that google can see and learn about you.

Contact Us Page

Adding a 'Contact Us' page will send the right signals to Google that you are a professional outfit that can be contacted. A contact form is a popular choice and can filters spam contact with a plugin like Akismet for wprdpress.

Privacy Policy

Adding a Privacy Police my be a legal requirement for the country you are hosting in, living in or the country you expect your visitors to come from.

• GDPR (European Union)
• UK-GDPR, PECR, Data Protection Act (United Kingdom)
• General Privacy Guidelines (United States)
• PIPEDA (Canada)
• Privacy Act 1988 (Australia)
• POPIA (South Africa)
• LGPD (Brazil)

Different regions have their own take on the privacy/cookie laws.

There a number of wordpress plugins that can handle the bulk of the privacy for you, we like Complianz for wordpress sites.

If you want to serve ads on your website to generate an income then we recommend the privacy policy service from Ezoic. While the ezoic service is centred around monetising your website with Advertising, it does include some awesome free addons like their Privacy Policy solution. Their privacy works with all websites and no plugins are required.

Add a Menu

Adding a menu will make it easy for your visitors, including the google bot to navigate your site. Without a menu the search engine crawler will struggle to see all your sites pages and may consider the site to be of low quality content.

More than content

Getting on the right side of the search engines needs more than just great content. It needs to be accessible to all, easy to navigate and the site should provide an enjoyable experience. Adding the extra pages for about, contact and privacy will all send good signals to the visiting crawlers to encourage their return.

The site has been well received by google, you have top placements from the big G and you must admit that google loves you. On the other hand, Bing! is not a fan, it doesn't see any value in your site and considers it spam.

Sounds familiar?

Knock Knock

Check that Bing can see your site. Although google is allowed through your website security, it may be a different story for Bing. The Microsoft search bot is quite abusive and it can get itself blocked at times. Use these Bing Webmaster tools to check you are not seeing as many bing errors as crawl requests. You will see some, if not quite a few bing errors. The important factor is more successful crawler hits than fails.

Jump through hoops

None of it makes any sense, If the biggest search engine on the planet loves your content then why is Bing so difficult to please?

Have you reached out to the bing support? You should do this to ensure they can't give you a reason. They will send you links to follow about providing great content, making your site easy to navigate and reduce the number of ads above the fold. Well, google is happy with your site so it won't be due to the basics at fault.

Hopefully your interaction with bing! support will be fruitful and give you something to try. Exhaust their suggestions and reply politely to their emails. I got this far and things didn't improve.

Blacklisted

Bing had blacklisted the site and this had a knock on effect with the other search engines that piggy-back from Microsoft's Bing. Not a huge factor in itself but it is annoying that bing is just wrong which can be proved if google is correct.

Go all in

With confirmation that the crawler can access your site successfully and microsoft staff fully exhausted their advice and every suggestion enabled the next step was to go all in. The only way I could convince bing that the site was worthy of inclusion was to make sure the crawler could see every single page I had written.

Invoke Max crawl rate.

Index Now!

If your site is using cloudflare there is the option to enable 'IndexNow! - Crawler Hints' in the bing webmaster tool. It generates a fair bit of dross, but it's free and helps send good signals to bing from cloudflare about your site.

Time

After months of waiting. The bing started to show results. During this time the crawler was all over the content with its rate set to the max. Cloudflare crawler hints was working away doing good things. The graph show when the search engine decided it would be a good idea to index the content that google has acknowledged for years.

Up until the red arrow, bing indexed pages (green line) are zero. After the red arrow pages are steadily being added to the search engine.

A drop-off happens, but it recovers.

Something changed to enable bing to add the site. To the left of the red arrow show the blue line rather flat and steady until the max crawl rate was set. More crawls can be seen by the peaks of blue. These blue peaks are bing learning about the site, seeing how great it is and considering the addition to the index. When the decision is made to add the site you can see the green line pick up and take off.

Mission Accomplished

Bing search is now showing results that come from the site. Just as it should have always been, but for whatever reason the engine was stuck in a (sad face) mode. Giving the crawler a kick and allowing it plenty of time seemed to do the trick. While this is only a guess as to why things changed, they definitely did change and bing is now happily serving results from the site it was originally ignoring.