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Alison Iddings

Founder & Lead Developer

Alison Iddings

Alison Iddings, the founder of City of Oaks Marketing, brings with her over 30 years of experience in development, specializing in SEO strategy, and a background in design from the prestigious California Institute of the Arts. Dedicated to innovation, she seamlessly blends design and functionality to create impactful digital solutions.

40Articles
6+Topics covered
2024Writing since

About Alison

Alison Iddings, the founder of City of Oaks Marketing, brings with her over 30 years of experience in development, specializing in SEO strategy, and a background in design from the prestigious California Institute of the Arts. Dedicated to innovation, she seamlessly blends design and functionality to create impactful digital solutions.

Colorful Watercolor Tree with small ranking tags hanging from it
AI · Analytics
Aug 20, 2026· 8 min read

AI Visibility Monitoring: How to Track What AI Says About Your Brand

AI visibility monitoring explained: how to track whether ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews mention your brand, get the facts...

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Brain Fog
WordPress
Jul 23, 2026· 9 min read

Building Websites for Everyone: What Cancer Survivors Teach Us About Inclusive Design

A new study of cancer survivors shows how common vision, dexterity, and focus barriers are online, and what inclusive design...

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AB Testing
Analytics · Paid Ads
Jul 23, 2026· 12 min read

How to Track Custom Query Parameters and A/B Tests in GA4

Track custom query parameters and A/B test variants in GA4 using event parameters and custom dimensions. Full Google Tag Manager...

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UTM Query Strings
Analytics · Paid Ads
Jul 23, 2026· 27 min read

UTM Parameters for Google, Meta, and TikTok Ads (and How to Capture Them in WordPress Forms)

Add UTM parameters to Google, Meta, and TikTok ads the right way, then capture the query string in Gravity Forms...

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Micro-interactions for the web
CRO · Design · Optimization
Jul 09, 2026· 15 min read

Microinteractions in Custom WordPress Themes: Drive Conversions with Code

Microinteractions drive conversions. Learn how custom WordPress themes give you full control over animations, hover effects, and user feedback. Code...

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Tree connecting search to youtube, instagram, tiktok, and x
WordPress
Jul 09, 2026· 11 min read

Google Search Console Platform Properties: What Marketers Need to Know

What Google Search Console platform properties are, how they split your search data, and what marketers need to check after...

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Robot reading the paper in front of city
AI · Brand Strategy
Jun 24, 2026· 24 min read

Why Your 2026 Digital Marketing Strategy Needs a Major Upgrade

Discover why your digital marketing strategy needs a major upgrade in 2026. Learn how AI search, social SEO, privacy-first analytics,...

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Loop Engineering
AI
Jun 23, 2026· 17 min read

Loop Engineering: What It Is, How It Works, and Why It’s Changing AI Development

Loop engineering is how AI systems think, act, and self-correct across multiple steps. Learn the core concepts, architecture patterns, and...

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cute bots protecting your reputation with a shield
Security · WordPress
Jun 23, 2026· 18 min read

WordPress Security Headers: What They Are, Why They Matter for SEO, and How to Set Them Up

Learn what HTTP security headers are, how they protect your WordPress site, and how to implement them on WP Engine,...

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AI
Jun 21, 2026· 8 min read

Open Knowledge Format (OKF): What It Is & Why It Matters

Google’s Open Knowledge Format (OKF) standardizes how teams share context for AI agents. Here’s what it is, why it matters,...

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Clear signs organizing a watercolor garden
AI · Development
Jun 16, 2026· 11 min read

The “Explain-It-Later” Spec: How Agency Owners Make AI Work Maintainable

The Explain-It-Later spec: a documentation practice that keeps AI-generated code maintainable for agency teams — what it is and how...

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ROI going up while robots optimize conversions
Paid Ads
May 27, 2026· 7 min read

Demand Gen vs Display: Google Retires Standalone Display Campaigns (Migration Plan for Marketing Teams)

Demand Gen vs Display: what Google retiring standalone Display campaigns means and a step-by-step migration plan for marketing teams.

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3 cute robots optimizing content for seo and ai llms
AI · Optimization
May 05, 2026· 10 min read

llms.txt for Websites: What It Is, How It Works, and Does It Actually Do Anything in 2026?

What llms.txt is, how AI crawlers use it, and whether it actually does anything in 2026 — plus how to...

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Development · WordPress
Mar 26, 2026· 6 min read

Why PHP Still Matters in 2026: The Real Threats (and Why It’s Still Winning)

Is PHP dead in 2026? Not even close. See why PHP still powers a huge share of the web and...

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Large tree surrounded by smaller trees and animals with robots tending them
AI · Optimization
Mar 25, 2026· 11 min read

Winning the consensus layer: the new SEO battleground

Ranking #1 isn’t enough. Learn how the “consensus layer” works and how to earn AI mentions with clarity, diversity and...

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Flowers displayed on bulletin board in garden
AI · Contextual SEO
Mar 24, 2026· 11 min read

Blog Content That Ranks: The System That Actually Work

Learn a repeatable system to create content that ranks long-term: pillars + clusters, E-E-A-T, internal linking, and AI-assisted drafting.

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Chatbot standing in field of flowers
AI · Optimization
Mar 11, 2026· 18 min read

AI Chatbot Setup Guide: Knowledge Base, Configuration & Optimization

How to set up an AI chatbot for your website: knowledge base prep, configuration, and optimization so it answers accurately...

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Watercolor of 3 people walking through the garden with different intents
Brand Strategy · Paid Ads
Feb 07, 2026· 15 min read

How to Build an Intent-First SEO & Google Ads Strategy for 2026

Get actionable steps to boost SEO and Google Ads in 2026. Understand and map keyword intent, optimize content, and drive...

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melting heart on a computer
AI · WordPress
Feb 03, 2026· 5 min read

Lovable.dev vs. a Custom WordPress Theme: Why the AI Shortcut Could Hurt Your Business

Discover why AI website builders falls short for SEO, accessibility, and long-term growth. Client-side React SPAs vs. custom WordPress themes

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WordPress Page Builders vs Custom WordPress Theme
AI · Development · WordPress
Dec 12, 2025· 17 min read

Custom WordPress Development vs. Page Builders: Which is Right for Your Business?

Choosing between custom WordPress development and page builders? Compare costs, performance, SEO impact, and AI-readiness to make the right choice...

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Case Study
Dec 04, 2025· 7 min read

How AI-Ready Architecture Delivered 200% Traffic Growth in 5 Months: TBG Homes Case Study

Case study: How comprehensive AI optimization, custom WordPress development, and technical SEO delivered 200% organic traffic growth, 177% performance improvement,...

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Optimizing for AI
AI · Optimization
Nov 25, 2025· 12 min read

How to Optimize Content for AI Citation

Learn how to create answer-first content that AI models actually cite. Master semantic HTML, site speed, schema markup, and content...

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AI · Technical SEO
Nov 16, 2025· 19 min read

AI SEO Isn’t Replacing Traditional SEO—It’s Doubling Your Workload (And Here’s Why That’s Good News)

AI search is changing SEO forever. Learn why you need both traditional SEO and AI optimization in 2025, plus 12...

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Straight Wooden Bridge leading directly to the destination in watercolor
AI · Optimization
Nov 10, 2025· 7 min read

Why AI LLMs Prefer Fast, Well-Optimized Websites (And What That Means for Your Business)

AI systems like ChatGPT and Perplexity cite fast, well-optimized websites more often. Learn why website performance impacts AI visibility and...

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Magnifier glass over financial data chart illuminated by blue, pink neon light. Analyzing stock market with diagrams, search engine optimization SEO, data analytics,
Case Study · Development
Oct 30, 2025· 5 min read

How Custom WordPress Development Increased Mobile PageSpeed by 61% and Improved Core Web Vitals

Case study: how custom WordPress development lifted mobile PageSpeed 61% and turned Core Web Vitals green — the exact fixes...

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AI · Brand Strategy
Oct 26, 2025· 10 min read

AI Model Testing Prompt Template for Your Brand: A Complete Guide to AI Brand Visibility

A copy-paste AI model testing prompt template to audit your AI brand visibility — see how ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity...

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illustration of duplicating a webpage
WordPress
Sep 09, 2025· 11 min read

How to duplicate a page in WordPress

How to duplicate a page in WordPress: with the Yoast Duplicate Post plugin, without a plugin, and on custom-field sites...

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Visualization of Contextual Links
AI · Optimization
Aug 20, 2025· 13 min read

Optimizing Websites for AI Search Engines: ChatGPT, Gemini & Copilot

How to optimize your website for AI search engines: practical steps to get found and cited by ChatGPT, Gemini, and...

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Rocket launch from a laptop screen.
Optimization · WordPress
Mar 25, 2024· 24 min read

10 ways to optimize and accelerate your WordPress website

Updated for 2026: ten ways to speed up your WordPress site, with current Core Web Vitals thresholds (LCP, INP, CLS),...

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Contextual Links for SEO
Contextual SEO · Link Building
Mar 20, 2024· 25 min read

How to Optimize Contextual Links for SEO

Learn how to leverage contextual links that focus on relevance, authority & strategic placement to achieve sustainable growth for your...

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