Tips Tuesday – Huge DDoS Attacks, AI Engine Plugin, Google Core Updates, Free Hosting

Hello Happy Site Owner!

Tips this week include:

• WordPress 6.4 RC2 is out and my testing has begun
• MailerLite migration update – new tutorials will be released soon
• Multiple Cloudflare tutorials updated
• Recent DDoS attack is 300% bigger than any in history
• Is your content helpful?
• Google October Core Update just finished – and its impact
• New Helpful Content Workshop coming – public invited
• GTMetrix updates to current Google Standards
• Why PageSpeed Insights is a joke
• Kinsta offers free hosting for static sites – and why I wouldn’t touch it
• AI Engine – WP plugin – my first look

WordPress Tips

WP 6.4 RC2 is Out

If there is an RC3, I expect it to roll out today.

And I’ve started my own testing with it, plus checking out the new features.

I’ll likely have a video tour for you next week, as the final release is expected on Nov 7.

MailerLite Migration Update

This week I’m meeting with 2 more of my Hub member volunteers to go through the first part of the MailerLite Migration to the new version.

The first few steps are a little confusing, and I’ve got tips for them to get through it.

And then we’ll do the DNS record changes at the host and at Cloudflare.

But, it looks like the set of DNS records I was most concerned about are going to stay verified and not need changing.

And the other new record is super easy to add.

So, I made tutorials for my volunteers to test to see if they can easily follow them, including the tips for the first tricky parts.

That seems to be working out.

After we finish the last of the tests over the next couple of days, I’ll make the tutorials available to all site audit clients and webmasters, plus offer a live session service if they would feel more confident going through it with me there to watch over their shoulder.

Cloudflare Tutorials Updated

This past week I totally revamped the Cloudflare tutorial section in the Webmaster Training membership.

It’s changing too fast these days and I need to make a better, and faster way for me to update the tutorials and for members to go through them.

It’s all about ROI for everyone these days, right?

Whatever makes it expedient and still high quality is the key.

Security Tips

Recent DDoS Attack 300% bigger than any in history 

Remember in last week’s Tips Tuesday I mentioned an HTTP/2 Rapid Reset attack that was huge? 

Cloudflare reported that it was 300% bigger than the worst DDoS attack in history. 

But what makes this attack truly scary is that it only takes 20,000 infected computers to launch the attack. 

It would normally take hundreds of thousands of compromised computers to do it.

What else is scary is that some hosts have still not finished patching for it yet either.

If you are my client, your site has been protected from attacks like this since the day we started working together.

What me and the host that most of us are on are watching for is what comes through the IP of the host server. For those on shared accounts, that will affect the whole server. For those on VPS, it will only affect your site.

Keep in mind that while an attack is happening, your site may be slower than normal as the mitigation service is checking all visitors with more scrutiny. 

But we would all rather have a little slowness than a downed site.

SEO Tips

Is Your Content Helpful?

Speaking of expediency, that post I shared in last week’s Tips Tuesday with a deep dive into Google’s Helpful Content Update certainly resonated with my clients, especially those who are doing well with their SEO and want to ensure that it stays that way.

Google October Core Update Complete

If the Helpful Content Update didn’t smash your rankings, the October Core Update might have.

I can’t find a pro SEO person who has been able to successfully sort out which one caused them extreme turbulence. So, I don’t think any of us that may have been impacted in the last couple of months have a shot at doing so.

If you weren’t hit, consider yourself lucky.

If you got a surge in ranking, you may want to go buy a lotto ticket because you’re so lucky.

New Helpful Content Workshop Coming – Public Invited

I’m also putting together a workshop on this topic to go in-depth on what Google is ranking these days, as it is a 180 degree turn from what they used to want us to do.

If you need to get a clue as to whether your content passes muster now or not, this workshop will be exactly what you need.

My DIY SEO course members will get it for free. And I’ll be making a one-time pay option for anyone else who wants to take this workshop.

I’ll keep you posted on dates, but it will be as soon as I can finish putting my notes together.

Speed Tips

GTMetrix Updates to Current Google Standards

My go-to speed tester for mobile is the paid version of GTMetrix.

And they recently updated the testing choices to Lighthouse 11 and Chrome 117.

That means the TTI metric is no longer weighted in the speed score.

Google finally came to its senses and dropped that stupid thing.

So, if you run a test now, it may seem that your site is faster. It’s not. It’s just weighted properly now.

PageSpeed Insights is a Joke

FYI, if you’re using PageSpeed Insights to test on mobile, you’re not seeing anything close to real-world results, and certainly not what your actual site visitors are experiencing.

And good luck trying to sort out the info it is giving you and getting to anything meaningful to fix.

This is why you want to hire a pro who does it all day, every day, to find the actual issues with your site and get them fixed.

Otherwise, you’ll be doing more harm than good trying to make that tester perfect and still make money with your site. 

AI Website Tips

Kinsta Offers Free Hosting for Static Sites

Somebody read the writing on the wall.

Have you seen social media posts with how you can use AI to build you a website in 10 minutes?

It’s a static site.

Most of them look like something from the early 2000s too.

But that’s changing and now there are a few companies offering templates that look pretty good.

However, the site is still static, meaning that it’s just HTML, CSS, maybe a little Javascript, and no database.

And if you want to make a change, you have to do it at the coding level – that includes text and image changes too.

The hosting company, Kinsta, has decided to release a free hosting plan for static sites. You can have up to 100 of them on a single account.

These are great for a one-page brochure type site. In fact, it’s what I create for clients who are shutting their sites down and want a landing page for about a year so that any links still coming to that domain will see a message that the site is now closed.

It’s also super as a LinkTree type page where folks can find links to other platforms where more info or paid products reside, or to a YouTube channel or other social media where that creator puts content.

This will be an interesting development to watch and see how overrun the servers get with spammer/scammer sites.

I can’t imagine what they are thinking by offering up to 100 sites on the same account that won’t draw a gutter-level crowd.

It will also be interesting to watch host quickly those server IPs get blacklisted and affect every site on it negatively.

If you want a static site, we can easily do that on the hosting you already have. No need to go to another host for it. Just holler at me and we’ll get it done for you.

AI Plugin Tips

AI Engine – First Look

The AI Engine plugin is an all-in-one set of AI tools for your WordPress site.

That also means that it is super complex.

Here’s what I found in my first look at it.

Tips Tuesday Plus subscribers got this tip.