Gladstone Digital

Gladstone Digital Professional websites for Gladstone trades & small businesses. Managed hosting. Flexible pricing.

I set this up in my own browser last week and it's already saved me heaps of time: plain blue-link Google, straight from...
18/07/2026

I set this up in my own browser last week and it's already saved me heaps of time: plain blue-link Google, straight from the address bar.

Google's default results page buries what you're actually looking for. AI answers, ads, shopping tiles, then you scroll for 10 years, and the real results appear. There's a hidden-in-plain-sight version of Google that skips the junk, and you can set it up as a shortcut in about 2 minutes.

Swipe through for the steps. The URL to copy is:

https://google.com/search?q=%s&udm=14

(Keep the %s in there exactly as written. Your browser fills it in for you.)

The screens in the pics are Edge. Chrome has the same three boxes - its settings page is called "Manage search engines and site search".

The short version:
1. Browser Settings, search "search engines", then Add
2. Name: Google Web. Shortcut: gw. URL: the one above
3. Type gw in the address bar, hit Tab, search as normal

This one's for the computer, not your phone. Save the post for when you're next at the desk doing serious googling.

Any trouble setting it up, sing out in the comments and I'll point you in the right direction.

This is Blue Card Checker. If you help run a club or community group in Queensland, you know the drill: anyone working w...
11/07/2026

This is Blue Card Checker. If you help run a club or community group in Queensland, you know the drill: anyone working with kids needs a valid blue card, and someone has to check them. I'm on a local committee myself, so I know how much volunteer admin sits behind doing it properly. I built a small tool that makes the checking quick, and it's free for anyone to use.

Try it: gladstonedigital.com.au/apps/blue-card-checker

Google Business Profile is free. It puts you on the map, literally. When someone searches "electrician near me," the bus...
09/07/2026

Google Business Profile is free. It puts you on the map, literally. When someone searches "electrician near me," the businesses with a profile show up first. And if you set yours up years ago and haven't looked since, old hours, old photos, services you no longer offer, that's free search traffic slipping past. Fifteen minutes brings it back up to date.

Ran Google's Lighthouse scorecard over a client site of mine, Tropical Blue Homes. Desktop: 100 across all four categori...
08/07/2026

Ran Google's Lighthouse scorecard over a client site of mine, Tropical Blue Homes. Desktop: 100 across all four categories. Speed, accessibility, best practices, SEO. Mobile: 94 for speed, 100s for the rest. Out of curiosity I ran the same test over eleven other local business websites. One passed everything. The rest dropped points somewhere it costs them, usually too slow on a phone or hard for Google to read. These scores feed into where you show up when someone searches.

How does your site score?

The number one reason new website builds stall? Content. Business owners know their trade inside out but freeze when ask...
07/07/2026

The number one reason new website builds stall? Content. Business owners know their trade inside out but freeze when asked to write about it. So we don't ask you to. A short phone call or your rough notes is enough for us to draft every page. You read it, tell us what's off, and nothing goes live until you're happy with the words. Nobody stares at a blank page.

What "managed" actually means: gladstonedigital.com.au/services

Here's one we're proud of: Reef City Plumbing. They already had a website, but it was built and managed from a long way ...
06/07/2026

Here's one we're proud of: Reef City Plumbing. They already had a website, but it was built and managed from a long way away, and they wanted it in local hands. So we rebuilt it. Same business, cleaner look, faster, and it behaves properly on a phone. Their domain sits in their own name, and when something needs changing, they ask us and it's done. This is what we do for trades and small businesses right across Central Queensland.

Customer name goes in the email. Then the spreadsheet. Then the invoice. Then the job sheet. Every re-entry is a chance ...
04/07/2026

Customer name goes in the email. Then the spreadsheet. Then the invoice. Then the job sheet. Every re-entry is a chance for an error and a waste of time. If your business has grown past the point where manual processes make sense, we can help you build something that actually talks to itself.

What's the clunkiest process in your business? Tell us in the comments.

Spent a couple of hours today moving a client's domain off a provider who was charging them way too much for something t...
03/07/2026

Spent a couple of hours today moving a client's domain off a provider who was charging them way too much for something that costs about $21 a year. It's in their name now. They own it. They can take it anywhere. This is the stuff that never makes it into a portfolio, but it's the difference between a web designer and someone who actually understands the tech. If your provider owns your domain, that's a problem. You should own it. Always.

Why your domain (and a .com.au) matters: gladstonedigital.com.au/blog/why-com-au-beats-com

Gladstone Digital builds websites and business tools for trades and small businesses right across Central Queensland. Bu...
03/07/2026

Gladstone Digital builds websites and business tools for trades and small businesses right across Central Queensland. Built by someone who actually lives here. If you run a business in the region, get in touch.

Someone mentioned your name three weeks ago. The person who heard it can't quite remember, was it "Coastal Plumbing" or ...
02/07/2026

Someone mentioned your name three weeks ago. The person who heard it can't quite remember, was it "Coastal Plumbing" or "Coastline Plumbing"? They Google it. If your website comes up, you win. If it doesn't, the recommendation died in someone's memory.

gladstonedigital.com.au

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Tannum Sands, QLD
4680

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