Norbert Hires 🖋️

Writing about marketing and mindful productivity.

[Norbert Hires 🖋️ @NorbertHires]

One year ago I started a @Ghost blog. Since then I published a nice bucket of articles and tried to learn the ins and outs of the platform. Are you interested in what advantage can a Ghost blog provide? Learn from my first year with Ghost.

[Norbert Hires 🖋️ @NorbertHires]

Last weekend, I asked Claude Code to migrate my Ghost blog to Hugo. Today, it built a workout dashboard with data that matters to me. It uses the Garmin MCP, formats it, and then pushes it to my blog.

[Norbert Hires 🖋️ @NorbertHires]

@thinking_slow Most geo advices I read so far stopped at “do not block AI crawlers” and “use tables and bulleted lists”. This is the first list I learned something from and feel excited about trying it out

[Norbert Hires 🖋️ @NorbertHires]

SEO isn’t what it used to be. Traffic is harder to get, rankings don’t guarantee clicks, and AI is answering questions before users even reach your site. If you’re still writing for Google, you’re already behind.

[Norbert Hires 🖋️ @NorbertHires]

Writing online isn’t dead—it’s just harder. More competition. Shorter attention spans. Shifting algorithms. If you’re still writing for clicks, you’ll burn out. Write because you have something to say.

[Norbert Hires 🖋️ @NorbertHires]

AI just wiped out 90% of “easy content.” You can’t outrank ChatGPT or Perplexity with generic articles. The only way forward? Write what AI can’t: real insights, personal stories, and firsthand experience.

[Norbert Hires 🖋️ @NorbertHires]

Social media is quietly killing your reach. Try posting a link to your blog. Notice how it barely gets shown? Platforms want to keep users inside their walls. If you don’t own your audience, you don’t own anything.

[Norbert Hires 🖋️ @NorbertHires]

SEO takes time… but not that much time. Agencies love to say “SEO results take 9+ months.” But when you know what you’re doing, growth can be fast. The real delay? Hesitation and bad execution.

[Norbert Hires 🖋️ @NorbertHires]

Most online writers are just SEO freelancers for Google. They don’t write for readers, they write for rankings. But the game is changing. AI answers basic queries. Google prioritizes itself. Only real voices will last.

[Norbert Hires 🖋️ @NorbertHires]

@levelsio I agree that free weights are a better choice than machines. Though saying that machines are bad for you is a long stretch. Staying on the couch is bad for you. Doing hack squats, barbell curls or calisthenics is significantly better.

[Norbert Hires 🖋️ @NorbertHires]

@kadavy What you write about cannot be answered in one sentence. Big searches are for one sentence queries. Focusing on the rest can make you future proof in Google.

[Norbert Hires 🖋️ @NorbertHires]

Small frustration for SEOs considering doing something with Bing that when you search for "bing webmaster tools" their content removal form is ranking #1.

[Norbert Hires 🖋️ @NorbertHires]

I know I represent a small subset of writers who publishes in a language different than English on @substack, but it would help the accessibility and SEO of my content to add the correct html language tag (Hungarian in my case) to my publication.

[Norbert Hires 🖋️ @NorbertHires]

@abbysuegleason I search for the publisher's brand name I want to check or filter for topics with this method: https://t.co/VGsoMzPGbM

[David Esteve @DeiviZzZ]

I'm sure that at some point you have asked yourself: How can I know if my content appears in Google Discover with a large photo? You can. Let's go🧵👇

[Norbert Hires 🖋️ @NorbertHires]

Do you remember all the hype around Pokemon Go? At least it didn’t cost 3k.

[Norbert Hires 🖋️ @NorbertHires]

my brain https://t.co/IvqqMAqoQB

[Norbert Hires 🖋️ @NorbertHires]

@FlySWISS I just sent the report in private message.

[Norbert Hires 🖋️ @NorbertHires]

Hello @FlySWISS! My wife traveled with you in September and you lost her baggage. She opened a ticket, and received no response. She then called your customer service in 3 countries where he got the info that 3-4 months is standard waiting time. Now you deleted her ticket.

[Norbert Hires 🖋️ @NorbertHires]

@FlySWISS Thank you for the prompt reply Casper. Yes, she filed a report upon arrival. We can provide its number.

[Norbert Hires 🖋️ @NorbertHires]

We got stuck. Can you help us how to unblock this situation? Its pretty discouraging that you lost her baggage, and we have to chase you for months without even a response.

[Norbert Hires 🖋️ @NorbertHires]

Now your Customer Service does not handle her complain because her case number is inactive. Still she does not have her baggage and didn’t receive any compensation.