Jim Semlyen, Author at Castlegate IT

Introducing our Trusted Partners: the people we recommend beyond the website

A website depends on more than code and design. Copy, photography, search visibility, and reputation all shape how it performs, and each of them calls for a specialist. We do not try to do everything ourselves. Where a specialist is …

by Jim Semlyen 10 Nov 2026

AI can build a website. A commercial website is something more.

At a glance AI can now build perfectly good websites for the right purposes, including campaign sites, portfolios, prototypes and microsites. Commercial websites are different. They are long-term digital assets that need to operate and evolve for years. Staff need …

by Jim Semlyen 17 Sep 2026

Multiple magnifying glasses to illustrate the concept of smarter search

Why smarter search belongs on your WordPress website

At a glance WordPress’s built-in search only matches the exact words used, and it struggles with typos, different terminology and question-style queries. WP Engine’s Smart Search adds semantic search, so it understands the meaning behind a query, not just the …

by Jim Semlyen 14 Sep 2026

WordPress hosting isn’t all the same: what are you actually paying for?

At a glance WordPress hosting varies enormously. The cheapest option isn’t necessarily the best value. Managed hosting includes more than server space, with security, backups, monitoring, updates and technical support all potentially part of the service. Performance and reliability matter, …

by Jim Semlyen 11 Sep 2026

WordPress can be a problem. We solve WordPress problems.

At a glance A problematic WordPress website doesn’t necessarily need replacing. We can often take over an existing site, identify what is going wrong and bring it up to the standards we expect from websites we build ourselves. We investigate …

by Jim Semlyen 11 Sep 2026

Robot holding shopping bag to illustrate agentic commerce

What is agentic commerce, and what does it mean for WooCommerce?

At a glance Agentic commerce lets AI agents help people shop, from finding and comparing products to assisting with purchases. Shopping may increasingly happen through AI assistants, rather than directly on ecommerce websites. Structured product data is essential, giving AI …

by Jim Semlyen 10 Sep 2026

Why did a YouTube video work everywhere except on iPhones?

A client recently contacted us about a YouTube video embedded on their WordPress website. It worked correctly on desktop computers and some mobile devices, but on an iPhone it returned “Error 153: Video Player Configuration Error”. There was another apparently …

by Jim Semlyen 25 Aug 2026

The importance of infrastructure in the age of AI bots

At a glance AI bots generate significant website traffic, placing additional demands on hosting infrastructure. Dynamic WordPress requests are expensive. Repeated uncached requests can consume PHP, database and server resources quickly. Caching and CDN infrastructure matter, reducing the work required …

by Jim Semlyen 25 Aug 2026

Is your website infrastructure ready for AI crawlers?

Preparing a website for AI search isn’t only about content. AI crawlers place new demands on website infrastructure, from ensuring important content is accessible without relying on JavaScript to managing potentially enormous volumes of automated traffic. We look at what this means for WordPress performance, caching, CDNs and bot management.

by Jim Semlyen 16 Aug 2026

Featured

Castlegate’s AI hub: preparing your organisation for AI

Helping organisations understand AI, prepare for change and make informed decisions. Artificial intelligence is changing how organisations operate, communicate, and make decisions. For many, the challenge is not whether to engage with AI, but how to do so confidently, responsibly, …

by Jim Semlyen 12 Aug 2026

Jim Semlyen, Author at Castlegate IT

Posts by Jim Semlyen

Introducing our Trusted Partners: the people we recommend beyond the website

AI can build a website. A commercial website is something more.

Why smarter search belongs on your WordPress website

WordPress hosting isn’t all the same: what are you actually paying for?

WordPress can be a problem. We solve WordPress problems.

What is agentic commerce, and what does it mean for WooCommerce?

Why did a YouTube video work everywhere except on iPhones?

The importance of infrastructure in the age of AI bots

Is your website infrastructure ready for AI crawlers?

Castlegate’s AI hub: preparing your organisation for AI

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