Some numbers that genuinely shocked me:

• 51% of all web traffic is now bots — more than human activity for the first time ever
• 45–50% of all emails are spam — 176 billion junk messages every single day
• 30% of online reviews are fake — and AI is making it worse, growing 80% month over month
• Cybercrime is projected to cost $11.5 trillion by end of 2026

As WordPress site owners and developers, this affects all of us — fake backlinks hurting our SEO, phishing emails targeting our clients, bot traffic polluting our analytics.

There's a global initiative called Clean Web Day happening this year — a 24-hour push where website owners, developers, and everyday users audit and clean up their digital footprint together. Free tools, free guides, no cost.

Curious if anyone in the Pakistani WordPress community is already doing regular site audits or dealing with spam issues? Would love to hear what's working for you.

Have you checked your backlink profile or spam score recently? Drop your thoughts below 👇

It’s wonderful to see contributors from Pakistan actively participating in accessibility efforts. Team members from TorontoDigits joined the initiative by testing accessibility-ready WordPress themes, reporting issues, and sharing feedback with theme developers.

It was a lovely experience contributing alongside the global WordPress community and helping make the web more accessible for everyone.

Accessibility is not just about compliance — it’s about inclusion.

More details about the event:
GAAD 2026 by Equalize Digital

Would love to know if others from the Pakistan WordPress community also participated this year 👏

Its more than a decade in tech ecosystem & it looks like code is a poetry. In recent few months I have tried cold email marketing & today I have setup automated email system for one of our Saas product & now I feel email is a poetry.

Not sure about results yet but I started loving this.

Good news for students in Pakistan who want to start a career in WordPress, web development, or open-source 👇

The WordPress Credits Program is an official initiative by the WordPress Foundation that connects university students with the global open-source WordPress ecosystem through real, mentored contributions.

It is designed to help students gain practical experience while earning academic credit through structured university programs.

🌍 What is WordPress Credits?

WordPress Credits is a contribution-based academic program where students:

• Work on real WordPress projects (development, design, content, translation, testing, etc.)
• Learn open-source collaboration with experienced mentors
• Earn academic credit through structured contribution work
• Build a public portfolio of real contributions

The program was first launched with the University of Pisa and announced at WordCamp Europe 2025, and is now expanding globally. (WordPress.org)

⚙️ How the program works

It typically runs over a semester (13–18 weeks) and follows 3 phases: (Make WordPress)

1. Onboarding

Students learn:

• WordPress tools and ecosystem
• Open-source workflows and collaboration
• Communication standards in global communities

2. Project Work

Students:

• Contribute to real WordPress projects
• Work under mentorship from experienced contributors
• Participate in weekly feedback and syncs
• Track contribution progress

3. Wrap-up

Students:

• Present their work
• Share learnings
• Complete academic evaluation

🎓 How students participate

👉 Students do NOT apply individually like a job portal.

Instead:

• Participation happens through universities or academic programs
• Students join via enrolled courses
• Work is guided by professors + WordPress mentors

🏫 How universities (including Pakistan) can onboard

Universities can become official WordPress Credits partner institutions by applying through the program onboarding process.

👉 University onboarding link:
https://airtable.com/appIzQKfwTn5dyPVp/shrYvY0CDNIkILIre

Universities typically:

• Integrate WordPress Credits into curriculum
• Allow students to earn credit via real contributions
• Coordinate with WordPress Foundation mentors
• Run structured semester-based cohorts

🧑‍🏫 Mentors in the program

Mentors are a core part of WordPress Credits.

They:

• Guide students through real open-source contributions
• Provide weekly feedback and support
• Help shape project direction and learning outcomes

👉 Mentor call & details:
https://make.wordpress.org/handbook/wordpress-credits-contribution-internship-program/a-guide-for-wp-credits-mentors/call-for-mentors

🌍 Participating institutions (global)

The program already includes universities across:

• Europe (Italy, Spain, Poland, Latvia)
• Americas (USA, Costa Rica, Bolivia)
• Asia (Bangladesh, India)

Including institutions like:

• University of Pisa
• Krakow University of Economics
• Central New Mexico Community College
• Riga Nordic University
• and others expanding globally (Make WordPress)

🌍 Impact & why it matters

This program is more than learning WordPress:

• 🌍 Open-source contribution mindset → students become part of global software
• 🌐 International exposure → work with global mentors and contributors
• 🧠 Tech grooming → real workflows used in global companies
• ⚖️ Ethics & responsibility → learning transparent, community-driven development
• 🚀 Career readiness → freelancing, agencies, and remote job opportunities

🇵🇰 Why this matters for Pakistan

For undergrads in Pakistan, this is a big opportunity because:

• WordPress powers a huge portion of the web
• It removes “no experience” barriers
• Builds real global portfolios
• Opens freelancing and remote career paths early

If anyone here knows about Pakistani universities exploring WordPress Credits or similar programs, would love to hear your thoughts 🙌

Curious to hear from people working on larger WordPress projects, especially in publishing or media.

What’s the most complex WordPress project you’ve worked on recently in this space?

For example:

• news or magazine websites
• high-traffic publishing platforms
• multi-author editorial systems
• global or multilingual content sites
• performance-heavy media portals
• migrations from other CMS platforms

And what were the biggest challenges?

• scaling traffic during breaking news spikes
• caching and performance tuning
• editorial workflows and approvals
• SEO and indexing at scale
• plugin limitations or architecture issues
• maintaining site stability under load

Also curious how things are changing with AI in the mix.

Is AI actually impacting how agencies and publishers work on WordPress projects?

For example:

• content generation vs editorial control
• faster publishing workflows
• SEO automation
• reduced manual work vs new quality challenges
• changes in how teams are structured

Trying to understand what “modern WordPress publishing” looks like in 2026 from people actually building and maintaining these systems.

Would love to hear real experiences.

Has anyone else seen Google indexing weird spam or junk pages on WordPress sites?

I’m talking about things like random URLs, casino/pharma-style pages, or strange search/tag/archive pages showing up in Search Console or even live in Google results.

From what I’ve noticed, it usually comes down to either hacked pages getting injected, or WordPress generating a bunch of low-quality URLs that accidentally get indexed.

What’s confusing is how fast Google picks these up, sometimes before you even realize something is wrong.

Curious what others have experienced here:

Did you figure it out through Search Console, traffic drop, or something else?

And what actually fixed it for you — cleanup, noindexing, security patch, or something different?

We're currently experimenting with Hostinger Reach for email marketing and promoting our product.

So far, it looks pretty solid for simple campaigns and newsletters, but I'm curious about the automation side of things — especially setting up welcome email sequences, follow-up emails, and basic customer journeys.

Would love to hear from anyone with recent experience using Hostinger Reach. How reliable is the automation flow? Any limitations or things to watch out for?

We’ve built an SEO product in Pakistan for agencies, startups, and business owners who want more than just rankings — they want consistent visibility, leads, and revenue.

Today, it’s not just about SEO anymore. It’s also about AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) — making sure your business shows up when people ask questions on Google, AI tools, and other answer-based platforms. That shift is already happening, and most businesses are not prepared for it.

If you’re running a business and want mentorship on how to bring more inbound opportunities to the table, we’re open to helping. From technical SEO fixes to AEO readiness, content structuring, and improving discoverability — we’ve been quietly building and solving this.

Not a sales pitch. Just an open door for founders and operators who want practical guidance and honest feedback.

Made in Pakistan. Built for real business growth.

If this resonates, feel free to reach out.

A lot of people in Pakistan think WordPress contribution is only for developers writing Core patches.

It’s not.

You do not need to code to contribute to WordPress.

Some of the best WordPress careers started with:

Testing features

Reporting bugs

Writing docs

Translating strings

Helping users

Organizing events

Onboarding contributors

WordPress needs much more than code, and that’s exactly why non-tech contributors matter.

If you’re good at writing, organizing, testing, translating, communicating, or helping people — there’s a place for you.

A good starting point is reading Yoast’s guide on non-technical contributions to WordPress Core, and TorontoDigits also wrote a useful piece on contributing to WordPress Core without needing a complex local setup.

That matters because one of the biggest blockers for beginners is assuming contribution is too technical to even start.

It’s not.

How to start (without being technical)

Keep it simple:

Create a WordPress.org profile

Join Make WordPress Slack

Pick one team (Docs, Polyglots, Community, Test, etc.)

Show up weekly

Help where you can

That’s it.

You do not need to be important.

You need to be useful.

Start small with things like:

Testing beta features

Reporting confusing UX

Documenting meetings

Translating strings

Helping new contributors

Consistency matters more than skill in the beginning.

Why it’s better than freelancing (long term)

Freelancing pays fast. Contribution compounds.

Freelancing often means:

Chasing clients

Constant pitching

Low rates

Unstable work

Contribution builds:

Reputation

Trust

Visibility

Global network

Freelancing says: I build WordPress sites.

Contribution says: I help improve WordPress itself.

That changes how people see you — and how they hire you.

How better jobs happen

The biggest benefit of contribution is not badges.

It’s proximity.

You start meeting:

Product teams

Plugin companies

Hosting companies

Ecosystem leaders

Global agencies

And they hire people they already know and trust.

That’s how people land:

Support roles

Product roles

Community roles

Partnerships

Content / Docs roles

DevRel / Ops roles

Usually with better pay, stronger teams, and more stability than freelancing.

What TorontoDigits got right

TorontoDigits got one thing right that most people in Pakistan still underestimate:

WordPress contribution is not just volunteering.

It is career leverage.

That’s the real pipeline:

Contribution

Visibility

Trust

Network

Better work

In Pakistan, most people go straight into freelancing.

Very few contribute.

That’s exactly why this path is still underrated — and still wide open.

Welcome to WordPress Pakistan 🇵🇰 — a community for anyone interested in WordPress, from beginners to professionals.

Please take a moment to introduce yourself 👋 Tell us who you are, what you do, and your experience with WordPress.

Community Guidelines:

• No direct or indirect promotion or spamming

• Be respectful to everyone

• No gender discrimination or hate speech

• No political or religious discussions

• Share helpful, relevant content only

Let’s build a positive and supportive space to learn, grow, and connect. 🚀