SEO THAT STARTS WITH UNDERSTANDING YOUR BUSINESS
SEO should be about more than trying to get a website to rank for a handful of keywords.
A good SEO strategy starts with understanding the business behind the website.
What do you do?
What services do you provide?
Who are your customers?
Where do you work?
What questions are people asking?
What makes your business different?
At Design SEO Websites, I look at those things together and build SEO around the actual business.
The aim is to create a website that is useful to people, understandable to search engines and increasingly accessible to AI-powered search systems.
WHAT SEO ACTUALLY INVOLVES
SEO is made up of many different parts.
There isn’t one piece of code, one keyword or one trick that suddenly makes a website successful.
Effective SEO can involve:
- Website structure
- Page titles and headings
- Useful and relevant content
- Search intent
- Internal linking
- Technical performance
- Images and image optimisation
- Local SEO
- Location information
- Structured data
- Existing website authority
- Backlinks and external references
- Regularly improving and expanding useful content
The right combination depends on the business, the website and the competition.
That’s why I don’t believe every business needs exactly the same SEO package.
WEBSITE SEO
SEO should be considered when a website is being built, not simply added afterwards.
The structure of the website affects how easily people and search engines can understand it.
Important services should have clear pages.
Related information should be connected.
Headings should describe the content that follows them.
Images should have useful filenames and alternative text.
Internal links should help visitors move naturally around the website.
The website should clearly communicate what the business does, where it operates and who it helps.
These foundations make it easier to build a stronger SEO strategy over time.
ON-PAGE SEO
On-page SEO is about the information and structure found on your website.
This can include:
- Page titles
- Headings
- Page content
- Meta descriptions
- Internal links
- Images
- Image filenames
- Alt text
- URLs
- FAQs
- Structured information
The goal isn’t to fill pages with keywords.
The goal is to create useful pages that clearly answer the questions people are searching for.
TECHNICAL SEO
Technical SEO looks at how the website itself is built and how search engines can access and understand it.
Depending on the website, this can include looking at:
- Crawlability
- Indexing
- Page structure
- Mobile usability
- Page speed
- Broken links
- Redirects
- Canonical URLs
- XML sitemaps
- Structured data
- Duplicate or unnecessary pages
- Website errors
Technical SEO isn’t always visible to the customer, but problems underneath a website can affect how effectively the site can be crawled, understood and indexed.
LOCAL SEO
If you provide services in particular towns, cities, counties or regions, local SEO can be particularly important.
Your website should make it clear where you work and which services you provide in those areas.
Local SEO can involve:
- Service-area pages
- Location information
- Google Business Profile
- Local content
- Internal linking
- Local business information
- Reviews and reputation
- Relevant local references
- Structured data where appropriate
However, creating dozens of almost identical location pages isn’t necessarily good SEO.
Location pages should exist because they provide useful information for people searching in that area.
CONTENT & SEARCH INTENT
Good SEO content starts with understanding what someone is actually trying to find.
Someone searching for:
“patio cleaning near me”
has a different intention from someone searching:
“how much does patio cleaning cost?”
And someone searching:
“how do I clean sandstone without damaging it?”
is looking for something different again.
Understanding these differences helps determine what pages and content a website actually needs.
I use this approach when planning website content, service pages, location pages, FAQs and supporting information.
INTERNAL LINKING & WEBSITE STRUCTURE
A website should not be a collection of disconnected pages.
Its pages should work together.
For example:
Business → Services → Locations → Supporting Content → Case Studies → Contact
Internal links can help visitors discover related information while also helping search engines understand the relationship between different pages.
A well-structured website can therefore become much more useful as it grows.
SEO FOR EXISTING WEBSITES
You don’t always need a completely new website to improve your SEO.
An existing website may already have:
- Established pages
- Search visibility
- Backlinks
- Useful content
- Reviews
- Domain history
- Existing customers
- Valuable information
Before rebuilding a website, I look at what is already there.
Some pages may need improving.
Some may need rewriting.
Some may need restructuring.
Some may need redirecting.
And some may simply need to be left alone.
The objective is to improve the website without throwing away useful work that has already been done.
SEO, GEO & AEO WORKING TOGETHER
Search is changing.
People still use traditional search engines, but they are also increasingly asking questions through AI-powered systems.
This is where SEO, GEO and AEO begin to overlap.
SEO focuses on visibility in traditional search.
GEO — Generative Engine Optimisation considers how business information can be understood and retrieved by generative AI systems.
AEO — Answer Engine Optimisation focuses on providing clear, useful answers to the questions people ask.
A well-structured website can support all three.
Rather than creating completely separate content for each system, I prefer to build a strong information structure that works for people first and is clear enough for search systems and AI to understand.
SEO BASED ON REAL-WORLD EXPERIENCE
I’ve been designing and developing websites since 2009 and have spent years working with SEO and online search.
I don’t just study SEO in theory.
I use it on real websites.
One of the best examples is The Jet Wash Fella — my own pressure cleaning business.
I’ve developed that website around real services, genuine locations, actual customer questions, photographs, case studies and specialist knowledge.
That provides a useful real-world test of how website structure, content, local SEO, internal linking, technical SEO, GEO and AEO can work together.
WHO CAN SEO HELP?
SEO can be useful for many different types of businesses, including:
- Local businesses
- Tradespeople
- Service-based businesses
- Professional services
- Small businesses
- Medium-sized businesses
- E-commerce businesses
- Businesses targeting specific locations
- Businesses launching a new website
- Businesses with an established website that isn’t performing as expected
The right SEO strategy depends on the business and what you are trying to achieve.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
1. WHAT IS SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. It involves improving a website so that search engines can better understand its content and users can find relevant information more easily.
2. HOW LONG DOES SEO TAKE TO WORK?
There is no fixed timescale. Results can depend on the website’s existing position, competition, content, technical condition, authority and the type of searches being targeted.
3. DO YOU OFFER LOCAL SEO?
Yes. Local SEO can include service-area pages, location information, website structure, local content, internal linking and other relevant local signals.
4. CAN YOU IMPROVE THE SEO ON MY EXISTING WEBSITE?
Yes. An existing website can be reviewed to identify opportunities to improve its structure, content, technical SEO, internal linking and overall search visibility.
5. DO I NEED A NEW WEBSITE FOR SEO?
Not necessarily. Sometimes an existing website can be improved significantly without replacing it. The first step is understanding what is already there and what needs changing.
6. DO YOU PROVIDE GEO AND AEO?
Yes. GEO and AEO are incorporated into the wider approach where appropriate, alongside traditional SEO and local SEO.
READY TO IMPROVE YOUR WEBSITE’S SEO?
If your website isn’t being found for the searches that matter to your business, it may be time to look at what is happening underneath the surface.
I can review your existing website, identify opportunities and help you build a clearer SEO strategy around your actual business.
Design SEO Websites
Website Design • SEO • Local SEO • GEO • AEO
Let’s build a website that is easier for people, search engines and AI to understand.
DESIGN SEO WEBSITES 