When it comes to building a website that performs well, many businesses fall into one of two traps: they either obsess over SEO and forget about the human experience, or they go all in on design and forget that Google even exists.
But here’s the secret that experienced digital agencies (like us) understand: your website should be designed for people, with SEO woven into the fabric—not tacked on as an afterthought.
Striking the right balance isn’t just “nice to have”—it’s essential if you want your site to rank well, engage visitors, and convert traffic into customers. In this post, we’ll explain how to find that balance, and why doing so is critical for the long-term success of your business online.
Google has one primary goal: to deliver the most relevant, high-quality results for every search. To do that, it constantly updates its algorithms to prioritise websites that:
In other words, Google wants your site to be well-built, useful, and easy to navigate—all the same things your visitors want. But businesses often misinterpret SEO as stuffing in keywords or adding thin, repetitive content just to rank. This rarely works and usually backfires.
We’ve seen it many times: a company builds a website that’s technically optimised for search engines but feels lifeless to the user. It might rank on page one, but visitors bounce quickly because:
On the flip side, beautifully designed sites sometimes ignore SEO fundamentals entirely. They look amazing but use heavy scripts, poor heading structures, missing alt text, and no internal linking. These sites may impress users—for the short time they find them—but they struggle to generate organic traffic because Google simply doesn’t know how to read them properly.
At The Website Design Agency, we believe in an integrated approach. Every website we design is built from the ground up with two goals:
We don’t treat SEO and design as separate departments—they’re part of the same strategy. Here’s what that looks like in practice:
Every design element—from page layout to call-to-action buttons—is driven by your business goals. We ask: What action should the user take on this page? How can we make it easier and more appealing?
We write content in clear, natural language that answers real user questions. Keywords are important, but they’re used intelligently—never forced. We optimise for intent, not just volume.
Our sites are fast, secure, and built with clean, semantic code. We ensure your site is fully crawlable by search engines, with structured data, proper heading hierarchies, and optimised media.
With over 60% of traffic now coming from mobile, we design responsively by default. We also ensure accessibility standards are met, making your site usable for all visitors—another signal Google pays attention to.
Using analytics and tools like heatmaps or session recordings, we monitor how users interact with your site. This helps us continuously refine both the user experience and SEO performance.
When your site balances human-centred design with solid SEO, you get the best of both worlds:
Most importantly, your website becomes a true digital asset—a marketing tool that works for you 24/7.
Search engines and users aren’t on opposite sides. In fact, the more helpful and accessible your website is to real people, the more Google will reward you.
So, the real question isn’t “Should we design for people or Google?” It’s: “How can we design for people in a way that Google understands and supports?”
If your current website isn’t pulling its weight—or you suspect it’s favouring one side too much—it might be time for a rethink.
At The Website Design Agency, we specialise in building high-performance websites that delight users and dominate search. We’d be happy to take a look at your site and offer honest, practical advice on how to improve it.
📧 Get in touch today for a free website review, or contact us through our website to book a chat.
