There’s a longstanding misconception in the digital world that websites must prioritise either search engine rankings or user experience—but not both. At The Website Design Agency, we’ve spent years proving otherwise. We believe that user-centric design and technical SEO are not mutually exclusive—they are mutually beneficial. In fact, the most successful websites are those that seamlessly marry the two.
When we build, we’re building for humans first—because users are the ones who make decisions, fill out forms, and become customers. But we also ensure our work aligns with how search engines index, interpret, and reward high-quality content. This behind-the-scenes look reveals how we achieve that balance across every project, from discovery to deployment.
Everything starts with purpose. A successful website isn’t just a digital business card—it’s a tool designed to achieve specific objectives. That’s why our first step is understanding your audience’s needs, your business goals, and the search behaviour that connects the two. We use interviews, persona workshops, and analytics reviews to develop a strategic blueprint grounded in data and human psychology.
Search intent is a major factor in our planning. Are your prospects searching with informational, transactional, or navigational goals? This affects everything from page layouts to CTA placement. Using tools like SEMrush, Google Trends, and Search Console, we isolate high-intent keywords that actually match where users are in the funnel—not just volume-driven head terms.
We also map content to buyer journeys. For example, a construction law firm may have one audience looking for legal insight (“What is adjudication?”) and another ready to hire a solicitor (“Construction solicitor London”). These users require different pages, tones, and experiences—something we account for in both content strategy and UX flow.
The outcome is a clear content and site architecture plan that aligns messaging, SEO opportunity, and conversion paths—right from the very start.
Once strategy is clear, we shift to wireframing. This is where structure and hierarchy take shape. We begin with low-fidelity wireframes to test layouts, navigation, and content flow without the distractions of colours or fonts. These wireframes are informed by both user goals and SEO structure—ensuring H1/H2 usage, crawlability, and contextual linking are planned in advance.
Each wireframe is crafted around page purpose. For example, homepage wireframes lead with credibility indicators like logos, testimonials, and core CTAs. Service pages are designed with modular sections that cover user problems, our solutions, social proof, and conversion points. Blog templates are optimised for readability, shareability, and schema markup.
We collaborate closely with clients at this stage—testing click flows using Figma prototypes, gathering early feedback, and refining layouts based on usability heuristics (like Jakob Nielsen’s 10 usability principles). Accessibility is considered from day one, ensuring contrast ratios, tab order, and legibility for all users.
These designs become the framework for a website that feels natural to users—and logical to search engines.
Unlike many agencies, we don’t treat content and SEO as an afterthought. We write, optimise, and structure content alongside design—not after the site is “done.” Our writers and SEO strategists work hand-in-hand to ensure each page has a clear keyword focus, semantic richness, and a tone of voice that fits your brand.
We use Surfer SEO and Clearscope to compare your draft content to top-performing competitors—analysing gaps, entity coverage, and NLP insights. Then we humanise that data into natural, conversion-focused messaging. We avoid keyword stuffing and instead focus on clarity, questions your users are actually asking, and storytelling that builds trust.
Structured data (JSON-LD) is implemented where relevant—think FAQs, How-Tos, Products, or Services. We also use internal linking strategies that mirror topic clusters, helping Google understand topical relevance and boosting site depth.
Importantly, every piece of content is audited not just for SEO, but for UX: scannability, clarity, and helpfulness. We avoid vanity metrics like “2,000 words minimum” and focus instead on value per paragraph.
We’ve all visited sites that rank well but feel sluggish or broken. That’s why performance and accessibility are non-negotiables in our builds. From the beginning, our developers build lightweight, standards-compliant code using clean CSS, component-based frameworks, and responsive layouts that pass Google’s Core Web Vitals tests.
We use tools like Lighthouse, PageSpeed Insights, and WebPageTest to evaluate LCP (Largest Contentful Paint), CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift), and TBT (Total Blocking Time). We optimise imagery using next-gen formats (like WebP), preload key assets, and defer non-critical JavaScript. Fonts are served from local files to minimise DNS lookups.
For accessibility, we implement ARIA labels, semantic HTML, proper heading structures, and logical tab indexing. We ensure every site works seamlessly with screen readers and passes WCAG 2.1 AA standards. This not only improves experience for all users—it also supports SEO, as Google increasingly prioritises accessibility as part of UX quality.
Whether it’s a CMS build in WordPress, Webflow, or a custom React stack, our engineering prioritises both machine readability and user satisfaction.
Our launch process is meticulous. We run pre-flight QA across all breakpoints and devices, testing forms, links, schema, metadata, load speed, and mobile responsiveness. We also check technical SEO factors like canonical tags, sitemap integrity, robots.txt, and hreflang (for multi-language sites).
But launch is just the beginning. We believe in iteration. Post-launch, we use GA4, Microsoft Clarity, and heatmaps to monitor real user behaviour. Are people scrolling to key CTAs? Are forms being used? Is there friction on mobile navigation? We analyse and adapt.
For example, we might A/B test a form layout using Convert.com or refine a landing page headline based on bounce rate trends. We’ll test new CTAs, simplify menus, or add anchor links based on session recordings.
The goal isn’t just to finish a website—it’s to grow its impact over time. Our care plans include regular UX and SEO reviews to keep everything aligned with evolving user expectations and algorithm shifts.
Balancing UX and SEO doesn’t have to be a tug-of-war. Done right, it’s a symbiotic relationship—what’s good for people is increasingly good for Google, and vice versa. At TWDA, we don’t believe in compromise. We believe in creating websites that perform, persuade, and grow your business.
📧 Want to see how your site compares? Let us run a free UX + SEO audit and show you where your biggest opportunities lie. Because you don’t have to pick a side—you can (and should) have both.
