Simon Brown is the founder of bristol.dev and a freelance web designer and developer based in Bristol. With over a decade of experience building websites for businesses of all sizes, he's developed a reputation for putting SEO at the heart of every project. We caught up with him to talk about his approach and why he thinks it's more relevant now than ever.
Let's start with the basics. What do you mean by "SEO-first" web design?
It's pretty simple, really. Most web designers start with how something looks. They'll design beautiful mockups, get sign-off, then build it and think about SEO at the end - almost like an afterthought. "Oh, we should probably add some meta descriptions" or "let's throw some keywords in there."
I flip that completely. Before I even think about colours or layouts, I'm asking: what are people actually searching for? What questions do they have? What problems are they trying to solve? The design then serves those needs rather than the other way around.
Can you give an example of how that changes things?
Sure. Say you're building a website for a plumber in Bristol. A traditional approach might start with a nice hero image, some text about the company, a services page, contact form - job done.
An SEO-first approach starts differently. I'd research what people are actually typing into Google. "Emergency plumber Bristol." "Boiler repair near me." "How much does a new boiler cost?" Each of those represents someone with a specific need at a specific moment.
So instead of one generic services page, you might have dedicated pages for emergency callouts, boiler repairs, bathroom installations - each targeting real search intent. The structure of the site is built around how people actually look for help, not how the business thinks about itself internally.
That sounds like more work. Is it worth it?
It's more work upfront, absolutely. But here's the thing - you're going to do that work eventually anyway if you want the site to actually bring in business. The question is whether you do it properly from the start or try to retrofit it later.
I've seen so many businesses spend five or ten grand on a gorgeous website, launch it, then wonder why nobody's finding them. Six months later they're paying someone else to redo the content, restructure the navigation, add new pages. They end up spending more and getting a worse result than if they'd thought about it properly from day one.
How has AI changed this? You mentioned it's more important now than ever.
This is what I find really interesting. Everyone's talking about AI killing SEO, but I think it's actually making good SEO more valuable.
Think about how AI tools like ChatGPT or Google's AI Overviews work. They're pulling information from websites to answer questions. If your site clearly answers a specific question, you've got a chance of being cited or referenced. If your site is vague marketing fluff, AI has nothing useful to grab.
So AI is looking for the same things Google has always wanted?
Exactly. Google has been telling us for years: create helpful, people-first content. Answer questions clearly. Be an authority in your area. Most people ignored that and tried to game the system with tricks. Now AI is essentially doing what Google always intended - finding the genuinely useful stuff and surfacing it.
The businesses that have been doing SEO properly - real content, clear structure, genuine expertise - they're the ones appearing in AI answers. The ones who built thin websites and relied on ads are struggling.
What about the argument that AI will just scrape your content and people won't visit your site?
I hear this a lot, and I get the concern. But in my experience, AI answers often drive more qualified traffic, not less. Someone reads an AI summary that mentions your business, they want to know more, they click through. They're already warmed up because AI has essentially pre-qualified them.
And for anything involving a transaction - hiring someone, buying something, booking a service - people still want to visit the actual website. They want to see your work, read reviews, get a feel for who you are. AI can introduce you, but the website closes the deal.
Let's talk practically. If someone's planning a new website, what should they be thinking about from an SEO perspective?
First, forget about keywords for a minute. Think about your customers. What are the actual questions they ask you? What problems do they come to you with? Write those down. That's your content strategy right there.
Second, think about your local area. If you're a Bristol business serving Bristol customers, that needs to be baked into everything - not just slapped on at the end. Your Google Business Profile, your content, your case studies. Search engines need clear signals about where you operate.
Third, don't hide your expertise. A lot of businesses are weirdly cagey about sharing knowledge. They think if they explain how something works, people won't need to hire them. The opposite is true. When you demonstrate expertise, people trust you more. And that content is exactly what AI is looking for.
Any common mistakes you see?
The biggest one is prioritising aesthetics over structure. I've seen beautifully designed sites that are essentially invisible to search engines because all the important content is hidden in images or buried in JavaScript that doesn't get indexed properly.
Another is ignoring page speed. People get excited about fancy animations and huge hero videos, but if your site takes five seconds to load, you're killing your rankings and your conversions. Google has been very clear that speed matters.
And the classic: building a website then never touching it again. Search engines favour fresh, updated content. If your last blog post was from 2019, that sends a signal.
What about the technical side? Do people need to understand all the schema markup and canonical tags and that kind of thing?
Honestly, for most small businesses, the technical stuff is maybe 20% of the battle. Getting the fundamentals right - clear content, good structure, fast loading, mobile-friendly - that's 80% of it.
The technical bits matter and I handle all of that for my clients. But I'd rather someone focused on creating genuinely useful content than obsessing over schema markup. Get the basics right first.
Final question: what would you say to someone who thinks SEO is just for big companies with big budgets?
I'd say that's completely backwards. SEO is actually the great equaliser. A small business with a well-structured website and genuinely helpful content can absolutely outrank big corporations with massive ad budgets.
I've seen local trades businesses overtake national chains in search results because they put the work into creating content that actually helps people. That's not something you can buy your way to - you have to earn it.
If anything, small businesses should be leaning into SEO more than anyone. It's one of the few areas where being small, local, and genuinely expert in your field is an advantage rather than a limitation.
Simon Brown is the founder of bristol.dev and specialises in SEO-first web design for businesses in Bristol and beyond. View his profile or get in touch to discuss your project.