I’ve been building websites since 2005. My first was a Co-op site while I was still at university. By 2007 I was project managing large builds. By 2009 I’d caught the SEO bug so badly that every site I built from that point had search architecture at its core — not as an afterthought, not as a separate phase, but as the foundation that everything else sat on.
That approach — build for search first, design around it — has produced results that no amount of retroactive SEO can match. A dog walker website I hand-coded in 2009 still ranks #1 in Portsmouth, seventeen years later. A hairdresser site has survived two domain migrations and a complete rebrand without losing its rankings. A nursery site ranks #1 nationally for a competitive term. These aren’t sites that were “SEO’d” after launch. They were built with search in their DNA.
Today I use AI-assisted development — what the industry is calling “vibe coding” — to build sites faster without sacrificing quality. The thinking is still mine. The architecture is still mine. The 20 years of knowing what ranks and what doesn’t is still mine. The AI accelerates the implementation, which means you get a better site in less time for less money.
Why Sites I Build Rank for Years
Back in 2010, when most SEO agencies were obsessed with link building, I developed what I called the “3 Cs” framework: Code, Content, and Contextual Linking. The premise was simple — if your code is clean and fast, your content is genuinely useful, and your internal linking creates clear topical relationships, you don’t need to chase backlinks. Links become icing on the cake rather than the cake itself.
Fifteen years later, that framework has been vindicated by every major Google algorithm update. Sites built on solid technical foundations with genuine content depth and intelligent site architecture weather algorithm updates that destroy sites built on link manipulation. The Dog Walker Portsmouth site has outlasted thousands of competitors who outspent it on links but had weaker foundations.
Code: Clean, Fast, Standards-Compliant
Every site I build starts with clean, semantic HTML. Proper heading hierarchies. Logical document structure. Fast load times — not because I bolt a caching plugin on top of bloated code, but because the code itself is lean. This site — seostrategy.co.uk — is a custom WordPress theme with 13,631 lines of production code, independently valued at £20,000–£50,000, with architecture quality rated 8/10 by independent assessment. No page builder. No theme framework. No unnecessary dependencies. That’s what clean code looks like at scale.
Content: Built for Humans, Structured for Machines
A website without content strategy is a brochure. I build sites where every page has a purpose, targets specific search queries, and connects to the broader topical structure of the site. Schema markup goes in from day one — not as an afterthought, but as part of the architecture. In the AI era, structured data is how your business gets cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s AI Overviews. It needs to be there from launch, not bolted on later.
Contextual Linking: The Architecture That Compounds
Internal linking isn’t just navigation — it’s how search engines understand what your site is about and which pages matter most. I build sites with deliberate topic clusters, clear parent-child relationships, and contextual links that reinforce topical authority. This is the “silent” factor that most web designers ignore completely and most SEO agencies only address after the site is built. When it’s designed into the architecture from the start, everything works harder.
20 Years of Results
I’ve built over 100 websites across every sector you can think of. Here are the ones that demonstrate what SEO-first web design delivers over time.
17-Year Rankings
The Dog Walker Portsmouth (thedogwalkerportsmouth.co.uk) — built in 2009 as hand-coded HTML and CSS. Before WordPress was the default, before responsive design existed, before mobile-first indexing. Still #1 for “dog walker portsmouth” seventeen years later. The site has been rebuilt since, but the foundations — the architecture, the content structure, the local SEO signals — have compounded over nearly two decades.
Dog Walker Southampton (dogwalkersouthampton.co.uk) — built in 2012, still holding page 1 for “dog walker southampton” fourteen years later.
Surviving Migrations and Rebrands
The Hair Lounge Totton (thehairloungetotton.co.uk) — originally built as Chris & Ashleigh Hair Design, migrated to a new domain, then rebranded entirely to The Hair Lounge in 2024. Two domain migrations and a complete rebrand — any one of which destroys rankings if done badly. Still #1 for “hairdressers totton” with 4.9 stars across 55 Google reviews. This is what proper technical SEO during migration looks like.
National Rankings from Local Builds
Eco Montessori (ecomontessori.co.uk) — built in 2020, ranks #1 for “montessori nursery” nationally. Not a local term — a genuinely competitive national keyword. We no longer work with Eco Montessori, but the site we built continues to rank. The architecture and content we put in place were strong enough to sustain national visibility without ongoing SEO spend.
Rescue, Recovery and Hardening
Roofing Cladding & Building (roofingcladdingbuilding.com) — a Southampton business that came to us after their previous agency allowed the site to become severely hacked and compromised. The site was buggy, insecure, and underperforming. We rebuilt the security infrastructure, cleaned the malware, hardened the WordPress installation, improved performance, and developed custom plugins to extend functionality. It’s now stable, fast, and secure — the kind of recovery work that requires deep WordPress expertise, not just design skills.
Enterprise-Grade Custom Development
SEO Strategy Ltd (seostrategy.co.uk) — this site. A custom WordPress theme with a content scaffold system that manages 50+ pages, automated schema output, an AI assistant plugin, and interactive tools. 13,631 lines of production code. Independently valued at £20,000–£50,000. Built entirely using AI-assisted development in January–February 2026 — demonstrating that vibe coding with senior expertise produces enterprise-quality output. Read the full case study →
For more examples of what our approach delivers for local businesses specifically, see our local business SEO results.
How AI Changes Web Design
AI-assisted development — vibe coding — has fundamentally changed what’s possible in web design. Not because the AI replaces the thinking, but because it compresses the implementation timeline dramatically.
A custom WordPress build that would take a traditional agency 3–6 months and cost £20,000–£50,000 can now be delivered in weeks at a fraction of the cost. The critical variable isn’t the AI — it’s the human directing it. A developer with 20 years of experience using AI tools produces fundamentally different output than a beginner. The AI amplifies existing expertise; it doesn’t replace it.
What this means for you: you get a better website, faster, for less money. The quality ceiling hasn’t dropped — if anything, it’s risen, because the implementation speed means more time is spent on architecture and strategy rather than repetitive coding tasks.
For complex interactive tools, calculators, plugins, and CRO assets that go beyond standard web design, see our dedicated vibe coding services page.
What You Get
Custom WordPress Sites
Hand-coded themes built for your business. No page builders, no theme frameworks, no unnecessary bloat. Clean code, fast load times, and SEO architecture designed in from the start. Every page targets specific search queries. Schema markup is implemented at build time. Core Web Vitals are addressed through clean code rather than performance plugins fighting against bloated themes.
SEO-First Architecture
Topic clusters, internal linking strategy, heading hierarchies, keyword-targeted URLs, and content structure that gives your site the best possible chance of ranking from day one. This isn’t “SEO services” bolted onto a finished design — it’s the design itself built around search intent.
Migrations That Don’t Lose Rankings
Domain changes, platform migrations, rebrands — we’ve handled them all without ranking loss. Full URL mapping, redirect verification, post-migration monitoring, and technical SEO best practices throughout. The Hair Lounge’s two successful migrations demonstrate the approach.
AI and Future-Proofing
Every site we build is structured for both traditional search and AI visibility. Entity markup, LLM-optimised content, and structured data that helps AI systems understand and cite your business. This isn’t a separate service — it’s built into the architecture.
Who This Is For
Businesses that understand a website is an investment, not an expense. You don’t need the biggest budget — some of our best-performing sites were modest local business builds. But you do need to care about being found. If you want a website that looks good but nobody ever sees, there are cheaper options. If you want a website that ranks, generates enquiries, and compounds in value over years, that’s what we build.
We work with local businesses across Southampton, Portsmouth, and Hampshire, as well as national and international clients in enterprise software, law, healthcare IT, and SaaS.
Ready to Talk About Your Website?
Whether you need a new site from scratch, a rebuild with SEO at its core, a migration done properly, or a rescue from a hacked or underperforming site — the first step is a conversation about what you need and whether we’re the right fit.
