SEO in web design: Our approach in 2025 (and why it works)

Originally published 2020 | Updated April 2025

In the past, SEO was often bolted on at the end of a web project—a checklist you’d tick through after design and development were done.

Not anymore.

Today, a site that’s not built with SEO in mind from day one is already playing catch-up. And after Google’s most recent Core Update, the message is clearer than ever: SEO isn’t just about keywords—it’s about helping real people find helpful, usable, high-quality experiences.

At KOTA, we’ve refined an approach where SEO and UX go hand-in-hand, baked into every stage of the website process. Not forced. Not formulaic. Just smart, strategic foundations that help your site show up and convert.

Here’s how we do it.

What SEO looks like in 2025

Google’s algorithms have evolved from keyword matchers into quality assessors. They prioritise helpfulness, clarity, expertise, and experience—especially after the March 2025 Core Update, which punished vague, AI-generated content and rewarded useful, user-first websites.

That means SEO in 2025 looks a lot more like:

• Clear, relevant content written by humans who know their stuff

• Sites that load fast, work on any device, and feel intuitive to explore

• Smart technical hygiene (structured data, clean code, no 404s)

• Logical internal linking and topic depth—not just keyword stuffing

SEO is now about experience and intent. And that’s where UX and SEO must work together—not in silos.

KOTA’s integrated SEO process

We treat UX and SEO as one.

If users love it, Google does too. Simple as that.

We only build high-performing websites that encourage users to click, explore, and stay. The longer users engage, the better your site performs. That’s why our approach combines UX and SEO from the ground up, ensuring your site is structured for both discovery and interaction.

Essentially, it’s baked in from the start, not tacked on at the end.

Our projects consider all the core SEO foundations every website needs to perform well—clean site architecture, intuitive navigation, and seamless user journeys.

From there, we offer more in-depth packages for strategic content and SEO enhancements to help businesses grow organically.

From discovery to launch (and beyond), here’s how we build search-friendly sites without compromising creativity, tone, or usability.

1. Kick-off and discovery: Aligning goals from the start

The best-performing websites start with understanding why people need you—not just what you offer. In our SEO kick-off, we explore:

• Who your ideal users are

• What problems they’re trying to solve

• What content is already working (and what isn’t)

• Which keywords and questions your audience is searching for

We also make sure we’re aligned on tone, intent, and the kind of visitors you actually want. Because traffic is meaningless if it’s not the right traffic.

2. Content and performance audit

Before we touch a wireframe, we audit your current site using tools like Google Analytics, Search Console, and Screaming Frog. We look at:

• Top-performing pages (by traffic, links, conversions)

• High-authority URLs that need to be preserved

• Underperforming or duplicate content to retire or consolidate

This helps us map what to keep, what to cut, and what needs more strategic firepower. It also sets the foundation for future redirects (more on that later).

3. UX-informed structure and internal linking

This is where the SEO/UX harmony kicks in.

We design your information architecture (IA) to:

• Prioritise high-intent landing pages

• Group content logically around themes (hello, topic clusters!)

• Help users (and Google) find what they’re looking for quickly

We also ensure the content flow reflects real-life journeys—not just search trends. This means:

• No “SEO pages” with robotic copy

• Logical anchor text, breadcrumbs, and site navigation

• Pages that make sense from a user point of view and a crawlability point of view

4. Keyword and competitor research (but make it useful)

Keyword research isn’t about stuffing “best coffee London” 13 times into a page. It’s about understanding how your audience thinks, searches, and decides.

We look at:

• What topics and questions users search at different funnel stages

• Where competitors are ranking (and where they’re missing opportunities)

• How we can position your content more effectively for the same queries

This insight doesn’t just shape meta data—it informs what we write, how we label pages, and even how we structure the site.

5. SEO-friendly content design

Once we’ve mapped the right keywords and intentions, we work with your team (or ours) to create:

• Optimised page copy with headings, internal links, and natural phrasing

• Metadata that’s useful for users and compliant with Google’s guidelines

• Accessible image alt tags and clean, semantic markup

We believe content should sound human, not robotic. So everything we write is designed to be:

• Easy to scan

• Helpful and relevant

• Reflective of your brand tone

No keyword stuffing. No waffle.

6. Redirect strategy: Preserve what’s working

A site relaunch without a redirect plan? SEO disaster.

We map every old URL to its new counterpart—intentionally and carefully—to:

• Pass on link equity

• Avoid broken pages (404s)

• Ensure Google understands the site evolution, not a sudden deletion

We handle this in a spreadsheet, tested and implemented pre-launch. No stress.

7. Ongoing performance

Once the site’s live, our SEO retainer package can help you make sure:

• Technical SEO stays up-to-date

• Google indexation and crawl issues are monitored

• Keyword performance and traffic are tracked monthly

• Any technical hiccups are fixed proactively before they snowball.

And if you want to grow your content, we can build a bespoke ongoing SEO strategy covering content creation, too.

Final thoughts

SEO today is about building something useful, not ticking boxes or tricking Google. Something fast, clear, structured, and intentional—on both the UX side and the content side.

When SEO is baked into the web design process, you end up with:

• Happier users
• Higher rankings
• More conversions
• A future-proofed platform for growth.

That’s what we build. Every time.

Want to work with a team that gets both search engines and human users? Let’s talk.