The biggest website mistake businesses make: building for looks, not for discovery
A lot of companies build websites like they’re designing a showroom. Beautiful visuals. Clever animations. Award-style layouts. And then… silence. Because a website isn’t a poster. It’s a discovery engine.
Building a site for “creative visual effects” without SEO/GEO is like planting a small fledgling tree in the middle of the Amazon and expecting people to find it. You can’t rely on luck. You need pathways.
The primary purpose of a business website is simple:
to attract visitors, earn attention, build trust, and convert that into enquiries or orders.
If it doesn’t do that, it’s not a business asset — it’s a vanity project.
Mistake 1: Treating design as the goal (instead of the delivery system)
Design is important. It builds credibility fast. But design is the packaging, not the distribution.
Your best-looking page is worthless if search engines (and now AI-driven search experiences) can’t understand:
What you do
Who it’s for
Why you’re relevant
Which pages matter most
A website must be built around how people search and how machines interpret content.
Mistake 2: Writing for humans only, ignoring “machine readability”
Modern SEO (and GEO — content discoverability in AI answers) rewards clarity. Not fluff. Not vague “solutions”. Not clever copy that hides what you actually do. If a meta-crawler can’t quickly identify your topic, intent, and structure, you won’t rank — and you won’t be surfaced.
That means:
clear page topics (one page = one main intent)
clean headings (H1/H2 that describe real queries)
structured content that answers questions
internal linking that shows what’s most important
fast load, mobile-first, accessible layouts
You’re not “writing for robots”. You’re building clarity at scale so both humans and systems can trust you.
Mistake 3: Launching with no content strategy
Many sites launch with 6 main pages: Home / About / Services / Work / Blog / Contact
And the blog is empty.
But search visibility is driven by useful, specific content that matches real intent:
How to choose… pages
Comparisons and FAQs
Problem/solution articles
Location pages (when relevant)
Case studies with outcomes
Product pages that actually explain value
If you don’t publish content that answers real questions, you’re asking Google/AI to invent reasons to rank you.
They won’t.
Mistake 4: Forgetting the conversion path
Even if visitors arrive, many websites don’t turn attention into action.
Common issues:
no clear next step (CTA is weak or hidden)
too many options, no priority
unclear proof (testimonials, case studies, results)
pages that look great but don’t reduce doubt
A high-performing site is structured like a guided journey: Search intent → relevance → proof → action.
The real mindset shift
A website is not something you “finish”. It’s an evolving asset built to:
be found
be understood
be trusted
convert
Beautiful design helps with trust. But SEO/Geo is how people arrive in the first place.
Build websites for discovery first. Then make it beautiful.
About the Author
Steve Gardiner (exec MBA) is a senior marketing and commercial leader at Lighthouse PR, bringing global experience from Accenture, Electronic Arts, Virgin Media, Telekom, and Etisalat. Latterly, as VP Business at Etisalat, he was responsible for $1.8B in revenue.
Today, Steve applies his strategic, marketing, and growth expertise to support Lighthouse PR clients as part of the agency’s service offering.