Will a website redesign hurt my SEO?
A redesign only hurts SEO when it breaks things search engines relied on: old URLs with no redirects, pages that earned traffic getting cut or thinned, or a new site launching while still blocked from indexing.
Google says rankings can fluctuate for a while after a significant change while the site is recrawled. That's normal. A lasting drop usually traces back to one of those three mistakes.
Before the new site goes live, export every URL that gets organic traffic or links from Search Console, decide what happens to each one, and map each old address to its closest new equivalent with a 301 redirect. After launch, check the redirects, submit the new sitemap and watch the page indexing report daily for the first few weeks.
This is the work most website projects skip because it isn't visible in the mockup. Our site migration process exists for exactly this.
Sources: Google Search Central: Site moves and migrations
Should I fix my website before spending more on ads or SEO?
Yes, if your site can't reliably turn a visitor into a lead, fix that first, because every click you buy or earn before then is spent testing a page that isn't finished.
I see this pattern in a lot of accounts. Ads are live, budget is going out, and the landing page is still being rearranged. The form changes under the tracking tag, the conversion data gets noisy, and the cost per lead becomes a number nobody can trust.
Our order is short on purpose: agree the page structure, lock the layout and form fields, name the conversion event, build exactly that, then test a real submission before any traffic arrives. Only then does it make sense to scale paid or invest in content.
A quick check: submit your own form on your phone. If you can't confirm the lead landed in your inbox, your CRM and your ad platform within minutes, that's the first project. See landing pages and website builds.
Is WordPress, Shopify or a custom build better for SEO?
The platform is rarely what holds a site back in search; how it's built, how fast it loads and how well it's maintained matter far more.
WordPress can rank very well. It also makes it easy to pile on a heavy theme and twenty plugins until pages crawl on mobile, and every plugin is something to update. Shopify is the sensible default for most stores, with a few structural quirks around URLs and duplicate collection paths that need handling. A custom or static build gives the most control over speed and markup, but your team needs a way to edit content without a developer.
How I'd choose: pick the platform that fits how your business sells and who updates the site. Then hold it to the same standard, which is fast real-user performance, clean indexable URLs and structured data that matches the page.
We build and maintain all three. See WordPress maintenance and Shopify.
Sources: web.dev: Web Vitals
How much does a new website cost?
We quote website builds as a fixed fee after scoping, and the price is driven mostly by page count, custom design, content work, integrations and how much existing SEO has to be protected.
A small service-business site with a handful of pages, a contact form and call tracking is a modest project. A site with dozens of service and location pages, a CRM integration, ecommerce or a migration from an older site with years of rankings is a much larger one, because the redirect mapping and testing take real time.
Two costs people forget: content and upkeep. Someone has to write pages that answer real questions, and someone has to keep the site updated, backed up and fast after launch.
What I'd push back on is any quote that doesn't mention redirects, tracking or speed. Those are where cheap builds get expensive later. Tell us what you need through the contact form and we'll scope it.
What should a local business do first: Google Business Profile, website or SEO content?
For most local businesses, start with the Google Business Profile, because it feeds the map pack and is the fastest thing to fix, then make sure the website backs up what the profile says.
Get the profile right first: correct business name, categories, service area, hours and phone, real photos and a steady habit of asking customers for reviews. Google's own guidelines are strict about names and addresses, so don't stuff keywords into the business name.
Then the website. Each core service needs its own page that says clearly what you do, where you do it and how to reach you, with the same name, address and phone as the profile. That consistency is what search engines and AI answers use to decide you're one real business.
Content comes third: answers to the questions customers ask before they call. See Google Business Profile and local SEO.
Sources: Google Business Profile Help: Guidelines for representing your business
How can I tell if my website is hurting my search visibility?
Open Google Search Console and look at three reports: page indexing, Core Web Vitals and performance over the past year. Together they show most website-caused problems.
Page indexing tells you how many of your pages Google has chosen not to index, and why. If important service pages sit under crawled but not indexed or excluded by noindex, the site is in the way. Core Web Vitals shows whether real visitors on mobile get a slow or jumpy experience. The performance report shows whether clicks and impressions dropped around a specific date, which usually lines up with a redesign, plugin update or hosting change.
If you don't have Search Console set up, that's the first fix. It's free and it's Google's own view of your site.
When the reports point to a problem but not the cause, that's what our technical SEO audit is for.
Sources: Search Console Help: Page indexing report, web.dev: Web Vitals
