Traditional
SEO
Each service and area gets its own page, with the search phrase in the title and heading, fast load times and internal links that show Google how the pages relate.
Website Design for Small Businesses
Built to get you found.
I rebuild websites for businesses across the UK, often moving them off WordPress. The new site is a set of plain static pages on Astro, set up from the start for Google search (SEO), voice assistants (AEO) and AI tools like ChatGPT (GEO). With no page builder or plugin stack underneath, there's far less to slow it down or break.
The Problem
Where Older Sites
Lose Customers
A page-builder theme loads its full set of scripts and styles on every page, whether that page uses them or not. Each plugin adds more, and every update is another chance for something to break. Pages get heavier, and Core Web Vitals, one of Google's ranking signals, start to slip.
✕
Page builder and plugins: code for every feature loads on every page
✓
Astro builds: plain static pages, with scripts only where a page needs them
What we found on old sites we replaced
- RLE Waste Clearance
Area pages that were 65–71% identical in wording.
- Open-in Security Services
Thin, near-identical area pages, no published prices and no structured data.
- AM Rubbish Clearance
A broken security certificate.
Each one was a WordPress site. All three now run on Astro.
The Framework
SEO · AEO · GEO in a Single Build
The three overlap more than the acronyms suggest. Clear page structure, accurate business details and plain answers help with all of them, so the work is done once, in the build, rather than added later as three separate jobs.
Voice Search
AEO
Questions customers ask out loud get short, direct answers near the top of the page, with FAQ markup, which gives Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant something clean to read back.
AI Answer Engines
GEO
Schema markup describes the business, its services and where it works, and an llms.txt file sums the site up in plain text for ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI Overviews.
How It Works
How We Move
Your Site Across.
An existing site has history with Google: pages that rank, links from other sites, addresses people have bookmarked. A rebuild that ignores those throws them away. These four steps are how we keep them while the site underneath is replaced.
- 01 Map
Every Old Address Accounted For
We list every page on your current site and, where you can give us Search Console access, check which ones Google already sends visitors to. Those pages keep their content or get a clear new home.
- 02 Plan
One Page for Each Job
Services and areas get their own pages, written around the way customers search. Pages that repeat each other are merged or rewritten. On RLE Waste Clearance's old site, the area pages were 65–71% identical in wording.
- 03 Build
Static Pages on Astro
The new site is built as plain static pages, with schema markup and an llms.txt file in place before launch. Forms, call buttons and maps are checked on a phone screen as well as a desktop.
- 04 Switch
Redirects on Launch Day
Old addresses point to their new pages, so existing links and bookmarks keep working, and the new sitemap goes to Google. Rankings can move about for a few weeks after any relaunch, so we watch Search Console for anything Google flags.
Our work
Small business sites we've rebuilt recently
A walk-in car wash, a construction firm and a waste removal company. Bubbles Car Spa lists every price and keeps call and directions at the bottom of the phone screen. Hangard Construction, whose site we look after, puts its quote form in the opening screen. WasteWize does the same and adds a service page for each area it covers.
Hand car wash · Redhill, Surrey
Bubbles Car Spa
A walk-in car wash's website rebuilt with every price listed, and call and directions fixed to the bottom of every phone screen.
Website rebuild and social media
Construction & renovation · West London
Hangard Construction
A construction and renovation firm's website, rebuilt dark and premium with a quote form in the opening screen and WhatsApp on every page.
Website rebuild and quote form
Waste removal · West London
WasteWize
A waste removal company's website rebuilt with a quote form in the opening screen and service pages for each area they cover.
Website rebuild and local SEO
Free · No call required
Find out for free what's holding your business back.
Our free SEO audit, the Visibility Snapshot, is a manual look at what anyone can see of your business online today. I check four things from public data and email you one written document within one working day. No sales call, and I don't need any logins.
- Your website's speed, indexing, metadata and mobile layout
- Your Google Business Profile
- Where you rank today for your three main searches, on Google and on Maps
- Whether ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews mention you
- The one thing I'd fix first
Rather talk it through? Call +44 7513 852234.
Delivered within one working day
Get Your Free Visibility Snapshot
Tell me your website and where you work. I'll send back a written document on where you stand today and the one thing I'd fix first.
A snapshot of where you stand today. Doesn't include backlink audits, ranking history or reviews of another agency's work.
Manual review · no sales call · reply within one working day
Google-reviewed · read our Google reviews
Common Questions
Frequently Asked
Why build on Astro instead of WordPress?
Astro turns the site into plain static files, with no database or plugin stack to keep patched. Pages stay light, so they load quickly on a phone signal, and the SEO, AEO and GEO groundwork is part of the build itself. The trade-off is that there's no visual page builder for you to log in to.
Will moving off WordPress hurt my Google rankings?
It can if the old URLs are ignored, which is why every move starts with a full list of them. Each old address that matters is redirected to its new page, and content that already ranks is kept or improved. Expect some movement for a few weeks while Google recrawls the site. Nobody can promise a relaunch won't wobble, but a mapped, redirected move gives you the best chance of keeping what you've built up.
How long does it take to build a website with RankLocal?
Most sites go live within 2–4 weeks of the page plan being agreed. A large site with lots of area pages, or years of old URLs to redirect, sits at the longer end of that.
What does a new website cost?
There are three plans. Digital Launchpad is £499 to set up and £99 a month, Growth Engine is £1,495 and £449 a month, and Dominance Suite is £2,495 and £649 a month. Each monthly fee includes hosting and care, on a 12-month minimum term.
What does GEO mean for a business website?
GEO, or Generative Engine Optimisation, is the work that helps AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI Overviews understand a business: consistent details, schema markup, plain answers on the page and an llms.txt file summarising what you do. Nobody can make an AI tool recommend a business, but you can make yours easy to read and cite.
Do you only build for London businesses?
No. I'm based in London and build for businesses anywhere in the UK. Calls, the page plan and the launch all happen remotely, so where you are makes no difference to the build. Firms in London or the Home Counties can read the London web design page for the local side.
Industries I build for
Planned around the searches in your trade
An emergency locksmith needs a call button on the first screen. A physio clinic needs condition pages and online booking. The page plan starts from how your customers look for you.
Before you commit to a rebuild
- Sites we've rebuilt in Astro
Each client site on desktop and on a phone, with notes on what the first screen is built to do.
- The Growth Engine plan
The middle plan: 20 to 30 pages, a managed Business Profile and ongoing SEO once the new site is live.
- Web design for tradesmen
How the first screen changes for plumbers, roofers, electricians and the other trades we build for.
- Rebuilding a clinic site
Online booking, practitioner profiles and condition pages need different handling from a trade site.
- LLM SEO: how to get recommended by AI models
The two routes into an AI answer, what a model needs to know about a business, and how to measure it honestly.
- How London plumbers get more calls
Why borough pages beat one broad London page, and what goes on each one.
Ready for a site
that earns its keep?
Start with our free SEO audit, the Visibility Snapshot. Before you decide anything about a rebuild, I'll check your current site's speed, indexing, metadata and mobile layout, your Google Business Profile, where you rank today for your three main searches on Google and on Maps, and whether ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews mention you. It arrives by email within one working day with the one thing I'd fix first. It's a view of where you stand today, so it doesn't cover backlink audits, ranking history, competitor reports or a review of another agency's work, and I don't need any logins.