Why Your Website Isn't On Google (And Whose Job It Was)

Your web designer said your new site was SEO-friendly. It probably is. That's not the same as anyone finding it, and nobody told you. Hi, I'm Nikki Pilkington. My site is https://nikki-pilkington.com/ and in this episode of "SEO F**king What", I'm drawing a line that most web design proposals never draw. "SEO-friendly" means your site won't get in Google's way. "Search engine optimised" means somebody has made the decisions that get it found. They are absolutely fucking not the same thing, and the gap between them, where nobody agreed whose job it is, is the stuff that's keeping you off page one. This one is fairer to designers than my episode six, because most of them aren't conning anyone. I'm going to tell you where the design job stops, where the SEO job starts, and who's left holding the bit in the middle. Here's what I'm covering: — What "SEO-friendly" actually means on a web design proposal, and why it's a capability, not a result — The kitchen fitter who isn't cooking your dinner, and why an SEO-friendly site with no optimisation is a gorgeous kitchen with fuck all in the fridge — What your web designer owns: the build, sensible URLs, switching off the noindex setting at launch, the redirect map, a real sitemap, and whose name your Search Console, Analytics and domain are in — What your SEO owns: keyword research, which page targets which search, meta titles and H1s, the content plan, links, and months of watching and fixing — The bit in the middle that nobody owns, and why "who writes the meta titles?" is the question that gives it away — Seven questions to get answered in writing before anyone opens Figma, plus why a designer who says "you'll need someone else for the SEO" is worth their weight in gold I also give you a proper piece of homework. Not the "might do that one day" kind. The actual do-it-this-week kind: four checks, starting with whether your site is quietly telling Google to go away. If you build websites, there's something in here for you too: the SEO Build Pack for Web Designers, £35, one payment. If you've just had a new website built, or you build them, send this to your web designer. They'll either thank you or get very defensive, and both tell you something. Get found. Make money. And go and check that fucking noindex tag. Chapters: 00:00 SEO-Friendly Is Not Optimised 01:22 What The Two Phrases Mean 03:12 What The Designer And SEO Own 07:00 Seven Questions And Your Homework Links mentioned: Non-Wanky SEO Courses (the On-Page SEO Toolkit is free): https://nonwankyseo.com The SEO Build Pack for Web Designers (£35, one payment): [ADD BUILD PACK LINK] Episode 6, the designer episode (the one about the two grand plugin): https://seofuckingwhatpodcast.co.uk/episode/the-fking-seo-your-web-designer-promised-vs-what-you-actually-got Episode 21, on H1s and meta titles: https://seofuckingwhatpodcast.co.uk/episode/your-h1-and-meta-titles-are-killing-your-rankings-ffs Episode 11, on website migrations and redirects: https://seofuckingwhatpodcast.co.uk/episode/ffs-let-your-seo-help-with-your-fking-website-migration Episode 2, on who actually owns your accounts: https://seofuckingwhatpodcast.co.uk/episode/your-seo-sht-who-actually-owns-it Episode 24, with the 30-second H1 check: https://seofuckingwhatpodcast.co.uk/episode/why-websites-built-with-ai-are-fuking-up-your-seo Google Search Console: https://search.google.com/search-console Follow Nikki: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikkipilkington/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nikkipilkington/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/nikkipilkington.bsky.social