Phone: 03 4232 3655
Let’s be honest – most small business owners don’t wake up thinking about their website. Until they have to.
Whether it’s the phone that’s stopped ringing, a site that won’t load, or a Google ranking that mysteriously disappears, web design often becomes a crisis management job. We’ve seen it all – and it’s not always pretty. At Geelong Web Design, we’ve helped local businesses recover from some truly hair-raising website fails. Here are a few of the most common (and avoidable) horror stories – and how you can stay safely on the good side of the digital divide.
You know something's wrong when your website loads slower than a 90s dial-up connection – or doesn’t load at all. One Geelong café owner came to us after her site went down on a Saturday – their busiest day. Her hosting provider? A bargain-bin overseas company with zero support and shared servers so overloaded they might as well have been powered by hamsters.
The fix: We migrated her site to business-grade web hosting right here in Australia. The site now loads in under 2 seconds, and she's never had another outage. A quality host is the difference between a business that thrives and one that vanishes when it matters most.
One local tradie’s WordPress site was riddled with “premium” plugins that hadn’t been updated in years. One of them even opened a backdoor for hackers. After an attack wiped out his portfolio and contact form, he was stuck manually answering texts from confused clients.
The fix: We rebuilt the site from the ground up using lean, secure, actively supported tools. Fewer plugins, better performance, and regular maintenance ensured he could focus on jobs – not bugs.
Imagine investing thousands into a brand, only to have your website greet users with Comic Sans, or worse - something like the font shown in the image on this post! One client had installed a DIY template that came with five different font styles, clashing colours, and zero hierarchy. Visitors didn’t trust the site – and neither did Google.
The fix: We redesigned it with strong visual consistency, brand-aligned fonts, and clear layout. A professional, cohesive design doesn’t just look good – it builds trust and keeps users engaged.
It looked great. It loaded fast. But it ranked for nothing. A boutique in Geelong paid thousands for a “custom” site from an agency that never optimised for search. There were no title tags, no meta descriptions, and not a single mention of their key services.
The fix: We ran a local SEO audit, rewrote content, and implemented structured data. Within three months, the store began appearing on page one for key terms like “Geelong gift shop” and “custom hampers Geelong.” Visibility is everything – a beautiful site still needs to be found.
Some nightmares aren’t technical – they’re timelines. One Geelong builder came to us after waiting 14 months for a site from a so-called “agency” that outsourced everything overseas. He’d spent over $7,000 and still didn’t have a working contact form.
The fix: We launched a fully functional, mobile-first WordPress site in just three weeks – built entirely by our 100% Geelong-based team. Local service means local accountability. No outsourcing, no delays, no excuses.
Why do these things cause such stress for business owners? It’s not just about the broken buttons. It’s about lost revenue, lost trust, and the fear of losing control. According to marketing psychology, uncertainty triggers avoidance behaviour – meaning a broken or confusing website doesn’t just frustrate people, it repels them.
This is why clarity, speed, and emotional trust matter online. It’s why we build websites that not only look great, but feel intuitive, load instantly, and lead users to take action.
Here’s the good news: every one of these stories had a happy ending. And yours can too – if you take action before things break. Here's how to stay safe:
If your website feels outdated, isn’t bringing in leads, or is becoming a digital liability, it’s time to act. And not with panic – but with strategy.
At Geelong Web Design, we’ve helped dozens of local businesses go from stressed to streamlined. We offer fully managed web design, secure hosting, and local SEO – all done right here in Geelong.
Ready to turn your horror story into a success story? Request a free site audit and see how we can help.
It’s 2025, and SEO is more important — and more misunderstood — than ever. Many small business owners in Geelong think they’re “doing SEO” because they have some keywords on their site or pay for a directory listing. But here’s the truth: if your site is slow, outdated, or poorly structured, Google doesn’t care how many times you say “plumber in Geelong.”
And that’s the trap. Some of the most harmful SEO mistakes are invisible — they won’t trigger warnings or break your site, but they quietly cost you rankings, leads, and money every single day. Let’s fix that.
SEO isn’t a one-time job. Google updates its algorithm hundreds of times a year, and your competitors are constantly improving their content and websites. If your SEO hasn’t been touched in 12 months, you’re falling behind — even if your site still looks fine.
Good SEO is about regular updates, continuous optimisation, and monitoring results. If you haven’t had an SEO health check recently, now’s the time.
Ranking for “cheap website design” might bring in traffic — but not the kind of leads you want. Similarly, if your site only uses broad terms like “accountant” or “builder,” you’re competing against every firm in Australia.
Smart SEO focuses on intent and local relevance. That means targeting long-tail, geo-specific keywords like:
These are the kinds of searches real local customers are making — and they’re far easier to rank for.
If your business serves a local area but doesn’t mention it clearly on your site, you’re missing out. You should naturally weave location references into your page content, title tags, meta descriptions, and even image alt text.
Also, make sure your address is consistent across the web — from your contact page to your business directories. Inconsistencies here are one of the most common and fixable SEO problems we see in Geelong.
Site speed is not optional anymore — it’s a ranking factor. If your site takes longer than 3 seconds to load, visitors leave. And when they leave quickly, Google assumes your site isn’t helpful.
Here’s what slows you down:
Want a quick win? Ask us about LiteSpeed-optimised hosting in Geelong. It’s one of the fastest upgrades you can make.
Since 2021, Google ranks the mobile version of your site first. If your site still looks clunky or broken on phones, you’re not just annoying visitors — you’re actively sabotaging your rankings.
Modern SEO starts with responsive design. That means faster mobile load times, tap-friendly buttons, and layouts that adapt gracefully to different screens.
Search engines crawl your website just like users do. If your menu is messy, your URLs are inconsistent, or your pages are buried, Google struggles to index your content — and penalises you.
Clear menus, logical page hierarchies, internal linking, and proper use of H1/H2 tags all matter. So does using SEO-friendly URLs like /seo-services-geelong instead of /page?id=123.
We’re still shocked by how many Geelong businesses haven’t claimed or optimised their Google Business Profile. It’s one of the most powerful tools for local SEO — and it’s free.
Make sure yours includes:
This is what shows up when someone Googles your business name — make it count.
Don’t panic — these mistakes are incredibly common, especially for DIY sites or businesses who’ve been “too busy” to update their digital strategy. The good news? They’re fixable.
The first step is an SEO audit — a proper health check that shows what’s working, what’s not, and how to fix it. At Geelong Web Design, we offer free website reviews tailored to Geelong businesses — and we explain things in plain English, not tech jargon.
In a world obsessed with new tools, flashy templates, and AI design hacks, it’s easy to overlook something timeless: experience. Not just a few years dabbling with WordPress or clicking together Canva banners. We're talking about decades of living and breathing the web — from dial-up modems to mobile-first UX, from Flash animations to responsive design. And for small businesses in Geelong, that kind of depth makes a difference that goes way beyond surface-level aesthetics.
At Geelong Web Design, we’ve spent the last 20 years doing more than building websites. We’ve helped businesses launch, grow, pivot, survive, and thrive through two recessions, a pandemic, and countless algorithm changes. And what we’ve learned — through hard-won lessons and real client relationships — is that experience isn’t just about technical skill. It’s about knowing what *really* works for small business.
Every year, there’s a “hot new trend” in web design. Whether it's parallax scrolling, dark mode, animated cursors, or full-screen video, trends come and go. A web designer with 2–5 years of experience might chase these fads, trying to impress with flair. But seasoned web designers know how to separate novelty from strategy.
We ask better questions: Will this load fast on mobile? Does this design support your business goals? Will your 65-year-old customer base know how to navigate this interface? Experience brings restraint — and that restraint often protects small businesses from wasting time and money on shiny but useless features.
Check out the image of the old Barracuda Systems website, where we started many years ago. Its one of our original designs, from nearly 20 years ago. Yuck! Check out the price of hosting. How times have changed!
Some mistakes only reveal themselves six months after launch. Maybe it’s a homepage slider killing mobile conversions. Or a dodgy plugin update breaking your checkout page. Or a budget overseas developer ghosting you when it’s time to make edits. The painful truth is: the web is full of pitfalls for small businesses.
After two decades in the game, we’ve seen it all. And more importantly, we’ve fixed it all. That means when you work with us, you get preventative thinking. We build clean, secure, scalable sites — and we know the warning signs to avoid. We don’t cut corners because we’ve learned the cost of doing so. The result? Fewer breakdowns, fewer headaches, and a stronger foundation for your business.
One of the biggest differences between a junior designer and a veteran? Focus. While newer designers may get caught up in making something that *looks* amazing, we’re focused on results. That means fast load times, simple navigation, strong CTAs, and clear value messaging. Because your website isn’t just a design — it’s your 24/7 salesperson, your digital receptionist, your credibility builder.
We design for impact. And that means conversion-focused thinking from day one. Need leads? We build for that. Need bookings? We optimise for that. Need trust? We show proof. Everything else is decoration.
When we say we’ve been doing this 20 years, we don’t just mean on the internet — we mean right here in Geelong. We’ve worked with tradies in Belmont, cafes in Torquay, consultants in Newtown, and retailers across the Bellarine. We understand how Geelong businesses think, sell, and grow. That’s not something a remote freelancer or five-year-old agency can fake.
We know what local customers expect. We know what a bad NBN connection does to your site speed. We know how important it is that your site works on mobile, loads fast, and speaks to the people you serve. We don’t just offer “web design.” We offer local digital solutions that support real small business needs — here and now.
The longer you’ve done something, the better your systems become. Our process isn’t just a checklist — it’s a well-oiled machine, fine-tuned by working with hundreds of businesses over the years. From the first strategy session to launch day, everything has a purpose, and everything is handled locally, in-house.
We don’t believe in guesswork. We know what works because we’ve seen the data. We use proven tools, quality hosting, and long-term thinking. And unlike pop-up agencies that disappear in a year, we’re still here when you need updates or guidance — whether that’s 3 months or 3 years from now.
In small business, trust is everything. You don’t get that from a “we’ve been around for 3 years” agency. You get that from people who’ve stood the test of time, delivered through crisis, and grown with the community. Our longevity is your security. It’s proof that we’re reliable, accountable, and in this for the long haul.
So if you’re comparing web design quotes and someone’s pushing hard on their “5 years of experience,” remember: five years is just long enough to know how to build a website. It’s not long enough to know how to build a business through one.
We get it. There’s always a cheaper option. But cheap often means learning lessons the hard way — and paying for it twice. With 20 years of experience, we don’t guess. We don’t experiment on your business. We build solutions that are built to last.
That kind of thinking doesn’t cost you more — it saves you more. In time. In stress. In lost leads. And most importantly, in missed opportunities.
When Nintendo first introduced the Switch in 2017, it redefined what a home console could be. Now, with the long-anticipated launch of the Nintendo Switch 2, the question isn’t whether lightning can strike twice – it’s how brightly it can burn. Seven years after the original, the Switch 2 arrives with upgraded hardware, better visuals, and some long-awaited features – but does it deliver enough to justify the hype?
The Switch 2 keeps the hybrid form factor fans loved, but with a premium feel. The bezels are slimmer, the screen now boasts a crisp OLED+ 1080p resolution, and handheld mode feels more solid, less plasticky. The kickstand – a longtime complaint – is now full-width and adjustable, drawing comparisons to Microsoft’s Surface tablets.
Despite the more powerful internals, it remains whisper-quiet and surprisingly lightweight. It’s everything you liked about the original Switch – just better built.
Nintendo consoles have never competed with PlayStation or Xbox on raw horsepower – but the Switch 2 narrows the gap. Backed by a custom NVIDIA Tegra chipset, it supports ray tracing, DLSS upscaling, and 4K output in docked mode. It’s not going to outperform a PS5, but it no longer feels like a last-gen handheld in a next-gen world.
Games like *Zelda: Echoes of Time* and *Mario Kart X* load faster, look sharper, and run smoother – even in handheld mode. The OLED display shines with vibrant colours and contrast that puts the original LCD to shame.
Nintendo listened. The new Joy-Con controllers are slightly larger, more ergonomic, and most importantly – they’ve finally addressed the dreaded drift issue. Using a new magnetic Hall effect sensor design, inputs are more accurate and durable. There’s haptic feedback refinement too, giving games a more immersive touch.
Compatibility with existing Joy-Cons and Pro Controllers is a welcome nod to current Switch owners, meaning your collection isn’t obsolete.
The Switch 2 launches with a modest but strong lineup. Highlights include *Metroid Prime 4*, a revamped *Animal Crossing: New Horizons Deluxe*, and *Pikmin Worlds*. Perhaps the biggest headline: full backward compatibility with Switch 1 cartridges and digital games.
That means your digital library, save data, and nostalgia all come with you. It’s a move that shows Nintendo is prioritising user loyalty – and it pays off.
Battery life ranges between 5 to 9 hours depending on game intensity – an improvement, but not revolutionary. A new energy-efficient chip helps, and dock charging is faster thanks to USB-C PD 3.0 support.
It’s still the perfect console for flights, commutes, and couch co-op. The slight increase in size hasn’t compromised its portability.
Nintendo’s online infrastructure still trails behind its competitors, but some progress is evident. The Switch 2 supports cloud saves, quick resume between games, and a new friend system based on gamer tags instead of long numeric codes.
However, the Nintendo Switch Online service remains a mixed bag. Voice chat still requires the smartphone app (sigh), and online multiplayer isn’t as seamless as it should be.
The Switch 2 is priced at $649 AUD for the standard 256GB model, with a 512GB “Pro” version also available. While not cheap, it undercuts the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, positioning itself as the middle-ground console – one that appeals to both casual and core gamers.
Considering the portability, the first-party games, and backward compatibility, it’s a fair price – especially for returning fans.
If you already own a Nintendo Switch and love it, the Switch 2 is a worthy upgrade. Everything feels more refined, more powerful, more modern – without losing the quirky Nintendo soul. For newcomers, it’s the best entry point into Nintendo’s world since the SNES.
It’s not perfect – online features still need work, and the launch lineup is solid rather than spectacular. But the Switch 2 proves Nintendo isn’t just riding nostalgia – it’s reimagining it for a new era of gamers.
An excellent evolution of the hybrid concept. It doesn’t try to beat PlayStation and Xbox at their game – it changes the rules, again.
Looking to level up your gaming setup or launch your own game brand online? We help creatives and indie developers build sleek, high-performing websites that grow their audience.
It’s never been easier to build a website. Platforms like Wix, Squarespace, and Shopify make launching a site feel like a weekend job. And for many Geelong small business owners, that’s how the journey starts — out of necessity, not strategy.
But what happens when your business grows? When competition tightens? When your rankings stall or your brand no longer looks professional enough to earn trust? That’s where DIY hits its ceiling. This article is your guide to understanding when it’s time to leave templates behind — and step into a website tailored to your business.
DIY platforms often lure you in with words like "free" or "no coding required." But as with most things in business, you get what you pay for. While it’s true that you can build a basic site with minimal upfront cost, the long-term limitations add up:
These “small annoyances” often turn into major growth blockers. A DIY site is fine for launching — but it’s rarely fit for scaling.
One of the most overlooked drawbacks of Wix and Squarespace is their SEO rigidity. While they’ve improved in recent years, many DIY platforms still fall short in key optimisation areas like:
In contrast, a custom-built WordPress website hosted on fast, Geelong-based servers with proper SEO implementation can dramatically boost your discoverability. Especially if you’re targeting long-tail keywords like "local landscaping service in Geelong" or "best cafes Belmont area."
Templates are designed for the masses — which means they’re never designed for you. If your brand identity is a key part of your business (and it should be), cookie-cutter design won’t cut it.
You’ll blend in. You’ll look just like your competitors. And worst of all? You’ll limit your site’s functionality as your business evolves.
Need a booking system, customer portal, advanced forms, or seamless e-commerce experience? Most template platforms can’t support it — at least not elegantly.
A custom website doesn’t just “look better.” It’s engineered to convert. When done right, it works 24/7 for your business — attracting visitors, building trust, and guiding them toward action.
Here’s what a professionally built, custom site offers:
It’s the difference between a digital brochure and a business asset that works hard every day to win you more clients.
Web design isn’t just about aesthetics. It’s about how people feel when they land on your site. Trust. Clarity. Professionalism. DIY templates might be functional, but they often feel clunky or disjointed — which hurts first impressions.
Professional designers understand how to structure information, guide the user journey, and make a site feel intuitive. The result? Lower bounce rates, more leads, and higher trust — all measurable returns.
Here are some signs it’s time to upgrade:
If this sounds like you — you’re not alone. Most successful businesses in Geelong outgrow their DIY platforms within 1–2 years.
It’s easy to think of web design as a cost. But a well-designed, optimised website is one of the best-performing investments you can make. Custom websites pay for themselves through:
And if you’re working with a local team like Geelong Web Design, you get more than just a site — you get a partner who knows your audience and cares about your success.
In 2025, Google’s algorithm made another major pivot—and it’s shaking things up for websites across the country. If your Geelong business has noticed sudden changes in search rankings, you’re not alone. The culprit? Google’s “Helpful Content” update. This change rewards websites that create genuine, useful content for people—while penalising those that churn out low-value, AI-spammy, or copy-pasted material.
For local businesses in Geelong, this is both a warning and an opportunity. It’s a chance to stand out from competitors by creating content that speaks directly to your customers and their needs. But it also means the old tricks—keyword stuffing, generic blog posts, outsourcing to low-cost content farms—just won’t cut it anymore.
The Helpful Content System is part of Google’s ongoing mission to make the web better for users. In short, it prioritises content that’s:
This is particularly important for service-based businesses. If you run a plumbing company in Belmont, a café in Torquay, or a hair salon in the Geelong CBD, your website now needs to show your understanding of the local market, not just claim it.
If your website relies on any of the following, it may have taken a hit:
In other words, if your content is clearly there to “game” Google, you’re now being outperformed by those who are truly trying to inform or help their audience. For Geelong Web Design clients, this is a major shift in how we approach copywriting, blog strategy, and SEO as a whole.
So what’s the solution? In one word: value. Here’s how to ensure your content aligns with the update:
Geelong’s small business scene is competitive. Everyone from tradies to tourism operators wants that top Google ranking—and rightly so. But if you’re not keeping up with content trends, you risk being buried under competitors who are creating meaningful, customer-centric content.
This update gives local businesses a chance to beat bigger players. Why? Because you have an edge they don’t: local knowledge, real expertise, and authentic stories. All you need is a platform to share them.
Let’s take a few scenarios:
Here’s your action plan:
We’re helping local businesses adjust by offering strategic content reviews and rewriting packages tailored to the new Google standards. Whether you need a blog overhaul or a fresh set of service pages that speak directly to your ideal customers—we’ve got your back.
We’re also integrating content audits into our SEO packages moving forward, ensuring that your ranking isn’t just based on links or meta tags—but genuine, trustworthy content your audience will love.
Many small business owners in Geelong start with Wix — and it’s easy to see why. It’s cheap, it’s simple, and it promises fast results. But as your business grows, so do your digital needs. That’s when limitations start to show — especially in visibility, flexibility, and performance.
More and more local businesses are making the move from Wix to WordPress. Why? Because they’re discovering that while Wix is fine for getting started, WordPress is what you need to grow, rank, and convert.
Wix is marketed as the all-in-one solution. But once you’ve used it for a while — or tried to scale — cracks appear. We hear the same frustrations from Geelong business owners all the time:
These aren’t just technical annoyances. They directly affect your ability to attract customers, manage your content, and control your brand experience.
WordPress is an open-source platform — meaning it’s not owned by any single company and can be endlessly customised. You’re not locked into limited templates or feature sets. With the right developer, WordPress can do anything from a sleek brochure site to a complex booking system or eCommerce store.
Importantly, you own everything: your hosting, your files, your database. You’re not reliant on a single provider’s ecosystem, so you’re never stuck.
If you want to rank well in Geelong search results, your site needs solid SEO foundations. WordPress — especially when paired with a plugin like Rank Math or Yoast — gives you full control over metadata, page speed, mobile responsiveness, and schema markup.
Wix has improved, but its page speed and SEO structure still lag behind WordPress. Google rewards clean code, fast load times, and semantic HTML — and that’s where WordPress excels.
We’ve seen sites jump several positions on Google just from switching platforms and improving technical SEO.
Wix often looks cheaper — until it doesn’t. Here’s why:
By contrast, WordPress gives you freedom to grow without being penalised financially at every stage. That’s a serious consideration for Geelong business owners who plan ahead.
One of our clients — a Geelong-based wellness studio — came to us frustrated. Their Wix website looked decent but wasn’t ranking, and the booking system didn’t integrate well with their payment gateway.
We rebuilt their site on WordPress using a fast, SEO-optimised theme and integrated a real-time booking system with Stripe payments. Within 8 weeks of going live, organic traffic was up 63%, and online bookings doubled.
This isn’t unusual. It’s what happens when your site works with Google instead of fighting it.
Many business owners hesitate to leave Wix because they think it means starting from scratch. But with the right process, we can move your content, rebuild your design, and improve the back-end all at once.
You get a familiar look (or a brand refresh, if you want it), better performance, and full ownership of your digital presence — all with minimal disruption to your business.
Our team at Geelong Web Design handles everything from hosting to design, SEO, and training. Here’s what you get:
We’ve helped dozens of businesses across the Bellarine, Surf Coast and wider Geelong region get off Wix and onto WordPress — with real, measurable results.
If your Wix website isn’t cutting it anymore, you’re not alone. Most small businesses outgrow DIY tools sooner or later. When you’re ready for a site that performs, grows with your business, and actually brings in leads — we’re here.
Book a free migration strategy session and find out how easy the switch to WordPress can be. No jargon, no pressure — just local, honest advice.
There’s no shortage of web designers out there. Freelancer marketplaces are flooded, DIY tools are everywhere, and digital agencies pop up overnight. But for small business owners in Geelong, the difference between a “newbie” and a proven expert is often the difference between a website that wins and one that wounds your reputation.
At Geelong Web Design, we’re proud to say we’ve seen it all—and solved it all—over two decades. Every pixel and plugin we recommend is backed by real-world, hard-earned lessons that newer studios just haven’t had time to learn. We’re not guessing. We’re building on 20+ years of pattern recognition, mistake-avoidance, and success replication. Here’s what that really means for your business.
Web design isn’t just about making things look good. It’s about knowing what not to do. When you work with someone who’s only been in the game for 3–5 years, you’re often paying for their learning curve. Mistakes like:
- Choosing the wrong theme that breaks during updates
- Using bloated page builders that tank your speed score
- Overlooking mobile UX, accessibility, or local SEO best practices
- Ignoring Google’s evolving algorithm priorities
Each of those mistakes might seem small, but they cost you in leads, credibility, and visibility. And when you add them up? You’re staring at a rebuild before your site even turns two.
There’s a reason our web design process doesn’t cut corners. We’ve lived through every design trend, algorithm shift, and CMS update since the early 2000s. That means we build sites that don’t just look great—they’re resilient, scalable, and strategically aligned with your goals.
Here’s just a sample of what our 20 years of refinement delivers:
Faster load times from lean, hand-tuned codebases—not bloated templates
SEO wins from real-world ranking experience across hundreds of Geelong websites
Stronger branding from designers who know what converts and what distracts
Plugin choices based on stability and futureproofing—not popularity contests
Many small business owners fall into the trap of chasing low quotes. And it’s understandable—every dollar counts. But when you have to redo your site in 12 months because of amateur missteps, or worse, suffer lost customers from broken functionality, the “cheap” option ends up costing far more.
With Geelong Web Design, your investment is protected by layers of foresight. We’ve made all the rookie mistakes—so you don’t have to.
From Flash websites to mobile-first, from Google+ to AI search—we’ve adapted through it all. More importantly, we’ve helped Geelong businesses thrive through each shift. Whether you’re a café in Newtown, a tradie in Grovedale, or a boutique in the CBD, our web strategies are designed with local conditions, competition, and customer expectations in mind.
We’re not just experienced. We’re locally experienced. That’s a critical difference.
One of our long-term clients came to us after a costly redesign from a “fast and cheap” agency. Their site was stylish but invisible in search and painfully slow. Within 3 months of rebuilding their site from scratch—with proper structure, schema, speed optimisations and content—we turned it into a Google-first asset. Organic traffic tripled. Enquiries jumped 170%.
This isn’t luck. It’s what 20 years of proven process produces.
When you choose Geelong Web Design, you’re not getting one person with five plugins and a Canva Pro subscription. You’re getting:
All of it, done locally. No outsourcing. No handoffs to some mystery freelancer in another timezone. Just proven, professional, Geelong-based support from start to finish.
A high-performing website doesn’t just sit there—it brings in leads, builds trust, answers questions, and makes your business look the part. If it isn’t doing that, it’s not doing enough.
And if it’s built by someone without the scars and stories of experience? It’s not built for long-term business success.
The Divi Builder is one of the most popular WordPress tools for small business owners who want to create their own websites without touching code. It promises easy drag-and-drop design, a library of pre-made templates, and beautiful visual effects. But while Divi makes it simple to build a great-looking site, it often hides a dangerous trade-off: SEO performance.
For many Geelong business owners, the first website is a DIY project using Divi. Unfortunately, without professional knowledge, that good-looking design could be costing you visibility on Google. Let’s look at the most common SEO mistakes made with Divi websites and how to avoid them.
Divi is powerful, but it comes with a price: bloated code and unnecessary scripts. Each module and layout adds layers of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. DIY users often stack modules or nest rows inside rows, unknowingly increasing load times. Search engines consider speed a major ranking factor.
Sites built without performance considerations can suffer from poor mobile scores on tools like Google PageSpeed Insights. If your Divi site scores under 80 on mobile, you could be losing ranking ground to faster competitors.
Headings (H1, H2, H3...) are essential for both accessibility and SEO. Divi lets you visually format any text, but that doesn’t mean it’s being marked up correctly under the hood. Many DIY sites have multiple H1 tags, or use H3s where an H2 should go, confusing Google about what the page is actually about.
A clean heading hierarchy helps Google understand your content. Poor heading structure can dilute your keyword relevance and lower your rankings.
Divi’s Global modules save time, but when overused, they create duplicate content across pages. If the same testimonials or content blocks appear on 10 different URLs, Google might treat it as thin or duplicated content. This can reduce crawl efficiency and lower your domain authority.
Use global sections strategically and ensure each page has enough unique, keyword-rich content.
Visual appeal is where Divi shines, but many users upload massive image files straight from their phones or stock libraries. This causes slow load times and damages SEO. Worse, Divi doesn’t automatically generate WebP images or compress them without plugins.
Ensure all images are resized appropriately and compressed using tools like TinyPNG or plugins like ShortPixel or Imagify. Use alt tags that include location keywords like "web design Geelong" or "Geelong cafe interior".
Many DIY users forget to install SEO tools like Rank Math or Yoast, or worse, leave them with default settings. Meta titles and descriptions often go missing, and important pages are sometimes left noindexed.
Always set a custom meta title and meta description per page. Use your local keywords (e.g., “Geelong florist website design”) naturally and aim to keep titles under 60 characters and descriptions under 155.
Divi is mobile-friendly out of the box, but that doesn’t mean your custom layout is. Common issues include text overlapping, elements stacking incorrectly, or font sizes too small. Google’s mobile-first index means if your site doesn’t perform well on mobile, it won’t rank well overall.
Use Divi’s responsive view modes and test on real devices. Adjust paddings, margins, and font sizes manually if needed.
Pitfall #7: Lack of Schema Markup and Structured DataSchema markup helps Google understand your site better — reviews, services, business info, FAQs. Divi doesn’t add this by default, and DIY users often skip it. That’s a missed opportunity to earn rich results in search.
Use an SEO plugin that supports schema, or custom code it in. This is particularly valuable for local SEO: add LocalBusiness schema with your address, opening hours, and service area in the Geelong region.
The good news? You don’t have to abandon Divi. With professional help, a site audit, and some tweaks, you can dramatically improve your SEO performance while keeping your Divi design intact.
We offer SEO audits specifically for Divi and WordPress sites. We review code output, heading structure, image weight, plugin conflicts and more. Then we clean it up without disrupting your visual design or layout.
If you run a small business in Geelong, you can’t afford to be buried in search results. Whether you’re a local gym, café, tradie or creative studio, your website needs to be found.
As a Geelong-based web design company, we understand the local market and we know how to optimise WordPress and Divi for both speed and search. You get the best of both worlds — a beautiful site and visibility where it matters.
If your Divi site isn’t bringing in leads, it’s time to get help. Book a free website SEO health check with our local team. We’ll walk you through your current performance and show you quick wins to help your site climb the rankings.
For many small businesses in Geelong, the idea of saving thousands on a new website by outsourcing overseas can be tempting. Promises of quick turnarounds and rock-bottom pricing lure business owners into thinking they're getting a great deal. But what seems like a bargain at first often unravels into a costly mistake—missed deadlines, poor communication, limited support, and a final product that feels generic and underwhelming.
At Geelong Web Design, we’ve had countless clients come to us for help after disappointing offshore builds. These stories aren’t just common—they’re systemic. From broken contact forms to mobile sites that don’t render properly, these rushed sites cause more damage than they’re worth. And by the time business owners turn to a Geelong web design company to clean up the mess, the original savings have long vanished.
One local café owner, Jess, thought she scored a deal with a $600 overseas-built site. But when her menus wouldn’t load on phones, and her online booking system kept crashing, she lost dozens of potential customers weekly. Eventually, she came to us, frustrated and disheartened. Our team completely rebuilt her site with a mobile-first approach and integrated a custom booking form that actually worked. Within two months, her weekday lunch traffic had doubled.
This isn’t just a one-off. The pattern repeats across industries—tradies, retailers, consultants—all initially opting for the cheapest route, only to end up paying twice.
Working with a Geelong-based web designer means more than proximity. It’s about shared time zones, cultural understanding, and ongoing support. At Geelong Web Design, we meet face-to-face with clients, learn about their businesses, and provide tailored strategies—not cookie-cutter templates. We don't just build websites—we solve business problems.
There’s a reason cheap overseas websites often underdeliver. Many of these providers rely on recycled templates, junior developers, and high-volume churn. You get limited control, vague timelines, and substandard results. What's worse, once the site is live, support often disappears—leaving small business owners stuck with technical issues they can’t fix.
In contrast, a Geelong web design agency like ours offers end-to-end service—from planning to launch to ongoing support. That’s why local businesses trust us not just to deliver, but to stand by them.
While an offshore build may get you a basic homepage, it rarely considers your growth. What happens when you want to add ecommerce? Or integrate with your CRM? A quality site from a Geelong digital agency is built with scalability in mind—meaning your site can evolve as your business does.
We’ve helped local trades grow into national service providers and small boutiques expand into full ecommerce stores. It all starts with building on the right foundations.
Your website isn’t an island. Cheap builds often ignore the bigger picture—leaving you with a site that’s slow, unoptimised, and disconnected from your business goals. Our team integrates all aspects:
It’s not just a build—it’s a business asset.
A professional website is an investment in your business credibility, lead generation, and future growth. Choosing a web design agency Geelong means fewer compromises, better outcomes, and real support when you need it. The emotional relief clients feel when they finally have a site they’re proud of is priceless.
We’re not the cheapest—and that’s the point. We’re the most effective. And that effectiveness means better Google rankings, more leads, and more trust from your customers.
You're not alone. Many businesses have come to us in frustration after an offshore disappointment. Here's what we can offer:
We care about your success because we’re part of the same community. Our work is visible across Geelong—from Belmont and Newtown to the Bellarine and Surf Coast. Whether you're a solo tradie or an established studio, we bring personal care to every build.
Ready to ditch the disappointment? Let’s talk. Get a quote from a local expert today and see what working with a real partner feels like.
