AI website builders

AI websites sound like a really good idea, it’s something that we all need to save more of, and that’s time.

In this article we will look at the positives, plus what we think are some of the draw-backs of AI website builders.

As highly experienced web designers, we are always keen to try out the newest innovations in web design, therefore let’s have a look at how artificial intelligence is changing web design.

 

What exactly is a AI website builder?

An AI website builder often consists of when a person simply enters some plain language prompts, such as “plumbers’ website”- then the builder starts to build a website. These builders can normally be split into two categories, lightweight AI builders as well as, full featured AI website builders.

A lightweight AI builder normally constructs very simple landing pages, however here’s the main draw-back we see with these websites, that is from SEO perspective.

They are very much like the DIY websites that have been around, for well over a decade, in that sure you can build a relatively low-cost website. However, try then getting that website to rank, then try and get it to be placed on say page 1 of Google.

It’s incredibly hard as sometimes there’s just no place to make simple on-page edits, such as to the meta titles, meta descriptions etc.
Sure, there will be some AI builders that do take SEO into account, and offer more functionality to their customers, these are the AI builders we would recommend.

 

Full featured AI builders

These are becoming more and more popular, that’s because you have the best of both worlds, a website that’s build with the speed of AI, but also built on a reliable CMS such as WordPress. We would say, and we are bound to say that this is no substitute for a true website designer, however, we would say that right?

 

What are the AI builder websites really good for?

Brainstorming

It could be the case that no-one in a team, or company can agree what their new company website should look like. Its therefore possible to use AI builders not to build a finished website, but to use for brainstorming. This is so the web design company can get the “broad strokes” in, in terms of the colour scheme, layout of text and images etc.

Then a more intricate design could be made by the web designers, after the rough, so to speak AI design has been approved.

Security issues

For some AI built websites, sometimes there can be security issues. A bespoke website, or a CMS that’s widely used, often there are many ways to improve the CMS security. However, with an AI site, a website that has been built with no consideration to security, could have security issues.

SEO performance

For us the main consideration would be the SEO performance of the website, for example, if the client wants to draw in more free visitors from Google, then need to think about organic SEO.

Now, it’s possible to get any website to rank on page one of Google if the SEO is strong enough.

However, it becomes very hard if the website hasn’t got much in the way of functionality. Therefore, if your thinking of building a new website in 2026. You want to obtain more customers from Google, its always worth checking with an SEO agency whether they can or want to optimise that website. It could be possible that the agency doesn’t work on AI built websites, preferring only to work on say WordPress, Joomla or say a Drupal website.

 

Why do you recommend WordPress so much?

Nearly all the websites we build at W&P are built using WordPress. The reason for this is because WordPress now powers over 43% of all websites, which means that this CMS is not just popular it’s the most widely used content management system on the planet. Because of that, its proven, its reliable, it’s a good foundation to build any website from.

From Cardiff solicitors, through to hairdressers, through to builders, the vast majority of websites are built using WordPress. Not just that,

Google any local company, most of the results will be WordPress CMS websites, because there is a lot of ways the website can be optimised, then the organic and local search engine optimisation can be improved.

For example, WP plugins can be installed to install Schema mark-up, then you can use the in-built text editor to add H1-H6 tags, adding alt text is very simple. This is why, sure you can save a lot of time up-front using AI to design your website, but what’s the point if these websites are then hard to optimise (apply SEO to) later on down the line?

 

How much will it cost you to design a website?

We can design a 7-page website for £950.00. This is why many companies come to us, because although an AI builder can build the website very fast, with no coding experience needed, often there’s a monthly on-going cost.

Once you’ve designed say a new website for your construction business, then your tied into that platform. Your then tied in with say that AI platform, which can over the long-run sometimes be quite an expensive way of owning a website.

This is why businesses, especially in the city of Cardiff hire us. We can often design and build a website in less than 3 weeks from start to finish.

 

We can also take care of the copywriting for you.

Why don’t you recommend using AI platforms, such as the LLM’s to write all of the content marketing?

We don’t recommend using the LLM’s, that AI platforms to write the content marketing because these work tends to dilute or damage SEO performance. This is why top companies, they still employ copywriters to manually write the work.

Sure, manually writing the work, plus researching the work, that takes a lot longer, however to get a page to have a truly high Google EEAT score, often you cant rely on AI robots to write the work. The work needs to be written by authors, or at least working with people that have real knowledge on that product or that service.

For example, say we were designing a website for a new solicitors practice, that’s going to open overlooking Cardiff Bay area. Now, AI could write all of the work needed in less than an hour with some simple prompts. This is why a lot of website designers use AI, such as ChatGPT.

However, if the business wants to improve its organic and local search engine optimisation, then often what it will need to do is manually write the work. Perhaps an employee, business owner or a copywriter does this work, however, whoever writes it, its important that the work is unique.

If its not unique, and its written by AI, its likely to be deemed as low quality, then rank low in Google’s SERP’s.

 

Come to the web design experts in Cardiff:
If you’re thinking about designing your own website, perhaps using AI? Well, we would encourage you to think about using our web design services. We can design a new website for £950.00