The short answer
SEO-friendly website design means search engines and people can both read and use the site easily: real text rather than words in images, one clear topic per page, headings that describe the page, fast loading on phones, readable URLs, and links between related pages. The visual style matters much less than any of these.
The platform, the template, animations and exact word counts. A plain site that does the list above will usually outrank a beautiful one that doesn't.
The biggest SEO risk in a redesign is changing addresses without redirects and losing the text on pages that ranked. Plan both before any design work starts.
Not necessarily. Pages that answer real customer questions help. Thin posts don't.
Google uses page experience signals, and slow sites also lose visitors before they read anything.
Your main business details should. It helps, but it doesn't replace readable pages.
A website redesign checklist starts before any design: record which pages bring visitors and calls, keep their content and addresses or redirect each one, and carry over your name, address, phone and hours exactly.
2 min readLocal business schema is a small block of structured data, usually JSON-LD, that states your business name, address, phone, hours and service area so search engines can read them without guessing.
2 min readBook a time with Lehvel and we’ll go through what your business actually needs.