These are not easy times for web designers and developers. A business website can be generated with AI in a few minutes, and offers for 500 euros now arrive by cold email. That is not bad in itself. AI is a good tool, I use it every day. But a tool alone does not make a good website.
A cordless drill does not make you a craftsman
Almost everyone has a cordless drill in the basement. Still, you call a craftsman when the kitchen needs fitting. Not because you lack the tool, but because the craftsman knows how to use it properly: where to drill, what the wall can carry, what will hold in the end.
AI and websites work the same way. AI delivers a page in seconds. Whether that page fits your business, gets found on Google, is legally sound and turns visitors into enquiries is not decided by the tool, but by whoever uses it.
Five companies, five websites, one layout
I looked at five websites of local businesses: two building cleaners, two clearance companies and an electrician. Different trades, different cities, different colours. And yet you can tell at first glance that they come from the same kit. Names, logos and places are deliberately made unrecognisable. This is not about the businesses, it is about the pattern.
What almost all of them share:
- A dark stock photo with a colour overlay, or a huge headline across the full width
- A small line in capital letters above the headline
- Two buttons right below: "Free quote" and "Call" or "WhatsApp"
- A row of check marks: fixed price, reliable, insured
- Review badges from Google or Trustpilot
- A fixed "Call now" bar at the bottom
- Interchangeable phrases like "fast, clean and reliable" or "personal, professional, affordable"
Two of the pages are even the same template, once in green, once in yellow. Open them one after the other and you see right away: only the colour was swapped.
Why that is a problem
Interchangeable means easy to mix up
A website should show why this particular business is the right one. If it looks like the competitor's site, with the same sentences and the same stock photos, a visitor has no reason to choose you. What is missing are the things only you have: real photos of you and your team, your story, concrete examples from the region, honest answers to your customers' questions.
Google and AI search notice it too
Google assesses whether a page has its own value and visibly comes from a real company. Pages built from interchangeable text blocks struggle against competitors with real content. The same goes for AI search such as ChatGPT or Google's AI overview: they recommend businesses about which they find concrete, verifiable facts.
Risks you do not see
With quickly generated websites I keep running into the same mistakes, and they only show up once there is trouble:
- Data sent to Google without consent: embedded maps, fonts loaded from Google servers or analytics tools load on the first visit without asking. For dynamically loaded Google Fonts without consent, the Munich Regional Court I has already awarded damages (case 3 O 17493/20).
- Incomplete legal notice: for a limited company, for example, the register court and commercial register number are missing, or the page still refers to the old German Telemedia Act. A classic reason for cease-and-desist letters in Germany.
- Wrong address for Google: some kits enter their own test address as the main address. Google then does not know which domain is the real one.
- No control: the page sits on the provider's servers, often outside the EU. Anyone who wants to switch finds out that they do not own the code.
This is not legal advice, but each of these points can be avoided if someone with experience takes a look.
What a custom business website does differently
A custom business website does not mean reinventing everything. Proven patterns such as a clear way to get in touch belong in it. The difference lies in the content and the craft:
- Structure first, then design: what should visitors see first, what questions do they have, and where do they end up? That defines the layout.
- Real photos instead of stock images: for business websites I work with a photographer who takes exactly the pictures the site needs, on site.
- Copy about your business, not about any business. With services, service area and answers you only find with you.
- Technology that Google and AI understand: fast loading, clean structure, structured data.
- Legally sound from day one: no data to third parties without consent, a complete legal notice.
- You own the code. No kit lock-in, no subscription you cannot get out of.
One example is the website of a car dealership that I rebuilt completely: concept, copy, design, development and the move from the old system, without losing anything on Google. On mobile it scores 91 out of 100 in the PageSpeed test, up from 68 before.
Be careful with 500-euro websites
A cheap offer is not automatically bad. But ask before you sign:
- Who writes the copy, and does it come from your business or from AI?
- Where do the photos come from?
- Where is the site hosted, and do you own the code in the end?
- Who takes care of privacy and the legal notice?
- What happens after launch: who maintains the site, who helps when something breaks?
Without clear answers, you often end up paying twice: once for the site and once for the repair.
Already have an AI website? No need to panic
Many businesses already have a site from a kit, usually well meant and quickly made. It does not have to go. I offer three ways forward:
- Check: I look at your site and tell you what is wrong legally, technically and on Google. For AI visibility there is also the free AI check.
- Rescue: fix the most important problems, meaning privacy, legal notice, technology and findability, without starting over.
- Rebuild: a custom business website that looks like your business and not like every other site. Including a clean move so you lose nothing on Google. How that works is explained in the post on a website relaunch without losing rankings.
In short
AI is a powerful tool, but it does not replace someone who knows what a business website has to achieve. To stand out from the competition, you need a site with its own face, real content and clean technology.
Want a custom business website or have your current site rescued? Take a look at web design and websites or send me a short message via the contact page.