The Problem
The business owner came to our Putney shop after a frustrating realisation: customers were finding competitors through Google, but not finding them. Their existing website had been built several years earlier using a generic WordPress theme. It loaded, it had their phone number, and it looked passable on a laptop screen. But it was failing in three critical areas.
Mobile Experience
When we tested the site on a phone, the problems were obvious. Text was too small to read without zooming. Buttons were difficult to tap. The navigation menu overlapped content. Images loaded at full desktop resolution, making the page slow on mobile data. Given that over 70% of local searches in the Wandsworth area happen on mobile devices, this was costing the business most of its potential audience.
Local Search Visibility
The site had no local SEO foundations. There were no location-specific pages, no mention of Wandsworth or SW18 in the page titles or headings, and no structured data to help Google understand what the business offered or where it operated. The Google Business Profile existed but was incomplete, with no service categories, few photos, and no posts.
Enquiry Conversion
The site had a single contact page with a basic form buried behind two menu clicks. There was no clear call to action on the homepage or service pages. A visitor who found the site would struggle to understand what to do next, let alone feel confident enough to make contact.
What We Found During the Audit
Before starting the redesign, we carried out a full site audit covering performance, SEO, and user experience. The key findings were:
- PageSpeed score of 34 on mobile (Google considers 50+ acceptable, 90+ good)
- No mobile-responsive layout — the theme used a fixed-width design
- Zero pages ranking for any local search terms in Wandsworth or SW18
- Average page load time of 8.2 seconds on a 4G connection
- No alt text on images, no meta descriptions on service pages
- Google Business Profile only 40% complete with no service areas defined
- Contact form had no confirmation message — users were unsure if their message was sent
Our Approach
We discussed the findings with the business owner at our Putney shop, which is about ten minutes from Wandsworth Town. Rather than patching the existing site, we recommended a full rebuild. The old theme was too inflexible to fix efficiently, and the site structure needed rethinking from scratch.
Design and Structure
We built the new site with a mobile-first approach. Every design decision started with how it would look and work on a phone screen. The site structure was reorganised around clear service pages, each targeting a specific offering the business provides. We added:
- A clear homepage with the business name, location, core services, and a prominent call-to-action above the fold
- Individual service pages describing each offering with enough detail for both users and search engines
- A dedicated Wandsworth/SW18 landing section making the service area explicit
- Contact details visible on every page, including a click-to-call phone number
Performance Optimisation
We compressed and converted all images to modern formats, eliminated unnecessary scripts and plugins, and chose a lightweight framework. The result was a site that loads in under two seconds on mobile — a significant improvement from the original 8.2-second load time.
Local SEO Foundations
Every page was built with local search in mind:
- Title tags and meta descriptions included relevant service terms and location references
- Heading structure used H1 for the primary page topic, with H2s and H3s for supporting sections
- Structured data (JSON-LD) was added with LocalBusiness markup, including the service area, opening hours, and contact information
- Internal linking connected service pages to each other and to the local landing section
- Content was written to match local search intent — answering the questions that Wandsworth residents actually ask when looking for this type of service
Google Business Profile
We completed and optimised the Google Business Profile alongside the website launch:
- Added accurate service categories and service area
- Uploaded quality photos of the business and work
- Wrote a complete business description with relevant service terms
- Set up regular Google Posts to keep the profile active
- Ensured NAP (name, address, phone) consistency between the website and the profile
Results
The new site went live approximately three weeks after the initial consultation. Within the first month:
- Mobile PageSpeed score improved from 34 to 92
- Page load time dropped from 8.2 seconds to 1.8 seconds
- The site began appearing in Google search results for local service terms that previously returned zero visibility
- Google Business Profile views increased after the profile was completed and optimised
- The business received its first website-generated enquiries through the new contact system
The owner noted that before the redesign, the phone never rang from the website. Within weeks of launch, enquiries were coming through both the contact form and the click-to-call button.
Why This Matters for Wandsworth Businesses
Wandsworth has a competitive mix of independent businesses and larger chains. For service businesses around Old York Road, Wandsworth Town station, and the Southside area, local search visibility is often the difference between being found and being invisible. A website that works well on mobile and ranks for relevant SW18 searches can generate a steady flow of local enquiries without ongoing advertising spend.
Key Takeaway
A professional-looking website is not the same as a high-performing one. If your site is slow on mobile, invisible on Google, and difficult to act on, it is likely costing you business — regardless of how it looks on a desktop screen. The fix does not have to be complicated or expensive, but it does need to address mobile performance, local SEO, and clear conversion paths together.
Need a Website That Actually Generates Enquiries?
If your Wandsworth business has a website that is not pulling its weight, we can help. We build professional, mobile-first websites from £995 with local SEO included. Our Putney shop is ten minutes from Wandsworth Town — get in touch or call 020 7610 0500 for a free initial review.
See our web design and SEO in Wandsworth page or our full web design and SEO services for details.
What Was Happening
A long-established service business in Wandsworth SW18 had a website that looked acceptable at first glance but was underperforming where it mattered most: local discovery and conversion. Most new customers were still coming through referrals because the site was not visible for local service searches and was difficult to use on phones.
The owner had already invested in the old website and was understandably hesitant to start again. They asked for a clear diagnosis of what was broken and whether targeted fixes could recover performance. Our initial review showed that the structural and mobile limitations of the old build were significant enough that patching would cost more over time than a clean rebuild with proper local SEO foundations.
Our Diagnosis
The audit identified three root causes. First, the mobile experience was poor: heavy page assets, fixed-width layout behaviour, and weak interaction design reduced usability and increased drop-off. Second, local SEO fundamentals were incomplete: location signals in metadata and headings were inconsistent, structured data was missing, and page architecture did not map clearly to search intent. Third, conversion pathways were weak: key calls to action were not prominent and contact flow required too many steps.
We also found gaps between the website and Google Business Profile configuration. Category and service information were underdeveloped relative to competitors, and content freshness signals were limited. Together, these issues explained why visibility and enquiry volume remained low even though the business had strong offline credibility.
How We Fixed It
We rebuilt the site with a mobile-first structure and lean page delivery. Service pages were restructured around clear intent, with improved hierarchy, concise conversion paths, and persistent contact options. We optimised imagery and reduced unnecessary script weight to bring mobile performance into a reliable range.
On the SEO side, we implemented location-aware metadata, improved internal linking across relevant services, and added LocalBusiness schema for clearer entity and service-area interpretation. Page copy was aligned to practical local queries rather than generic statements, and each core page was given a distinct purpose.
In parallel, we completed Google Business Profile improvements so on-site and off-site local signals were consistent. This included service detail alignment, improved media coverage, and a repeatable publishing cadence to keep profile activity current.
We also delivered a clear post-launch operating checklist covering profile updates, content refresh cadence, and monthly performance checks so gains would persist beyond the first ranking uplift.
The Result
After launch, the business moved from minimal local visibility to discoverable positions for priority service queries in and around SW18. Mobile usability improved immediately, page speed metrics rose sharply, and contact actions became easier to complete. Enquiry flow through both click-to-call and form submissions increased within the first month.
Over the following weeks, local ranking stability improved and the owner reported a measurable shift from passive website presence to active lead generation. The project delivered not only a better-looking site, but a better-performing one across discoverability, usability, and conversion.
Why This Happens
Many small business websites fail for structural reasons, not because the business lacks demand. A desktop-first build with weak local SEO can look professional yet still underperform in modern search and mobile behaviour patterns. Local customers search on phones, expect fast pages, and make decisions quickly based on clarity and trust signals.
When mobile performance, local relevance, and conversion flow are treated as separate tasks, results are usually inconsistent. When they are designed together from the start, businesses see stronger compounding gains because the same improvements help both rankings and real enquiry outcomes.
That is why redesign work should be treated as a business system improvement, not only a visual update.
Local Help in Wandsworth SW18
We help businesses in Wandsworth SW18 improve website performance with practical, local SEO-aware redesign work. If your current site is slow on mobile, not showing for local terms, or not converting visits into enquiries, we can audit the blockers and prioritise fixes by business impact. We support Wandsworth directly from our Putney base and cover nearby areas across South West London.
Prevention Tips
Audit mobile usability and load speed quarterly; small regressions compound over time.
Keep location signals consistent across titles, headings, schema, and profile data.
Review contact paths on key pages so users can call or enquire without extra steps.
Treat Google Business Profile updates as an ongoing operational task, not a one-off setup.
Run monthly checks on mobile speed, broken links, and form completion flow so small issues do not quietly reduce conversions.
Update local proof points regularly, including recent jobs, service-area mentions, and profile photos tied to live activity.