Web design has entered a period of dramatic opportunity and flux. AI-powered tools now offer greater value than ever to website owners, and further empower intelligent digital agencies like Kooba.
As the technology available to web design and development teams improves, we must update how we assess websites, and ask new questions of existing website solutions.
Here’s four basic questions to ask about your digital presence, and some advice on how to improve it over the next year:
Does your website convert users into customers?
The first question is an old-fashioned one, but still extremely relevant. Most websites need to convert users into customers, and whilst the tools for this have changed, the basic principles remain the same.
Measuring digital success
The first step is always understanding how well your site converts. This can be a challenge in itself, and can involve user-journey mapping, funnel analysis, and tracking key events such as sign-ups and form submissions. You’ll also need to benchmark your performance against industry standards and competitor websites, as websites in different sectors will convert at different rates (and in different ways).
Maximising lead-generation
Once you understand where and why visitors convert, you can set about improving your conversion funnel. This might begin with a UX review of your website, followed by conversion rate optimisation and A/B testing to provide data-driven improvements to your content and website layout. If users struggle to navigate through your entire website, you can undertake a more thorough redesign. Finally, for adventurous content teams seeking greater personalisation, AI-powered segmentation offers an exciting new option for raising engagement and conversions (more on this below).
Can your website attract enough traffic?
It’s one thing to convert visitors, but another to make sure they arrive. Good design will reward you with return users, but building SEO success also requires technical knowledge and backend optimisation.
Technical optimisation
At a basic level, good websites load quickly and show content clearly. This begins with a responsive and mobile-first design approach, and also relies on exceptional development work. When your website performs well in a technical sense, it will be rewarded by search engines such as Google, ensuring you receive more traffic and more leads. You can quantify this performance using tools such as Google lighthouse, and can use Google Search Console to check how your site compares with competitors across key search terms.
Design-driven content SEO
Effective SEO also requires relevant and well-structured content that attracts relevant users. This is an area where design teams can assist copywriters and marketing teams, helping align content with the actual users of your website. As with any feature of a website, content design begins with the creation of user personas, and then produces content frameworks to match these persona needs.
Is your website prepared for AI?
Of course, for some marketing teams SEO is already becoming old news. Attracting visitors from AI sources such as ChatGPT is now increasingly important, as is ranking higher within AI-overviews on Google and other search engines.
Attracting traffic from AI sources
A great place to start is with an audit of your existing website for AI-friendliness. Make sure that writing is evidence-based, contextual, and offers a unique perspective. Check that your website code is semantic and logical, and (when relevant) add ARIA descriptions to dynamic modules. Remember, good generative engine optimisation (GEO) relies on many of the same principles as conventional SEO!
Adapting content for AI tools
AI is not only changing the sources of traffic headed to your website, but also the possibilities of web design itself. We can now use AI tools to segment users in real-time, and present them with personalised content and modules. However, this requires the correct design foundations, most notably modular content blocks that can be rearranged safely by AI tools. If your existing website doesn’t seem flexible or adaptable, it might be time to adjust it in line with the possibilities of AI-powered personalisation.
Is your website accessible?
Finally, accessibility and inclusion is more important and valuable than ever before. Regulatory shifts in the EU have coincided with new commercial upsides, making investments into digital accessibility highly appealing.
The business case for accessibility
Accessible and inclusive digital content has always performed well from a commercial perspective. However, in 2025 we learned that Atlas, OpenAI’s browser solution, will use ARIA tags (an accessibility tool) to rank websites and content. This reflects the value of inclusive content in attracting visitors from AI tools, and the continued commercial importance of accessibility. As always, the more users can access your content, the better it will perform.
A changing regulatory landscape
From June 28, 2025, the European Accessibility Act has been implemented across the entire EU (and every product or service sold within the EU). For many digital services and websites, this mandates improved levels of accessibility and inclusion. The act itself is quite complex, but we’ve written an overview that you can read here. In short, it may be not only advantageous but also necessary to update the accessibility of your website.
New tools, same priorities
To conclude; the fundamentals of effective websites remain the same, but the technological possibilities of web design have expanded in exciting new ways. If you want to see how your digital presence can be updated in 2026, just get in touch with Kooba today, we’d love to talk more.
