Episode 25

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Published on:

17th May 2026

What AI-built websites actually get right

"The thing about AI-built websites that the doom merchants don't want to admit — some of this stuff is really good. Not good for something a machine did, actually good, and in some cases better than I see on plenty of human-built sites."

Hi, I’m Nikki Pilkington. My site is https://nikki-pilkington.com/ and in this episode of “SEO F**king What”, this is Part Two of my AI Website series — and if you didn’t build your site with AI, don’t switch off. A lot of what I cover here applies to traditionally-built websites too.

I audited five AI-built B2B websites in April 2026. Proper audits — SE Ranking crawls, manual HTML review, page speed insights, schema testing, the lot. I went in expecting a horror show. What I found was much more interesting.

Here’s what I’m covering:

  • Why AI-built websites look genuinely good — and what that means for small business owners who couldn’t previously afford proper design
  • How AI handles mobile layouts correctly as standard (and why plenty of human-built sites still can’t say the same)
  • Why the site structure and navigation of AI-built sites makes sense — and why yours might not anymore
  • The forms, validation, and error handling that actually work (unlike that contact form you probably don’t know is broken)
  • Why three of the five sites had genuinely thoughtful commercial pages — comparison pages, “is this right for you” pages, and decision-support content
  • How AI approached schema markup — what it got right, and the teaser for what went wrong in Episode Three

I also give you a piece of homework. Not the vague “something to think about” kind. The go-and-check-it-this-week kind: look at your commercial pages and ask whether they’re actually helping someone make a decision.

If you’ve been dismissing AI websites out of hand, or if you’ve built one and been told it’s worthless, this episode is for you. And yes, Episode Three is where things get uncomfortable — but that’s next week.

Get found. Make money. Stop stressing. Start giving a shit about your readers.

Links mentioned:

Non-Wanky SEO Courses: https://nonwankyseo.com

Follow Nikki:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikkipilkington/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nikkipilkington/

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/nikkipilkington.bsky.social

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SEO F**king What - Get Found on Google and make money from your website with practical SEO tips
SEO advice that cuts through the crap and doesn't treat you like an idiot
This podcast exists because you deserve better than the SEO bollocks currently being sold to you.

Every week, I'll give you 10-15 minutes of straight talk about SEO. Practical advice that actually works for B2B websites trying to get found on Google/search and make money. The kind of stuff that's been proven over years, not dreamed up last Tuesday by some LinkedIn tosspot.

Real SEO from someone who's been doing this since dial-up was considered fast. I'll tell you what works, what's complete nonsense, and which tactics will get your website buried faster than you can say "guaranteed first page rankings."

I'm calling out the bullshitters. The agencies promising the world and delivering fuck all. The LinkedIn gooroos flogging courses about things that don't actually exist. The AI SEO "hacks" destroying perfectly good websites. The expensive tools you don't need. The "experts" who learned SEO from a YouTube video three months ago. If someone's talking bollocks about SEO, you'll hear about it here.

More importantly, I'm telling you what to do instead. Every rant comes with actual, practical steps you can take. Real actions that get results, not theory that sounds clever but does bugger all for your rankings. "Do this, then do that, and you'll see movement." That's it. That's the format.

You're running a B2B business or managing a B2B website. You've probably been burned by an SEO agency before. Maybe they took your money and delivered a fancy report full of words that meant absolutely nothing. Or they promised first page rankings and disappeared after six months of bugger all results.

You're sick of reading blog posts that say nothing in 2000 words. You're tired of SEO "tips" that are either blindingly obvious or completely bizarre. You want someone to cut through the crap and tell you what actually matters for your business, not what works for some massive ecommerce site with a budget the size of a small country.

You don't need a PhD in technical SEO. You need to know what's worth your time and what's complete bollocks. You need to know which tactics will actually bring in leads and which ones are just expensive ways to make yourself feel busy. That's what I'm here for.

This isn't some sanitised, corporate-approved SEO podcast where everyone's lovely and we pretend all tactics are equally valid. They're not. Some are brilliant. Most are pointless. And some will actively fuck up your website while the "expert" who recommended them is off selling the same dodgy advice to the next poor sod.

I swear. A lot. If that bothers you, there are plenty of other podcasts out there with hosts who never offend anyone. Go find them. They're very nice. They're also very boring.

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Fifteen minutes. One topic. I'll tell you what's pissing me off this week in the SEO industry, why it matters to your website, and what you should actually do about it. Then I'm done. You can get back to running your business.

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About your host

Profile picture for Nikki Pilkington

Nikki Pilkington

SEO consultant and copywriter who's spent 30 years watching people panic about algorithm updates while ignoring what actually works.

I help B2B businesses get found on Google without the jargon, false promises, or expensive courses targeting 0.19% of traffic. My morning starts with SE Ranking and Google Search Console because data beats hunches every time.

I don't do overnight results, premium-priced basic tactics, or clients I can't genuinely help. If you don't need my services, I'll tell you that too.

Fair warning: I'm a little bit sweary...