AI is making websites easier to build. But what happens when everyone has a great website?

I've been thinking about this quite a bit recently, particularly with how quickly AI coding tools are developing.

Today, I can build a fully functional website in a day. Frontend, backend, databases, forms, authentication and SEO. Things that would previously have taken weeks can now be done in hours.

And all of this is possible with tools that are relatively new and still developing, which raises an interesting question. If anyone can build a fast, attractive and technically sound website, how much value will the website itself actually hold?

I suspect we're heading towards a point where websites become increasingly commoditized. Not irrelevant, but no longer the competitive advantage they once were.

And I think this has some interesting implications for SEO.

Take two law firms, for example. Both have excellent websites. They're fast, well-designed, technically optimized and full of useful content. But one firm has 30 years of experience, a team of established lawyers, thousands of cases behind it, published research, documented case studies and a reputation built over decades. The other has invested heavily in its website but has very little to demonstrate apart from it.

A good website is getting easier to build. A good reputation isn't.

There's a big difference between the two, even if their websites look equally impressive. AI can make building a website cheaper and faster. However, it can't create 30 years of professional experience or the reputation that many established can offer.

And that's where I think the current thinking around SEO needs to evolve. We've spent years focusing on getting people onto websites. Rankings, traffic, technical optimization and conversions have been the signals of success.

While those things aren't going away, more people turn to AI tools for information and recommendations, simply attracting visitors may become a smaller part of the equation.

Businesses will increasingly need to consider whether their expertise is being recognised, referenced and recommended when people ask AI for answers.

That means investing in things that are considerably harder to replicate: original research, genuine expertise, credible authorship, documented experience and a reputation that extends beyond your own website.

Of course, having these things doesn't automatically mean AI systems will recognise or cite them. Making information accessible and understandable will still be important. But in my opinion businesses that have something genuinely valuable to say will have a considerable advantage over those simply producing content for contents sake.

Perhaps the biggest change is that the website itself will become less of a competitive advantage, while the business, its people and the evidence supporting its expertise become increasingly important.

A good website is getting easier to build. A good reputation isn't.