Should you let AI build your website? The honest pros and cons
You've probably seen the ads. "Build your website in 60 seconds." Type in what your business does, and an AI tool hands you a homepage, a few pages of copy and some stock photos before your coffee's gone cold.
So is that the end of paying someone to build a website? I build websites for a living, so you might expect me to tell you to steer clear. I'm not going to. I use AI every day in my own work. But a website has a job to do, and looking finished isn't the same as doing that job. Here's my honest take.
What AI website builders are genuinely good at
Speed. You can go from nothing to something that looks like a website in minutes. That's useful if you're testing an idea or need somewhere to point people while you get organised.
Getting past the blank page. Most people find it hard to write about their own business. An AI draft gives you something to react to, and it's much easier to fix a sentence than to write one from scratch.
Low upfront cost. Many website builders now include AI tools in their monthly plans, so it costs very little to get something online.
Modern-looking layouts. The templates behind these tools are usually clean and current, so your site won't look like it's from 2009.
Where they fall short
It looks finished, but it isn't
AI is very good at producing something that looks like a website. It's less good at producing your website. The copy tends to sound like everyone else's: "We're passionate about quality and committed to customer satisfaction." It doesn't know you've been in business for 20 years, that most of your work comes from word of mouth, or that customers always ask the same three questions before they book. Those details are what make people choose you, and AI can't know them unless you tell it.
It can get facts wrong, confidently
AI tools predict what sounds right, not what is right. A generated site can list services you don't offer, opening hours that were never true, or claims like "award-winning" with no award behind them. Even Google's own guidance on AI content says to check everything for accuracy before you publish, including page titles, descriptions and image descriptions. If your name's on it, you need to read every word.
Google can't always read it
Some of the newer "describe it and AI builds it" tools create sites where the content is put together in the visitor's browser, rather than sent as a normal web page. To a person, the page looks fine. To Google and AI search tools, it can look almost empty. My own first version of the Empire Foundations site was built on one of these tools, and Google wasn't picking up the pages I needed it to. That's a big part of why I rebuilt it in Wix Studio.
The SEO basics often get skipped
A page that looks good isn't the same as a page that gets found. AI builders often leave the behind-the-scenes work to you: page titles and descriptions written for search, a sitemap Google can read, redirects from old page addresses, sensible headings and image descriptions. None of it is visible, which is exactly why it gets missed.
Phones still need a human eye
Most of your visitors are on a phone. AI-generated layouts often look great on a laptop and slightly off on a phone: text that's too small, buttons that are hard to tap, images cropped in odd places. Someone needs to check every page at different screen sizes and fix what's wrong.
The parts that make you money aren't set up
A website's real job is to turn a visitor into an enquiry, a booking or a sale. That means an enquiry form that actually reaches you, an automatic reply so people know you've got their message, booking and payment systems that work, and a privacy policy that meets the NZ Privacy Act 2020. AI might add a contact form. It won't test that it works, or set up what happens after someone hits "send".
Does Google penalise AI content?
Not on its own. Google has said it cares about whether content is helpful, not how it was made. What it does crack down on is pages pumped out in bulk with nothing useful in them. So AI-written copy isn't a problem in itself. Generic, unchecked, same-as-everyone copy is.
How I use AI, and where I don't
I'm not anti-AI. I use it to speed up first drafts, test ideas, compare options, and create things like the AI-generated hero banner on a recent client site. What I don't do is hand it the keys. Every word gets checked against what the business actually does, every page gets tested on phones, tablets and big screens, and every form gets tested end to end before launch.
AI is a great assistant. It's not a great decision-maker.
A quick check if you've already built your site with AI
Read every page out loud. Does it sound like you, or like anyone?
Check every fact: services, prices, hours, the areas you cover, and any claims.
Open your site on your phone and tap every button.
Fill in your own contact form. Make sure the message arrives, and that the person gets a reply.
Search Google for your main service plus your town. Do you show up?
If you collect any personal details, make sure you have a privacy policy.
So, should you use one?
If you need a simple page up quickly, you're testing an idea, or you're on a very tight budget, an AI builder is a reasonable place to start. Just treat what it gives you as a first draft, not a finished site.
If your website needs to bring in enquiries, be found on Google and represent a business you've spent years building, it's worth having a person who knows what to look for. That's where I come in.
Not sure how your current site stacks up? I'll take a proper look and send you a plain-English summary of what's working and what isn't. No jargon, no obligation, and I won't chase you afterwards.
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