Two Opposing Agendas

SEO and design have been in a decades-long tug-of-war. SEO demands: “More words! More keywords! More content!” Meanwhile, design sighs and says, “Please, let’s keep it clean. Less is more.”

On one side, search engines reward content-rich pages. They want headers, alt text, detailed product descriptions, FAQs, blog posts. The logic is simple: more words mean more signals about what your site is and why it should rank.

Users Don’t Read, They Skim at best

But users don’t care about that. Users skim. They glance at a page, scroll once or twice, and make a snap judgment. If your homepage feels like a novel, most won’t stick around to read chapter one. Cognitive load—the mental effort it takes to process information—skyrockets, and people bail.

Balance Is the Trick

So who’s right? Well, both. A page needs enough words for Google to find it, but not so many that users feel buried in paragraphs. The trick is balance. Break content into digestible chunks. Use headings, callouts, and bullet points. Write with rhythm—short sentences that give readers a breather. And pair text with visuals so information feels inviting, not overwhelming. Collapsable content blocks can allow search agents to gather the rich information they want without forcing it to fit on the page.

A Dinner Party Analogy

Think of it like hosting a dinner party. SEO is the guest list—it makes sure people show up. Design is the vibe—it makes them actually enjoy being there. Without SEO, no one finds the party. Without design, everyone leaves early.

The real win comes when SEO and design collaborate instead of competing. Scannable text, thoughtful structure, and smart layout make pages both discoverable and delightful. And that’s the sweet spot: a site loved by Google, but designed for humans.