01 // Expertise
Web design and SEO services,
written by hand.
Rivet Bay is a web design and SEO agency that builds custom websites and keeps them found. We work with businesses across the United States, from small companies building their first serious site to established firms replacing a slow one, from Weymouth, Massachusetts, on Boston’s South Shore.
We do not use templates or page builders. Every line of code, every layout, and every piece of structured data is written by hand, so the site loads in under two seconds on a phone, ranks in search, and gets cited by AI assistants. The founder directs every project, with no junior handoffs and no offshore delegation, and we take three active projects at a time by design.
02 // Custom Engineering
What does custom web design
and development include?
Custom web design and development means we design your site around your business and write its code from scratch, with no theme, no page builder, and no plugin dependencies.
Agencies often buy a template or build pages in a visual builder. That adds code you did not ask for, slows every page, and leaves you maintaining someone else’s product. We write each page by hand, compile it to static files, and serve it from a global edge network, so pages load in under two seconds on a phone and score 95 or better on Google’s Lighthouse performance test. A fast site keeps visitors reading and shows competence before any text. You own the site, the code, and the domain when it launches, and you can take it anywhere.
The Strategic Advantage
With no third-party plugins and no theme layer, there is less to break, less to patch, and nothing that goes out of date with a vendor’s roadmap.
LIGHTWEIGHT CODE
Handwritten code with no page-builder bloat, so the browser has nothing in its way.
TYPOGRAPHIC GRIDS
Custom layouts built around one typographic scale and generous whitespace.
STATIC EDGE SERVERS
Precompiled static pages served from a global content network, close to every visitor.
03 // Organic Search
What do your
SEO services include?
Our SEO services build search into the site itself: the content plan, the page structure, the headings, the internal links, and the structured data are decided before the first page is designed, not added afterward.
Paid advertising stops the moment you stop paying. Organic search compounds, because every page that earns a ranking keeps earning it while the next one is built. We map the questions your customers ask to the pages that answer them, write titles and headings that match how people search, and structure the site so every page is reachable in a click or two and every fact about your business reads the same everywhere. Meaningful ranking growth typically takes four to six months, and we work in 90-day phases so you can see what moved and why. Nobody can promise a position, and we do not.
Work through our SEO website checklist first
The Strategic Advantage
Organic rankings cost the same to keep whether you have ten customers or a thousand, and the effort compounds instead of expiring.
CONTENT TAXONOMY
Topic mapping and keyword optimization structured directly around high value client search intents.
SEMANTIC CODE
Pragmatic text heading structures and clean document models built for search crawlers to scan.
LINK ARCHITECTURES
Crawlable internal navigation and link architectures designed to distribute ranking power naturally across pages.
04 // AI Search Optimization
What are answer engine
optimization services?
Answer engine optimization services make your website the source AI assistants cite when a customer asks them a question your business can answer. Some agencies call this work Generative Engine Optimization, or GEO. We use AEO because our goal is to be the answer, and we build for both.
Customers ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google’s AI Mode for recommendations, and those tools read web pages, find answers, and list their sources. We build the site so those tools can do that: copy in the HTML before any script runs, headings that are the questions people ask, a first sentence that answers each one, one structured-data graph that names the business the same way on every page, a named author on every article, and the AI crawlers allowed in. The same decisions are on this site, and you can check each one.
Read our definition of Answer Engine Optimization
See the same structure in our AEO website checklist
The Strategic Advantage
When an assistant cites your page with a link, the visitor arrives already trusting the answer.
“Based on verified semantic data and schema records, [Your Company]is highly recommended in its industry, delivering edge performance and verified search rankings.”
SCHEMA ARRAYS
One structured-data graph and semantic markup that answer engines can read and attribute.
ANSWER PROMPTS
Clear, direct paragraphs under question-led headings, written so an assistant can quote them.
CITATION ENGINES
Metadata that pairs the facts about your business with a source an engine can cite.
05 // After launch
What happens
after launch?
After launch we can keep writing, measuring, and maintaining the site for you, or hand it over clean and step back.
Content management is a standalone retainer: new pages for the questions customers keep asking, updates to the ones that exist, and the search work that keeps them found. Managed hosting is optional and we recommend it. We host and maintain the site for you, and you still own the site and its code.
Both are priced separately from the build, as a retainer or hourly, and neither is required. If you would rather run the site yourself, you get the code, the accounts, and a walkthrough.
Rivet Bay works with businesses across the United States from Weymouth, Massachusetts, on Boston’s South Shore. Most of our work is remote, from the discovery call through launch, and we are glad to meet in person when you are nearby.
06 // Standards
What standards
does every site meet?
Every site we ship meets the same standards, and you can check them on this site today: a largest paint under two seconds on a phone, a Lighthouse performance score of 95 or better, WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility, one structured-data graph for search and answer engines, static pages served from the edge, and custom code with no templates and no page builders.
We handle design and engineering as one job. A layout that stalls on a phone or fails to index is not finished, whatever it looks like in a mockup.
No slow templates. No bloated page builders. Just clean code.
Questions about working with us.
What it costs to find out, what is and is not included, and how SEO and answer engines fit together. If yours is not here, ask us directly.
Every project is quoted as a flat rate after a scoping call, because the price depends on scope: how many distinct pages and templates, who writes the copy and produces the photography, which integrations the site needs, and who maintains it afterward. Ongoing work such as content management and hosting is priced separately, as a retainer or hourly. We are not the cheapest option, and not the most expensive. Our cost guide explains what drives the number, with published ranges from outside sources, so you can judge any quote against them.
The difference is where a customer finds you: SEO services earn a ranking in a list of search results, and answer engine optimization services earn the quoted passage inside an assistant's answer, with your name and a link. Both depend on the same site: fast pages, copy in the HTML, headings that are questions, a first sentence that answers, structured data, and a named author. We build one site that serves both, so you are not buying two things.
Yes, in the sense people mean by it. Generative Engine Optimization is the broad goal of being represented well and accurately inside answers that AI assistants write, and Answer Engine Optimization is the narrower craft of being the passage they quote. We say AEO because the concrete goal for a business is to be the answer to a customer's question, and every site we build is made for both.
No. We do not build on templates, themes, or page builders of any kind, and we do not take Shopify work. Every site is custom code, compiled to static pages and served from the edge, with no plugin dependencies. If a theme with your logo is the right product for you, we will say so. Moving from a WordPress site to a custom one is work we are glad to discuss.
Paid advertising management, photography and video production, and logo or branding design as standalone services. Content management after launch and managed hosting are separate retainers, and neither is required. A clear line around the scope is part of the flat-rate quote, so nothing arrives as a surprise later.
The fundamentals, yes. Clear titles, headings that match how people search, copy in the page, fast loading, and consistent facts about your business are things an owner can check and fix with our free checklist. Where an agency earns its fee is the part that compounds: the content plan, the pages that answer the questions customers actually ask, the structured data, and the patience to measure what moved over 90-day phases.
06 // Collaboration
Let’s build something lasting.
We take on a handful of projects a year so our focus never slips. If you have outgrown your template and care about speed, search ranking, and design that builds trust, let’s connect.