South Florida Web Design, Brand Management, SEO and Digital Marketing Agency

The world of web design is complex and fraught with misinformation. Chief among them is the belief that most web designers have a solid understanding of Search Engine Optimization (aka SEO).

In truth, the exact opposite is true. Most web designers know very little about SEO and this includes those with college degrees in Website Design.

A friend of mine received a Bachelor’s Degree in Web Design from a reputable University. When I asked her what she was taught concerning SEO she replied… “Not much.”

They gave her their definition and spent a little time explaining the basic concepts. However, they weren’t actually trained in the art and science we call SEO. They were told that work should be performed by an individual/company that specialized in Search Engine Optimization.

I agree with this as web designers are “artsy” by nature and not best suited to things that are highly technical. That’s not to say that there aren’t some who are good at both, just that it’s probably the exception rather than the rule.

The real problem is that most clients know little about the web design process and mistakenly believe that their web designer has optimized their site for the search engines. As many web designers forget to discuss the topic with their clients, the site is put live without being optimized.

To improve your chances of getting a beautiful website that is well-optimized for the search engines, it’s important you understand these three factors:

Web Design

In this phase, your web designer will work with you to create a nice looking website according to your project specifications. This part is primarily graphic in nature but it does form the foundation of the entire project.

Website Coding

After the website graphics are finished, the design will be coded such that it can be understood and displayed by browsers like Firefox, Internet Explorer, etc. Some web designers will use a program like Adobe’s Dreamweaver to code the design while others will hire a web coder to do the process manually.

As a general rule, designs that are “hand coded” by a code specialist are more likely to follow the standards set by the Worldwide Web Consortium (aka W3C). They are also more likely to be “lighter” in their design, which is beneficial to SEO.

Search Engine Optimization

After the site has been designed and coded, the work can begin to optimize the website for the search engines. This is best performed by a SEO Specialist.

The SEO Specialist’s job is to work closely with the client in an effort to understand their business and what outcome(s) they are looking to produce. With this information, the will begin the process of keyword selection and set about optimizing each page of the site.

In addition to the work performed to the site itself, the SEO Specialist will perform a variety of “off page” tasks. These tasks may include linkbuilding, social bookmarking, the creation of citations as well as many others.Don’t Most Web Designers Know SEO?

As you can see, successful web design is a rather complex topic and frequently requires the work of several specialists. Armed with this information, you’ll know what questions to ask to ensure your project is completed to your satisfaction.

After all, a beautiful website that receives little visitors won’t help you achieve much in the way of new business.

SEO Terminology – 5 Terms You Should Know – One of the reasons Search Engine Optimization seems so complex is that it there are so many foreign terms used. In this short article, I’ll list some of the most common terms and will try my best to give you “geek free” definitions.

1. SEO

SEO stands for “Search Engine Optimization.” This is a set of techniques and processes used by a SEO Specialist to improve your website’s rankings in the search engines for a particular set of keywords, or keyword phrases.

Of course, the real goal is to increase targeted website traffic in hopes of generating new business. It’s just that this is achieved through better search engine rankings. Studies have proven that the top 1-4 listings get far more traffic than the others found on the page.

2. SEM

SEM stands for “Search Engine Marketing.” Defining SEM is a bit tricky as many authorities have varying ideas as to what the term means.

However, as a general rule, SEM Specialists use three distinct practices to promote their clients’ websites:

• Traditional SEO techniques including both on-page and off-page search engine optimization strategies.
• Buying paid ads from the search engines that offer this type of service… primarily Google, Yahoo and Bing.
• Buying paid “inclusions” from the search engines. This is paying a search engine company for a guarantee that the website will be included in the search.

3. Serps

SERPs stands for “Search Engine Results Pages.” Basically, it’s the page that is returned to you whenever you use a search engine.

The goal of SEO is to improve your web page’s ranking amongst the other “organic” listings in the SERPs.

4. Keyword Phrase

A keyword phrase is any set of words that is searched upon by internet “surfers.” It is the goal of the SEO Consultant to determine which keyword phrases are most relevant to your website/business and are likely to bring you targeted website traffic.

These keyword phrases are then used in the optimization process with the intent of getting your web page’s strong rankings for the chosen terms (aka keyword phrases).

5. Backlinks

Defining backlinks is a challenge only because there are a variety of other terms that mean basically the same thing. You may also hear them referred to as text links, anchor text links, hypertext links, one-way links or contextual links.

A backlink occurs whenever another site links to yours. The link could come from an image or banner type graphic or it could be a linked piece of text.

For SEO purposes, the text links are of primary importance with the goal being to get links that include the keyword phrases you are optimizing for.

While there are hundreds of other SEO terms to learn, these will give you a good framework to build upon. Whether you are learning more so you can improve your own site or just want to be able to communicate better with your SEO Specialist, I encourage you to keep studying.

Search Engine Optimization

• A – The top three ads in the shaded area are paid ads. They have been created through Google’s Adwords program and are Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ads.

• B – As I conducted a “local search,” Google is showing me a Google Map relevant to my search. The red drops, lettered “A-G,” represent the businesses that have claimed their Google Places listings.

• C – These ads are also paid ads created through Adwords.

• D – This is an “organic” listing that can be manipulated through SEO. You can see that this business has created/claimed their Google Places listing as the “A” tear drop appears in their listing.

• E – These two listings are standard “organic” listings… the kind most are familiar with)

Search engine optimization, aka SEO, is the term that refers to the things you can do to improve your website’s visibility in the search engines. Search engine optimization techniques focus on increasing  the organic, or natural, traffic that you receive based on your ranking within the search engines. 

The goal of search engine optimization is to ensure your website appeals to search engine crawlers, or bots. The search engines will take note of your site and its content, categorizing it in a way that will allow it to show up in the SERPs (search engine results pages) when certain keywords are typed. 

Search engine optimization is achieved through a wide variety of methods. Many webmasters or SEO professionals will focus on proper keyword research, clarity in the setup of your website’s headers, tags, file names and descriptions, external backlinking, internal cross linking, and quality content creation.

While each search engine uses its own algorithm for determining the ranking of every page that is indexed, it is possible to increase your rankings by making your site informative and visible via both on-page and off-page techniques. Sites that are designed with ease-of-use and quality information in mind tend to do better than those built sloppily and without a solid plan.

Search Engine Marketing

Search engine marketing, or SEM, is similar to search engine optimization but focuses less on natural rankings and more on the actual promotion of a website. SEM techniques generally include natural SEO but almost always branches out to include contextual or paid search advertising.

Paid search advertising models became more prominent in the late 1990’s, after the search engines themselves became more popular. SEM focuses more on business-oriented websites and their overall online marketing strategies. Because many of the paid advertisements appear at the top of the search engines, the FTC in 2002 responded to complaints by clarifying that paid advertisements and website listings must be clearly denoted so that consumers do not confuse them with websites that have obtained high rankings naturally.

It really doesn’t matter what type of website you have, whether it’s personal or geared towards your business. Incorporating search engine optimization techniques into the creation and ongoing upkeep of your site will ensure you receive higher levels of traffic and, ultimately, greater success.