SEO: Web Designer Conflicts

Although I, Benjamin Kerpe, would be what you call a creative director of a web development company, I must be fair and say that you should not rely on your Web Developer to manage your SEO project. Neglecting this advice can cost you thousands of dollars and there is a lot of snake-oil out there in the web development world.

Many companies advertise Search Engine Optimization and some claim to get you on the first page. What many people don't understand is that nobody knows how Google, Yahoo, MSN, ect work their algorithms. We can only base our work around proven methods and stay away from black-hat methods that can and will get your site removed permanently. I will discuss these methods in future postings.

So back to the conflicts of interest in the web world...

What many need to understand are two critical points when contracting web development and design services:

• Web Developers feel they need to say they understand how search engines operate, because all of their competitors are saying it too.

• Many Web Developers think they are SEO gurus, but either don't keep up with the latest research or think they can get away with just adding some meta tags and submit the site to the search engines.

What I can truthfully tell you is that effective Search Engine Optimization takes a lot of work and quite a bit of research. Nobody knows your business better and working together with your Web Developer will help, but you will need an understanding of the basics to be an effective team...

My purpose is to open the world of SEO up for people who want to better their website recognition and learn something along the way.

Benjamin Kerpe