Many companies have one major difficulty when approaching SEO. They can’t understand how it can be so different from what they’ve done with their site before. After dealing for months on end with a web designer, and having a marketing team work online marketing into the business advertising strategy, search engine optimisation seems like it should just fit in.

It won’t. Search engine optimisation is closely related to both fields, but the focus is very different. The tools and the methods are similar, but different. Perhaps it would be better if the differences were starker. As it is, the closeness of SEO, web design and marketing causes most of the confusion.

Take the approach to a new website, for example. A web designer will come at the new site from a design angle. They will consult with the business about the practical things the site has to do, then build a kind of confectionery around that. The effect they want is something visually stunning.

A marketer will have a different approach. They will want the site to look pretty, but their focus will be on usability, ensuring that users can access what they need to know about the business. Every aesthetic aspect of the site will tell a story, building an overall image of the business that will remain with the user after they leave the site.

For SEO, both approaches cause problems. Web designers tend to add a lot of extras that increase page load time but don’t have any readable information for the search engines. Marketers spend a lot of tine on details that aren’t straight to the point, meaning that users and search engines are presented with marketing material instead of the information they’re looking for.

All three approaches are valid approaches to a business website. In fact, all three are necessary for a successful site. SEO, however, is the only industry that has really adapted to include the other two. For example, a home page designed by an SEO expert will leave room for marketing and aesthetics. The SEO content will sell the business goals and direct users along conversion paths. The page will feature images or graphics to break up the text, and leave enough white space for the content to breathe. The goal of a good SEO professional will be for the increased SEO traffic to stay on a site and do what the site owner wants them to do.

While web designers and marketers may have a smattering of knowledge about search engine optimisation, SEO experts have to know the other two fields by necessity. This is mainly because no business will allow an SEO firm to ride roughshod over their expensive web design and marketing plan. It’s also because marketing and design are such big factors in SEO. The good news is that while your marketer and site designer are unlikely to help with your SEO, your SEO firm should support your marketing and website design. You can talk to us at SEO Consult about the interaction between these three areas.

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