SEO vs Design: why it's a pointless argument

Aug102010
A designer, a developer and an SEO expert arguing about a website

Ever since people have worked on the web, there has been a constant squabble between various breeds of designers and developers, each saying that another’s work encroaches on theirs and damages its effectiveness. There are many versions of this debate, especially due to the wide variety of roles in this field. Marketing, design, coding, SEO, they all clash at some point and its always the same argument. It goes something like this (delete as appropriate):

“Well you see, we can’t {SEO technique/design element/development practice} because that will mess up the {SEO technique/design element/development practice}”

This squabble doesn’t need to happen

It might have been the case in the nineties when web design and SEO were both new professions finding their place in the world, but today this conflict is a totally preventable problem which decreases the effectiveness of websites. I don’t think there is any excuse these days for someone to see one of these as an aspect somehow less important than the other.

Design and SEO are different parts of the same animal

A good many web designers and developers are still stuck in the mindset that design, usability and SEO are somehow separate things that need to be squeezed into a website, each cutting off space from the other. Many people will design first and think of SEO later, or vice versa. When I hear this I think its like me saying that my arms don’t support my weight when I stand and are therefore useless to my body.

With the latest web standards and design best practices it should be expected that a website have the best of both worlds. SEO, design and usability should, and can, complement each other because they are all part of the same thing. If links in the page are difficult to find, is that bad SEO or bad design? If users are encouraged to sign up to a website by an attractive display and call to action on a page, is that good design or good SEO?

If a project has good minds behind it and a solid creative process as a foundation, then all aspects of design and development can actually enhance each other as opposed to hindering them.

Good design and SEO enhance one another

SEOMoz recently published an article of some of the latest design trends that actually improve SEO. There are some great designs there, and no compromise is made in design or SEO so both perform really well. This is because the people making these sites either had a solid understanding of how design and SEO interact, or had healthy amounts of respect and communication so that the project could reach its full potential by all measures, not just one. Take a look at the article here.

I’m of the opinion that more agencies/freelancers/whatevers need to start looking at the bigger picture outside their own role in a project in order to see how it can fit together, we can make websites that are much more than the sum of their parts.

Posted on August 10 2010. You Should Follow me on Twitter.

  • http://topsy.com/www.pointydesign.com/seo-vs-design-why-its-a-pointless-argument/?utm_source=pingback&utm_campaign=L2 Tweets that mention SEO vs Design: why it’s a pointless argument | Pointy — Topsy.com

    [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by SEO Blog News, James Beardmore. James Beardmore said: New in the blog – SEO vs Design: why it's a pointless argument http://www.pointydesign.com/?p=404 [...]

  • http://foxhoundstudio.com/ Shane Duquette

    Could not agree more with the message behind the article, and the useless-arm analogy is a great one. Both of your examples of good design or good SEO thought are examples of good design though, no?

    “If links in the page are difficult to find, is that bad SEO or bad design?”
    This could lead to a much higher exit rate, and yes may result in less hits elsewhere on your website, but this doesn’t have to do with search engines, this has to do with proper web design.

    “If users are encouraged to sign up to a website by an attractive display and call to action on a page, is that good design or good SEO?”
    This is design doing it’s job. If it’s attractive, functional and and appropriate then it’s got the design trifecta. What does this have to do with search engines?

    I do absolutely agree that SEO and design can and should enhance one another, though. Good article.

    -Shane

  • http://www.pointydesign.com James

    Hi Shane, that’s just the thing, these points are the product of design and SEO, because SEO covers a large area beyond search results, including interface design. Just like design covers a large area beyond branding and interfaces including enhancing search results. The first point that you made “This could lead to a much higher exit rate, and yes may result in less hits elsewhere on your website” is a big concern in SEO practice as well as design.

    Again, location of calls to action are not only a part of design but a huge concern in SEO. A/B split testing is one of the most important SEO methods used to determine what kind of page layout keeps users clicking through once they have landed.

    The point is, SEO is just a name for a specialized area of design just like link building and SEM are a specialized area of marketing. In my opinion, the term SEO shouldn’t even exist, but it does, I think mainly so there are more job descriptions out there for people to use…

    Foxhound Studios is a gorgeous site BTW.

  • http://foxhoundstudio.com/ Shane Duquette

    Gotcha. I suppose my definition of SEO was too limited. I thought SEO was purely related to search engines, as the acronym suggests.

    Thank you about Foxhound Studio. We’ve only just graduated a couple months ago, and sadly our education didn’t include any web design, but we’re quickly becoming quite adept at it. Our background in design fundamentals is coming in handy. Now I’ve just got to learn all the terms, like SEO ;)

    Found this website through webcreme.com. Did you get on there by happenstance or did you submit it?

  • http://www.pointydesign.com James

    I have a similar background. I studied graphic design, illustration and fine art in the UK before moving to Canada and then I spent a few years learning web design before setting up shop. I think its a really good way to do it because technologies are always changing and college courses simply can’t keep up with teaching cutting edge web design/dev whereas the principles of good design are timeless and learning them in school gives a huge advantage to making good websites.

    Web creme picked the site up from another site which I did submit too. Its nice how things get passed around!

  • http://www.paolodipasquale.co.uk Paolo Di Pasquale

    I recently came across a post regarding SEO and it made for an interesting read. You might want to check it out http://www.sitepoint.com/why-seo-comes-first/#comment-1031384

    By the way, I absolutely love the site, nice job!

    Paolo

  • Lee Hurst

    umm .. “Take a look at the aricle here” link? shouldnt you link some descriptive anchor text not something like “click here!”

Filed in Design, SEO

←

→