Web Design ≠ SEO (And Nobody's Telling You)
Why your beautiful website isn't bringing in clients, and what most small business owners don't know when they hire a designer.
The Client Story
Last week, a woman came to me frustrated. She’d paid a web designer a significant sum for a beautiful website. It looked great. Clean branding, professional layout, everything she wanted visually.
But when I looked behind the curtain at her schemas, meta descriptions, text hierarchy, and everything else SEO-related, it was a mess.
She wasn’t getting the online visibility she expected. When she asked her web designer about it, they referred her to an SEO agency. The quote? About three times what she’d paid for the website.
She was not happy.
Unfortunately, this is not a rare story.
The Disconnect
Here’s what most people assume when they hire someone to build their website: optimal SEO is included.
It’s a reasonable assumption. You’re paying for an online presence. You expect it to work. You expect people to be able to find you.
But here’s the reality: web design and SEO are two different services. And more often than not, they’re sold separately.
You’re not wrong for thinking otherwise. The market doesn’t make this clear. Service providers don’t always spell it out. And buyers are left assuming their beautiful new website is doing its job when it’s quietly sitting there, invisible.
What You’re Actually Getting
Here’s the best way I can explain it: hiring most web designers is like hiring an interior decorator. They’ll help with paint colors, furniture placement, and making everything look polished.
But what most people actually need is an interior designer and a licensed contractor. Someone who looks at the blueprint, moves fixtures, addresses structural issues, and makes sure everything is connected properly.
One makes it pretty. The other makes it work.
People hire decorators thinking they’re getting designers and contractors. Then six months later, they wonder why the plumbing doesn’t function and the electrical is a mess behind the walls.
The website looks great. But the foundation was never built right.
Why This Happens (And Why It’s Not Really Anyone’s Fault)
Web designers do exactly what they say they’ll do: they design websites.
SEO is a whole separate field. Different skillset. Different expertise. Different discipline.
Some designers are trained in both. Some aren’t. Some choose to offer SEO. Many don’t.
There’s no real villain here. The issue is a gap in how services are branded, explained, and understood. Web designers aren’t being deceptive. They’re delivering what they promised: design. The problem is that most buyers don’t realize what’s not included until months or years later, when they wonder why their site isn’t bringing in clients.
Nobody’s explaining the difference upfront. And that leaves people in the dark.
What This Actually Looks Like
So what does this look like in practice? When I audit sites that were built without professional SEO, here’s what I typically find:
10 H1 headings on a single landing page. (There should only be one. Search engines use heading hierarchy to understand your content structure. Multiple H1s confuse that.)
No schema markup. (This is code that helps search engines understand what your business is, what services you offer, and how to display your information in search results.)
No internal links. (These help search engines navigate your site and understand how your pages relate to each other.)
No image alt text. (Descriptive text for images that helps with accessibility and tells search engines what the image is about.)
Missing or poorly written meta descriptions. (The short text that appears under your page title in search results.)
The site looks polished. But behind the scenes, it’s not built to be found.
And here’s what happens next: Months pass. Maybe years. You wonder why traffic isn’t coming. Why inquiries are slow. Why your competitors show up on Google and you don’t.
Meanwhile, you’ve already paid for a website that isn’t doing the one job you hired it to do: connect you with people who need what you offer.
What You Need to Know
So here’s the bottom line: SEO and web design are related. However, they’re not the same thing.
You can have a beautiful website that the internet can’t find.
You can have an ugly website that ranks everywhere.
Design is about how it looks. SEO is about whether anyone sees it.
When you’re hiring someone to build or redesign your site, ask explicitly:
What SEO work is included in your service?
What’s not included?
Will my site be optimized for search engines, or will I need to hire someone else for that?
If the answer is “we just do design,” that’s fine. Just know what you’re buying. Budget for SEO separately. Or find someone who does both.
Informed consumers make better decisions.
The Better Path
I’ve worked in this field for over a decade, and here’s what I’ve learned: SEO and web design are inseparable for me. They’re part of the same system. You can’t do one well without considering the other.
When I work with clients, I’m not just making things look good. I’m making sure the foundation is solid, the structure makes sense, and the site is built to be found. I don’t separate web design from SEO because they’re part of the same system.
So if you’ve been putting off working on your website or SEO because you’re worried about missing pieces, unclear scope, or paying twice for the same outcome, let’s talk. I approach websites as a whole - no surprises, no discovering six months later that something critical was left out.
You can browse my approach here: https://sidlerstudios.com/
Or if you’re ready to inquire about working together: https://sidler-studios-intake.base44.app/
Your website should work. Not just look like it does.
I "played" at this for a number of years. Very rare was the person that could do both. Much luck, Chelsey!