Getting along is both possible and vital.

But I also think there's something to be said for taking a look at one's own knowledge rather than [and I'm making this statement based on the context of this post] defaulting blame to the designers, who, as some might suggest, don't know or care about SEO.

In truth, just as MouseWorks points out, good design is a fantastic blend of visual joy, usability and SEO. And it's very possible that achieving this trifecta involves tactics that have yet to be realized in your particular situation.

I would consider the possiblity that perhaps you don't know it all, and for all parties involved to approach this situation as a learning experience--both in site design and in teamwork and cross-departmental collaboration.

Hey Anonymous. :)

I totally agree with you that the trifecta is the goal – and in my particular situation, in no way am I blaming the designer or the de facto usability expert on our team. I am blaming the process that compromises the designer and usability expert by only looking to add SEO elements after the design is complete. It is my opinion, continuing with that process we are pretty much guaranteed to frustrate the designer, the usability person and the SEO. We are proactively trying to create a system that will avoid this problem in the future…so hopefully this will be the last time all parties involved will have to go through this kind of unnecessary pain.

I’m not sure where you got the opinion that I think I “know it all.” I am reliant on the experts in the area of design and usability in this case – and I trust their judgment. As I would hope they trust my judgment in the area of SEO, since that is what I get paid for. Not that I know everything there is to know about SEO, because no one does. SEO is a moving target…but there are always some core fundamental guidelines that should be followed, and those guidelines are provided to SEOs by the search engines themselves. In this particular case I am trying to add elements to a webpage that have been proven to be an important part of search engine rankings. Until I see conclusive evidence that would show me that a minimum amount of content is unimportant to search rankings, I am going to shoot for (at least) that minimum amount of content.

If pushing for what I have been taught is the right thing in this area is actually wrong, please set me straight…and since it seems like you know me personally, I would hope you can do that in person.

Finally, I agree that this is a learning experience – and, looking at a revised version of the webpage in question this morning, I think we are learning a lot. I think the process is helping us identify the weak link in the system (the lack of a requirements document), and we are working to fix that.

Thanks for your opinion, I hope I clarified mine, and I look forward to speaking with you in person.

"I am blaming the process that compromises the designer and usability expert by only looking to add SEO elements after the design is complete."

this statement displays a profound lack of perspective on the subject.

How so?

you are "blaming" the process on the fact that, essentially, designers have their heads so far up their arses that they don't even stop to think about SEO until the pretty picture is drawn.

need i say more?

to clarify: i understand you're blaming the "process", but the way you've stated that implies that a. the designers don't know what they're doing and b. need to be told to think about SEO after the fact.

you also separate seo people, usability people and designers when in fact they are not all mutually exclusive.

This particular discourse obviously hits a nerve with many of the parties involved. SEO, usability and design all vie for a piece of the proverbial pie during the evolution of a any Web site. But I fear that an essential aspect of this debate has been completely overlooked.

When making any decisions related to the weightiness of SEO, usability, and design it is imperative to note whether any of the involved parties are currently wileding firearms and a grudge.

Holy crap! This is going downhill fast!

Anon – you are taking my comments way out of context. Sorry if my tone is getting lost in translation here.

I don’t think designers have their heads up their asses…far from it. I would love to know more about design (see some previous posts) and I admit that I have no design training whatsoever. For a little context, if I were to go to grad school I would go for a masters in design, not an MBA. I think design is the shit – it is elemental to what businesses do, and from a marketing perspective good design is like a marketing Holy Grail.

I know that there are designer SEO combos out there - hell I work with some very talented affiliates who are just that. But as far as I know we don’t have that combo at my company at this point. If there is a design/SEO person at my company I am overlooking, I would hope someone would let me know. Seriously.

Since you brought up my company specifically and seem to know a lot about what is going on in our office on a day-to-day basis (I am pretty sure you are not a coworker of mine…maybe an ex-coworker), I was only referring to my company and our situation in the post and comments. In our case our designer was unaware of the text requirements (at least that is what he told me…so I will assume it was the truth), so I see that as a process problem.

I wasn’t trying to make any universal statements about designers as a whole in my comment – I am sorry if it came off that way.

Thanks for the moment of calm from Concerned. Anon, you seem to be taking this very personally – and this isn’t a personal attack. Not sure what else I can do for you other than try to understand why you are so pissed off. Help a brudda out and let me know.