what should a developer know about Search engine optimization?

[andy91]

Going for a job interview tomorrow for a web developers position. The role is to be sole developer/designer for the company. I normally just do php development so a bit dubious as to what they expect design wise but my main concern is this SEO optimisation. They bang on about it a lot in the job description and over the phone to me. But as far as I am aware SEO is a specialist job in its own right. Obviously as developer you have to know something about it and I do such as using the correct header tags and page structure, meta descriptions, complete yet concise paragraphs, keywords within the content.

But as a php/web developer what should I be expected to know about seo optimisation?

 

[!bluetonic!]

SEO optimisation

Yes, it helps if your page is well structured and passes the W3C validation tests. A good URL. Good clear headings and content appropriate for your site.

https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/home?hl=en
You can submit a page structure XML to google to let them know about your site.

Then you need 'metrics' - what do you deem good to have done to increase your SEO. E.g. #1 on the page or in the top 10.

Then it depends on what you expect a user to type into Google to find your site. This is the key thing as 'red coloured gargoyles for churches' is probably easy to get to the top of the list as opposed to 'hairstyles'.

Avoid any 'blackhat' techniques such as old school mass-linking.

And if that fails, pay to appear in the Ad-words at the top of the list.