Web designers and marketing agencies still have no idea how to build websites so they can be found on the Internet, blasts Matt Paines, head of search optimization company XSEO. The startling discovery was made through holding a web design help clinic at a recent trade show.

One of the UK’s leading search engine optimising experts has blasted marketing agencies and web designers for turning out very poor websites which may look good, but stand little or no chance of being found by search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN.

Head of XSEO, Matt Paines,(pictured) is dismayed after finding nearly two thirds of websites viewed as part of his company’s Search Clinic at last week’s Technology For Marketing Show (TFM) at Olympia could not be seen by the major search engines.

Of the 88 websites which were tested at XSEO’s Search Clinic at the two day Technology For Marketing Show (TFM), only 52 could be searched online and could be tested. Of those, 32 were deemed so poorly designed that there was little on no chance that search engines could see them.

Paines, who is due to speak at this week’s Search Engine Strategies (until February 15th) conference in London, even spotted that some of the websites of major UK brands needed modifications if they are to perform better in natural search results.

“It is absolutely ridiculous that marketing companies and web designers are still building websites without giving any thought to how they can be optimised,” he said.

“It’s like building a car and not putting the engine in. It’s a fundamental problem but the point is that building search engine friendly or accessible websites is not complicated, in fact it’s relatively easy.”

Search engines use simple programs – which are commonly know as robots or spiders – that crawl the Internet looking for websites and their content. If they can access a website they can begin assessing the relevance to any given search.

Being search engine friendly allows the search engines to enter the site and read the content. So conversely having a site that does not give the crawlers something to read will prohibit them from understanding the site’s content thereby destroying any ability of being ranked highly in a search for a product or service.

Paines, who is one of only two Microsoft Search Engine champs in the UK, is worried clients are losing millions because they are being ill advised by their marketeers and web design agencies.

“We’ve seen some stunning websites which are worthy of winning awards, but they’re virtually useless,” he added. “In some cases the cheapest option is to start all over again because their sites are that badly designed.”

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