So I was perusing my usual links on the internet when I came across an interesting find.

If you can remember back to my blog entry about The Irony of Search Engine Optimization I spoke of the first few sites that came up in Google's results when searching "Chicago Web Designer."

For those that were ADD and didn't read the whole article, let me try to sum it up:

To be clear, I was not pointing out the first few sites because they are good and deserve to be there.

It is ironic that a crop of shockingly awful sites have risen to the top, above other quality Chicago design firms because they have chosen to crap text and bloated copy all over their site. As a result, the design looks like it sounds.

It seems like a simple message but it really wasn't clear to some of those sites that I was writing about.

In fact, one of those sites decided to heavily edit and spin my blog entry to make it seem like I was praising their firm. The edits were done in the so called 'teaser' which contained highly selective text and they do actually link to the full article, but really, who clicks on that.

What they quoted:

When I think of the word ‘optimized‘ I think of other words like streamline, clean and efficient. But interestingly enough when you put the word ‘optimization’ after the words ’search’ and ‘engine’ something in the meaning gets lost in translation.

Why is it that when I am looking for professional services I usually have to start looking at the least relevant search results first for the good stuff?

I think the answer to this is plain and simple, “Search Engine Optimization“. Thats right, these sites are so clean, streamlined and efficient that Google says they are the best fit for the search. Lets take a look at a few.

So we do Web Design in Chicago, how bout we search “Chicago Web Design” in a Google search and see where we pop up against everyone else.

Here is what I’m looking for
Aesthetics

How does the site look? Does it look clean, friendly and perhaps someone you would like to hire? I mean, you are hiring a designer so shouldn’t their site look nice too?
Navigation

Is the navigation clear and easy to use?
Content

Does the copy on the website speak more to humans or to search engines bots? Is the content on the site dictating the keywords or are the keywords dictating the content. Are they clearly overemphasizing the use of a couple words? Does it scare you when you see that?
Quality

Usually dictated by the above traits but can clearly be seen in their portfolio/samples.

The first result:
John Schuster’s Web design portfolio

http://johnschuster.net

link

Immedietly following where they stopped in the original article:

John Schuster's Web design portfolio

http://johnschuster.net
Review

When I first get there my face is blasted with dozens of unimportant things not to mention a page that scrolls 2 miles long with over 7000 text characters.

It seems like the first things he wants me to do is to bookmark his site, download his resume and relinquish my email address so I can recieve a 'Free Special Report'. Come on, a FREE SPECIAL REPORT?! And I could see downloading his resume useful if he didn't already have his ENTIRE resume on the front page.
The grades
Aesthetics
0/10

Complete failure. This site does not sell me on his design skills one bit. It's busy, it's cluttered and it makes me nervous.
Navigation
4/10

This could have been higher had his design been a little more thought out. At the very least, the links stay the same on every page. However, there are wayyy too many links on a single page.
Content
2/10

Failed. The content is there, but please don't show it to me all on one page, for the love of God.
Quality
5/10

Despite his grades in the above category, his portfolio doesn't look TOO bad. But it should also be noted, I only looked at a few of the sites front pages.
Overall
3/10

This is the best Web Designer in Chicago Google has to offer me? I better go to a different city. Or is it just, that he really knows how to 'optimize' a site by completely cluttering it up.

This is another clear example supporting my thesis of why revolting sites rise to the top.

Hilarious that they even inculded an emo picture on the article.

Link