Easily put, Search Engine Optimization (or SEO) is making your website usable for search engines.  When a search engine such as Google or Yahoo, scans your site, they do not see what you do.  They only see computer code.  So while you are seeing a wonderful multimedia display of your company's attributes, the robot or spider (what they call the scanners), sees nothing.  For example, if you look on our main page,

you will see a rotating slide show that talks about why you should hire YellowWebMonkey.  The way we coded it, when the googleBot looked at the slide, it would see:

"YellowWebMonkey understands business. You don't care if your site is animated or plays music, you want it to bring you customers. We sit down with you to figure out your audience and make a site that will make them call you. What good is a website if no one can find it? YellowWebMonkey understands Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and can analyze your current site and make recommendations to improve your Google ranking. We make professional looking sites that are easy to use. Whether you need a one page business card site, an online portfolio of your work, or an eCommerce site selling thousands of products, we can do it!  Just need updates to your existing site? We do that too. Updates made within 72 hours. Rush service available to complete within 24 hours.Our reputation is important to us in making sure our customers are happy. Check out our testimonial section to see what other Central Texas companies are saying. We strive to give you accurate estimate of price and time needed, and we stick to it. We have NEVER missed a deadline or charged more than a cost estimate."

That would produce keywords such as "web design, Search Engine Optimization, Google ranking, professional sites, business cards, ecommerce, website updates, central texas, cost estimate."  Those are words that potential customers would search for to find a web designer in Central Texas.  Now, if we coded it in animation or each slide was a picture instead of text, the googleBot would see the following for animation:

<script src="/embed.js" language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript"></script>

and would see the following for pictures:

<img src="/Home_files/shapeimage_1.png" alt="" style="height: 564px; width: 881px; " id="id5" />
<img src="/Home_files/shapeimage_2.png" alt="" style="height: 528px; width: 842px; " id="id7" />      
<img src="/Home_files/shapeimage_3.png" alt="" title="" id="id9" style="height: 46px; left: 141px; position: absolute; top: 713px; width: 851px; z-index: 1; " />
<img src="/Home_files/shapeimage_4.jpg" alt="" style="height: 1px; left: 82px; position: absolute; top: 156px; width: 334px; z-index: 1; " />
<img src="/Home_files/shapeimage_5.png" alt="8 0 0 - 7 6 5 - 5 5 7 1" title="" id="id10" style="height: 720px; left: 49px; position: absolute; top: 43px; width: 27px; z-index: 1; " />

Neither of those is going to bring you customers.  This is not an exaggeration; both of those examples were taken from current clients that had us remodel their websites.  Not sure what your site looks like, go to http://www.webconfs.com/search-engine-spider-simulator.php and type in your web address.  While you are at it, type in the web address of some of your competitors.  If you don't see what you like, you might want to consider having YellowWebMonkey do a full written analysis of how your site does with search engines.  Our twenty page report includes a "Honey Do" list of what needs to be fixed.  You can hire us to make the changes, or ask your original web designer why they didn't do it in the first place!

For more info, go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_bot