Site Development
At this most basic level, the very construction of a website will determine how well or how poorly a site will rank in the search engines. This level of SEO relies on a developer's understanding of proper HTML coding and international coding standards. It also depends on what kind of technology is used when a site is coded. If, for instance, a site is coded entirely in Flash, it will never optimize...no matter how well intentioned the developer. If it is coded in HTML, then the developer's code must follow particular principles and guidelines in order to set the stage for the following two levels of SEO. Even with HTML coding, if a developer codes a sight without regard to the requirements of the SEO to come, the site can never be optimized to the extent it could be.