Standard practice? There are an insane amount of bad web designers then. I have NEVER dealt with a designer that knew anything worthwhile SEO-wise - other than

Standard practice? There are an insane amount of bad web designers then. I have NEVER dealt with a designer that knew anything worthwhile SEO-wise - other than simple stuff like adding meta keywords and descriptions. (the design equivalent would be making sure you have a header, navigation and content area - common knowledge)