SEO’s don’t even try to rank for “|city| web design” – those targets have no idea they want seo, they want a website. It’s after sites are built by those companies where the clients learn what optimization is (because they’re invisible), and they search for them. THEY are the gurus, not the designers. You’re right, be careful who you hire, or you’ll be hiring someone else later to fix things.

To see who can rank a site, consider that actual optimizers specialize in seo, hence the terms are very competitive compared to designers. Search for “|city| seo” and you’ll see who can do it.

Webolutions does male some “pretty” designs, but I know that seo’s later promote the sites.

If a “web design” firm ranks highly, it’s because every site they have “designed” has a footer credit to them with “design” in the anchor text. It isn’t a skill an example of optimization – it’s a given. A quick Yahoo site-explorer query shows that.