If you don’t know what SEO stands for, then you’re probably not ready to build a website. SEO isn’t technically required to build a website, but without a level of SEO your website will have no/little visibility online.
If you’re planning on handing out business cards or brochures with your website address, or you’re going to be relying on people searching for your brand name on Google (provided it’s unique) then you don’t have to worry about SEO. It’s very likely that this is not the case, and you’re going to be relying on people searching for terms such as ‘accountants Surrey’ to find you online. “Build it and they will come” simply isn’t how it works anymore - SEO is something you need to consider if you’re serious about your online presence.
You’ll usually find that SEO is only considered after the website has been created, which isn’t ideal as it means that your website will not be prepared to rank in search results, or worse, the structure you have decided upon may actually be detrimental. As such, you need to be prepared and be ready to consider SEO as an important associated cost of a new website.
If you’re considering a website builder, it’s likely that this will already be well optimised in terms of technical optimisation (loading speed, etc). However, you will need to consider things like keywords, on page content, and how you’re going to lay your site out to accommodate SEO. Website builders will typically provide tools within the website, which will help you to achieve a very rudimentary level of SEO. These rely on a pre-existing knowledge of SEO - which takes years to learn how to do properly.
Freelancers and agencies, on the other hand, are more capable of taking care of your SEO for you. If you’re serious about your rankings, you’ll need to consider an SEO company, SEO freelancer, or a website agency that offers SEO such as Creative Brand Design.