Before you review your site optimization report next time, think for a moment about how your tactics are perceived by your audience. Do viewers find answers to their search queries on your page or are they the victim of some clever SEO trick that got them to click? If your bounce rates are high, not only are you wasting time and money, but you’re likely annoying the heck out of a lot of people.

In a recent article in PC Magazine, John Dvorak claimed that the process of search engine optimization (SEO)  “ruins the search experience for users” because “every hit is some commercial site trying to sell you something”. Well guess what John, you just found the secret to the internet…it’s not really free!

While judging from the comments on the site, I don’t think too many other people agreed with him either, but I will concede that over commercialization of any medium, without offering value in return is annoying and frustrating to the viewer.  SEO is a prime example.

Viewers are looking for  specific answers to their query. They deserve to get that answer without being lured to a site that offers some irrelevant sales pitch.

Google seems to do the best job of keeping their focus on the user’s experience. They penalize advertisers for high bounce rates by charging them more for paid search keywords. Google became one of the worlds biggest corporations by giving away the best FREE service. When that service  no longer includes the best user experience—which is returning the most relevant and accurate search results—that’s when Google stops making so much money.

The fact is, I don’t know of anyone that wants to see their favorite free online content restricted to subscription only access. You know there’s no such thing as a free lunch—that goes for online content too. If the content has any real value somebody has to pay to make that information, entertainment, image, video, review or whatever available. And that somebody is either going to be viewer paying for a subscription or the marketer that runs an ad next to it.

The user experience is not limited to what a marketer has on their landing page. It’s the overall connection between their ad or organic meta description, the landing page it connects to, and how they offer and deliver whatever it is they are promoting.

If consumers want to continue to access valuable content — be it network TV shows, online magazines, games or search engine results for free, then marketing including SEO, PPC, display advertising, etc. is a must.

And if marketers want prospects to be receptive to their message, then focusing on the entire user experience is essential.

What do you think?