Cre8pc ran an article last Friday about creating websites for consumers that I really liked.  It looks at a problem that a lot of businesses who try to optimize for the search engines find themselves confronting:  sites that rank well… but offer nothing to the customer once they get to them.

SEO is WORTHLESS unless you give the customer what they want.  Who cares if you rank first for a keyword?!  If you don't give visitors to you site what they're looking for - a reason to stay - your rank is meaningless.  Sometimes you can put ads on your site that offer the customer something (and make you money).  But that's not the ultimate goal of SEO.

Want an example of a company that doesn't get it at all?  Look no further than Sugarrae's rant about Merchant Circle.  Rae has the right idea with the message behind her post.

Remember:  the ultimate end-user is the consumer… not Google or Yahoo.

- Matt

Related Link: SEO Agency : Getting ranked on the search engines is only half the SEO battle. User-focused web site design is a key search engine optimization element.