The point of the article was that SEO and usability aren't at odds, but go hand in hand. The author listed examples of things you'd do for SEO that are helpful for users as well, and explained why they are helpful for both.
My only concern is that people might take this article to mean that as long as they're keeping usability in mind when designing and writing their Web sites, they're doing SEO as well.
Unfortunately, it's possible to write anchor text that is great for users and terrible for search engines. I see it all the time. I'll use an example from this very blog post.
I linked to the story referenced above with "usability vs. SEO" as my anchor text. Here I've sacrificed usability a little bit for SEO. I think it's most rational to click on the word "article" if you're linking to an article. But I'm sure the author of the article doesn't want SEO credit for the word "article," but would prefer to have it for the subject she covered in the article. I'm assuming she has no interest in ranking number one for the word article, but would love to be number one for "usability vs. SEO."
The point I'm trying to make is that you need an experienced SEO who knows when to choose SEO over usability and when not to in order to win. Just one or the other doesn't cut it.
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