Exactly this. I was recently involved in a decision of whether or not to make a nascent community SEO-friendly, which meant significant changes to the UI and r

Exactly this. I was recently involved in a decision of whether or not to make a nascent community SEO-friendly, which meant significant changes to the UI and reduced UX. In the end the conclusion was "f... SEO, let's build something good instead and have users come back because of that".