The point is that there are only two ways to "optimize" your site: 1) hire a better designer and 2) game the ranking algorithms. The latter is what SEO "experts" do. From the search engine's perspective, they want their ranking to accurately match which site is most useful and relevant to their user. The ideal search engine, once things like location are discounted (a brilliantly designed site offering a useful service too far away from me is a bad search result) is going to rank on how good the site actually is.
So is, say, a better onsite link structure, an optimised description on each page, SERP indented listing, ... (1) or (2).
I suppose you wouldn't hire a UI expert for a GUI program either?
a brilliantly designed site offering a useful service too far away from me is a bad search result
How far is too far? Depends what you're buying right? That's a complex algo. How about if you happen to be travelling there anyway? How does the SE know? What if it's the only place in your country that sells it, would you go further now?
