As a result, web users have a worse experience and startups are incentivized to clutter their pages with ads and use aggressive tactics to increase their SEO when they should just be focused on creating great user experiences.
Sorry, I don't subscribe to a general view that " they should just be focused on creating great user experiences". Providing a great service for no income is not a business model that works very often. If its a part of a plan that they'll build the business by providing great content and then monetise it later, then fine, but on that basis he shouldn't be getting snitty about Trip-Advisor doing just that.
I agree with the basic premise that SEO is harder nowadays, but there are definately startups that succeed using SEO as the majority of their initial marketing strategy (and I would never advise that someone doesn't do anything but seo, why would you not do a combination of marketing, it nearly always works better). I agree that SEO is no longer the 'cheap' option. That doesn't mean its not viable, it just means that hopefully the new *ahem* businesses which launch may actually have considered their bisiness plan rather than be out of the box get rich quick schemes.
But I'm an evil black hat link building type of seo, you know, the kind who actually understands how the bloody algo works. What would I know?
Heh, well as linkbait that article should work well, even if the anchor text is tw*t (twit, of course)
