Flash, AJAX, Usability, and SEO

Maybe the emperor has no clothes. After attending a conference on search engine strategies, aimed primarily at marketers, Shari Thurow wonders how these people know that the Web market wants lots of Flash and AJAX on every site. Flash, AJAX, Usability, and SEO
Shari doubts most of her colleagues have a clue about usability.
"I'm a usability professional. I don't throw bells and whistles on a Web page because I think they're cool. I want to know if my client's target audience believes the bells and whistles are useful (user confidence) and if they actually use them for the intended purpose (task completion)," Shari writes.
She goes on to explain to the uneducated marketers just a few techniques for "listening" to their users.