I wonder which is a bigger business advantage: a website that's optimised for tracking and engagement, or a website that offers a frictionless experience.
I built the latter [1]. It wasn't a strategic decision, just a personal preference. However I realise that a fast, straightforward website without SEO keyword soup, newsletter prompts, cookie notices, trackers, 4 MB of JavaScript and distractions is extremely valuable to the readers too. Even Google appreciates a fast, well-organised website.
I'm not sure if I could squeeze anything more out of my readership with any of those things. On the other hand, I have a feeling that when people see my domain in the search results, they might favour it over the others. I know I do for certain websites.
Having a website that displays a modal dialogue asking for someone's email address to subscribe it to a newsletter, and making the close button not work properly is truly terrible UI design. Was so angry that it took me 10 touch-clicks to close the pop-up, that I didn't want to bother reading the article!