I can agree with this ... but I think there are still search engine ranking factors which have nothing to do with user experience.
Inbound links, for example, play a huge role in ranking–but are completely external to the site's user experience.
I agree with you here, but I don't think I said anything related to people who perform 'SEO'. I am talking about the general notion that is perpetuated that you should modify your site to 'improve SEO'. No, you should create a better user experience by conforming to standards and as a side effect search engines use these as markers.