I still enjoy reading the most sour guy in internet marketing, Aaron Wall. This is his summary on his home page of what you get from SEO hahahahaha:
WHAT YOU GET When you SEO
-Totally Arbitrary selective ex-post-facto enforcement of guidelines!
-LendUp’s doorway pages: still rank
-Monopolistic bundling.
-Justification for duplicity.
-Scrape-n-displace.
-Endless fearmongering.
-Wild algorithmic swings.
-Soul-crushing uncertainty.
-Responsive AMP Plus HTTPS … arbitrary complexity to increase the chunk size of competition & defund SEO.
-Ad-heavy search results driving organic listings below the fold.
-“what you want to do, is sort of break their spirits.” – Matt Cutts