IDK man, I woke up on a Friday morning choosing violence. Let’s all have some spirited debates about your unpopular SEO opinions (communicating kindly per the rules of course 
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I’ll go first. Just because you have a site that you think is the best thing to happen to the internet since Google doesn’t mean search engines or users “owe” you anything. Your entitlement to a ranking or visibility is sad, especially if you aren’t putting in the work.
What say you? Oh, and happy Friday 
Publishers managing their own sites (ad-supported, affiliate, dropshipping, etc.) represent only a small portion of the “SEO industry,” yet they account for most of the claims that “SEO is dead” over the past 20+ years. The rest of the industry consists of in-house and agency SEOs and digital marketers who consistently work with regular businesses, many of which are in sectors not significantly affected by algorithm updates. These businesses continue to receive a substantial portion of their traffic from organic search, often the majority of it, making SEO still highly profitable.
Backlinks aren’t as crucial as often claimed. A few high-quality backlinks combined with a well-optimized article can surpass even the most authoritative websites with numerous links, provided the content is better aligned with the algorithm. Google focuses less on content quality and more on UX metrics that show whether users found what they were searching for.
E-commerce SEO can be tough. Your success is gauged by revenue, even though your main focus is driving traffic to the website. If visitors don’t convert naturally, you’re questioned about it, even though it’s often a conversion rate optimization or user experience issue. But as they say, the client is always right.
I totally get where you’re coming from! When I was first diving into SEO, I was struck by how easy it was to fall into the trap of thinking my site deserved top rankings just because I put a lot of effort into it. It was a hard lesson to learn that search engines don’t owe anyone anything, and user expectations and competition are fierce. In my own experience, I’ve found that focusing on real, continuous work—like improving content quality, user experience, and adapting to SEO changes—actually pays off. The internet is vast and competitive, so expecting success without ongoing effort and adaptation is a bit unrealistic. Happy Friday to you too!