If you’re wondering where this perception can come from, just take a look at the oodles of people offering SEO services for disconcertingly cheap prices through sites like Upwork and Fiverrr.

You’ll soon hear a klaxon in your head; a wake-up call alerting you to just how many of the SEO tasks you perform can apparently be completed by someone suspiciously devoid of skill or experience.

This view of SEO as a cheap tactic beneath a low skill ceiling does yet more damage to the cause of SEO as a whole, but it’s not just gig-economy chancers taking the shine off SEO. There are plenty of marketers out there who don’t want to get their hands dirty and do the actual work required to deliver local search success beyond basic tasks like citation building and GMB profile setup.