I'm a web developer and used to work for companies focused on SEO over quality. It's a pain in the ass and takes all the fun out of the job.
In a just world, the idea of SEO shouldn't even exist. You shouldn't be able to game an algorithm to rise to the top. But that's what literally our entire world has become now. Social media influencers, scammy and spammy websites and services, AI art thieves, content farm sewage. None of it would exist if the algorithms didn't let you game them or promote certain behaviors.
The problem is that "don't let people game you" is extremely difficult.
It's many, many orders of magnitude easier to provide a useful search of sites that tell you the truth about what they are than it is when 99% of sites lie to you.
mozz@mbin.grits.dev to 
Wow the SEO world is really sick
I'm a web developer and used to work for companies focused on SEO over quality. It's a pain in the ass and takes all the fun out of the job.
In a just world, the idea of SEO shouldn't even exist. You shouldn't be able to game an algorithm to rise to the top. But that's what literally our entire world has become now. Social media influencers, scammy and spammy websites and services, AI art thieves, content farm sewage. None of it would exist if the algorithms didn't let you game them or promote certain behaviors.
The problem is that "don't let people game you" is extremely difficult.
It's many, many orders of magnitude easier to provide a useful search of sites that tell you the truth about what they are than it is when 99% of sites lie to you.