Is SEO a Waste of Time and Money?
If you’ve ever said (out loud or in your head), “SEO is a waste of time,” I get it.
Not in the “oh no, you just don’t understand SEO” way. In the very real way where you look at the money spent, the months that passed, the reports you were sent, and the fact that your business is not noticeably better off… and you’re like, cool, so what exactly did I just pay for?
Because most people don’t wake up one day and decide they hate SEO for fun. They usually arrive there after one of two experiences:
They tried to do it themselves for a long time, put in real effort, and still felt like they were shouting into the void.
2. Or they hired help, paid real money, and got… a lot of “activity.” Lots of tasks. Lots of updates. Lots of backlinks. Maybe even some improved rankings. But not more leads, not more sales, not more of anything that actually mattered.
And when that happens, “SEO is a waste” is a completely reasonable conclusion.
The part I want to gently challenge is this: most of the time, it isn’t that SEO itself is a waste of time and money. It’s that the way SEO is commonly approached is disconnected from how businesses actually grow.
And that disconnect makes SEO feel like a scam.
Why SEO feels like a waste so often
When I talk to business owners or marketing leads who are skeptical about SEO, it’s almost never because they’re anti-marketing or don’t believe in long-term strategy. It’s because the last version of SEO they experienced wasn’t tied to anything concrete.
They’d hear things like, “we’re working on it.”
Or “SEO takes time.”
Or “we’re building authority.”
And yes, sometimes those statements are technically true. But the real question is: time toward what?
Because if SEO work isn’t clearly tied to business outcomes, it’s very easy for it to turn into a never-ending project that produces a lot of movement on paper and not much movement in revenue.
And in many cases (but not all), quick wins can be easily sprinkled in with long-term strategy.
A few common scenarios I see:
You paid for SEO work, but it wasn’t connected to sales
This is a big one. You can absolutely increase impressions, clicks, and even rankings without improving sales. I know that sounds backwards, but it happens all the time.
If the content you’re creating isn’t aligned with buying intent, or your site isn’t set up to convert the traffic you’re attracting, or you’re ranking for terms that don’t map to your actual offers… you can technically “win” at SEO while still losing as a business owner.
That’s one reason I’ve gotten so picky about what I call success.
If someone tells you, “Your SEO is working,” and they can’t explain how it connects to leads, revenue, booked calls, or whatever your actual goal is, then you don’t really have SEO. You have vanity metrics.
And vanity metrics are not what people are paying for.
You hired execution, but not strategy
A lot of SEO services are packaged like chores.
Publish four blogs a month. Add keywords. Optimize meta titles. Build backlinks. Fix errors. Repeat.
The problem is that none of those tasks matter if they’re not being chosen for the right reasons, in the right order, for the right goals.
This is where business owners get burned. They’re doing “SEO,” but it’s just a pile of tactics. No funnel. No positioning. No prioritization. No decisions being made based on competition, conversion, or what is most likely to actually move the needle.
So you end up with content that exists, but doesn’t drive demand. You end up with technical clean-up that improves “health scores” but doesn’t lead to more customers. You end up with backlinks that look impressive in a spreadsheet but don’t help you show up for the searches that matter.
And then SEO becomes this expensive thing happening in the background that you’re supposed to trust, while you’re still relying on referrals, paid ads, partnerships, or sheer grit to actually keep the business afloat.
You were sold vanity metrics as the finish line
This is where a lot of frustration comes from, and honestly, it’s where I can feel my eye twitch a little.
I’m not saying impressions or rankings are meaningless. They’re not. They can be useful leading indicators, especially early on.
But when those metrics become the goal instead of a signal, that’s when SEO turns into theater.
If your “wins” are things like:
impressions increased
average position improved
your domain authority went up
your traffic is higher
… but nothing changes in revenue or qualified leads, you’re allowed to question what you’re doing.
Because ultimately, most businesses don’t just need more traffic (unless they are an affiliate site). They need more of the right people taking the next step.
(And yes, I have a whole blog post about how to set SEO goals that tie to your business goals. And a video of exactly where to find some of these metrics in GA4 and GSC.👇)
How to set and track SEO goals that connect to your business.
Your competitive reality wasn’t acknowledged
This is the part people don’t want to say out loud because it sounds discouraging, but it matters: not every business is trying to rank in the same game.
If you’re a local service business in a market with moderate competition, a strong Google Business Profile with plenty of reviews and a handful of well-built service pages can make a very real difference faster than people expect.
If you’re a SaaS company entering a space where competitors have been publishing content for ten years, have massive backlink profiles, and have entire teams dedicated to content and SEO… you can’t expect the same timeline or the same budget requirements.
That doesn’t mean SEO can’t work in competitive spaces. It means the strategy has to be smarter and the expectations have to be more grounded.
But when that reality isn’t discussed up front, SEO starts to feel like a bait-and-switch. Like you’re paying for something that only works for other people.
And again, that’s how people land on “SEO is a waste.”
Sometimes SEO really isn’t the right primary channel
Let me say something that might sound surprising coming from an SEO consultant: I don’t think every business should go all-in on SEO.
In fact, I think one of the reasons SEO gets a bad reputation is because it’s often sold like a magic lever. Like if you just commit to SEO, you won’t need anything else. No ads. No partnerships. No outreach. No social. No networking.
That’s not how marketing works. That’s not how businesses grow. And it sets people up to be disappointed.
SEO is a long-term asset. It’s something you build. It compounds. It can become a predictable engine over time. But it’s usually not the channel you lean on when you need results next month.
If you’re in a very competitive space, SEO might be something you build slowly while relying on other channels for lead flow in the meantime.
If you’re in a space with limited search demand, it might never be the primary growth engine, and that’s okay.
If you don’t have the bandwidth to execute consistently (or the budget to hire someone who will actually do it well), then yes, SEO can become a frustrating time suck.
I’m not here to convince you SEO is always the answer. I’m here to say it’s not a waste by default. It’s a tool. And like any tool, it works when it’s used correctly and in the right context.
The version of SEO that actually works is usually smaller and smarter than people think
Here’s where I think people get surprised.
SEO doesn’t have to mean publishing fifty blog posts a year.
It doesn’t have to mean spending months chasing keywords you’ll never rank for.
It doesn’t have to mean “becoming a content machine.”
Sometimes SEO looks like getting the fundamentals right and then using them strategically.
For example, check out this case study of one of my local clients where the biggest lift came from local SEO foundations and clarity. The right pages, the right structure, the right messaging, and a properly optimized Google Business Profile. Not complicated, not flashy, but highly aligned with how people actually search when they’re ready to buy. Sales were way up, and kept rising even when we focused elsewhere.
And this case study from one of my clients where building the foundations and collection pages was enough to drive 151% more revenue from organic search in just 5 months.
And check out this case study from an e-commerce client where a few key content pages drove far more impact than a broad content plan ever would have. Because the pages were built around intent and conversion, not just traffic. We tripled sales in a few months, not years.
That’s one of the reasons I don’t love generic advice like “just blog more” or “SEO is all about consistency.” Yes, consistency helps, but only if you’re consistent about the right things.
If you publish endless content that doesn’t align with what your business sells, you can be incredibly consistent and still get nowhere.
If you optimize pages around keywords that don’t match buyer intent, you can “rank” and still not grow.
If you invest in backlinks without building the pages those links should support, you can spend thousands and still not see results.
The magic isn’t volume. The magic is fit.
Fit between your offers and search intent. Fit between your positioning and what people actually type into Google. Fit between your content and the path someone needs to take to become a customer.
“But my last agency did SEO and it didn’t work.”
This is the part where I want to be really careful, because I’m not here to trash agencies. There are good agencies. There are good in-house teams. There are good freelancers. There are also setups that are a poor match for certain businesses.
If you worked with someone who “did SEO” and it didn’t lead to growth, I don’t automatically assume you were the problem.
Sometimes the strategy wasn’t right.
Sometimes the business goals weren’t clear.
Sometimes you were targeting keywords that made sense on paper but didn’t translate to revenue.
Sometimes the execution was fine, but the market was too competitive for the budget and timeline.
Sometimes the reporting was polished, but the plan was vague.
Sometimes the focus was on what was easy to deliver, not what was most likely to move the needle.
And sometimes, honestly, it was just not good work.
If you’ve been burned before, you’re not crazy for being skeptical. You’re not “impatient.” You’re not “not committed enough.”
You just don’t want to keep paying for something that doesn’t help your business.
That’s rational.
I have a whole blog post about how to troubleshoot when your SEO isn’t working.
About the whole “Should I abandon SEO for AEO / GEO / whatever-we’re-calling-it-this-week” conversation
I also want to address something I’m seeing more and more lately, because it’s absolutely contributing to the idea that SEO is a waste of time.
There’s a growing chorus online saying things like, “SEO is dead,” or “You shouldn’t be doing SEO anymore, you should be doing AEO,” or “GEO is the future, not SEO.” And I get why that messaging is tempting, especially if SEO has already felt disappointing or confusing.
But here’s the honest truth: if someone is telling you to abandon SEO in favor of AEO, GEO, or any other acronym as a separate thing, they are either oversimplifying to get attention or selling you something shiny and incomplete.
Because at its core, what people are calling AEO or GEO right now is not a replacement for SEO. It’s a subset of it.
Let’s look at what supposedly “new” optimization actually involves.
Making sure your business is mentioned in relevant listicles and comparison articles? That’s been part of off-page SEO for a long time.
Having clear structure on your web pages so machines can understand what you offer? That’s technical and on-page SEO.
Building topical authority so your site is seen as a trusted source? That’s content strategy and SEO.
Showing up in directories, references, and trusted sources across the web? That’s off-page SEO.
Even the idea of being “cited” by AI systems relies heavily on the same signals search engines have always used: relevance, clarity, authority, and consistency across the web.
So when someone positions AEO as this totally separate thing that replaces SEO, that’s where my skepticism kicks in.
If you already have a solid SEO foundation, you are likely doing most of what helps with AI visibility whether you’ve labeled it that way or not. The difference now is about prioritization, not reinvention. Some elements matter more. Some shortcuts matter less. Some weak strategies get exposed faster.
But abandoning SEO entirely because you think the next acronym will save you is a fool’s game.
In fact, the people best positioned to adapt to how search is evolving are the ones who already understand SEO deeply. They know which parts matter most, which parts were always fluff, and how to shift focus without throwing the whole strategy away.
If someone claims to be an “AEO expert” but isn’t grounded in SEO fundamentals, or if their pitch starts with “SEO is dead,” that’s usually a red flag. Not because AI and search aren’t changing, but because real change builds on foundations. It doesn’t erase them.
This is one of those moments where trend-chasing can actually set you back.
SEO isn’t dead. It’s just being filtered through new interfaces.
And if you’ve been doing SEO thoughtfully, tied to real business goals, you’re not behind. You’re actually ahead.
So… is SEO a waste of time and money?
Here’s my honest answer:
SEO is a waste of time and money when it’s treated like a disconnected marketing project instead of a business growth strategy.
SEO works when it’s treated like an asset you build with intention.
When the goals are clear.
When the strategy matches the market.
When the work is prioritized based on impact, not on what looks good in a monthly report.
When you measure success based on real outcomes, not vanity metrics.
And when you’re willing to adjust based on what’s actually happening, instead of stubbornly “sticking with the plan” because it’s what you already paid for.
Also, and I say this lovingly: SEO works a lot better when you don’t expect it to do everything.
It can be a powerful channel, but it’s rarely the only channel. Most businesses grow faster when SEO supports a broader marketing system: content distribution, email, partnerships, PR, paid campaigns, referrals, whatever makes sense for your situation. It all fits together as a full marketing strategy.
The goal isn’t to worship SEO.
The goal is to build a marketing engine that actually supports your business.
SEO can absolutely be part of that engine. Sometimes it can become the backbone. I have clients who make their most revenue from organic search now, instead of other channels like social media and ads. It doesn’t mean they abandon social media and ads. They just don’t have to rely on it to hold up their entire business.
But if it’s felt like a waste for you, I would bet money it’s because you experienced a version of SEO that wasn’t built around your business reality.
And if that’s the case, the question isn’t “Is SEO a waste?”
The better question is: What kind of SEO would actually make sense for us?
If you’re trying to decide what to do next
If you want the “numbers and spreadsheets” version of this conversation, I have a full breakdown on calculating SEO ROI and what to look for when you’re trying to prove whether SEO is working.
If you’re currently in the “we’re doing SEO but nothing is happening” stage, I also have a post on what to do when your SEO isn’t working, because most of the time there are a few common culprits and you can diagnose them pretty quickly.
And if the core issue is that you’re not sure whether to hire help again (or you’re worried about hiring the wrong person again), I have a guide on how to choose an SEO consultant or agency and what questions actually matter.
And if you want to talk about your situation specifically, that’s also something I do. Sometimes the answer is, “Yes, you should invest in SEO, and here’s the plan.” Sometimes the answer is, “Let’s set up the foundations and then focus your energy elsewhere for now.” Both can be smart decisions depending on your goals, competition, timeline, and budget.
Either way, you shouldn’t have to guess.
If you want to talk more with me about whether or not you should invest in SEO, contact me here or reach out to me on LinkedIn. I’m happy to chat about your specific situation!
