Yeah I agree with that. But do you not think it is something that us as designers could offer as a service - more £££. I don't know about you but i'm a little sceptical about plenty of SEO companies, who make big claims, and can't deliver.
For an extra £500 per year to continually monitor and optimise a site. I myself would take the extra cash per client, i'm sure it isn't as difficult as say learning a new programming language. Or possibly even offer a sliding scale payment structure. If the site is listed on the first page, then an extra £500 per year, and this decreases on a sliding scale depending on how far down the listings the site drops.
I'm sure that there are genuine SEO's out there, but I firmly believe that it is open to scams. After all a client probably doesn't realise that keywords and good copy are as important as eachother. I only say this because we have had a client who has thrown us a load of keywords that he wants in his site, but has paid no attention to the fact that we also need good copy. And my boss also doesn't see the need for good copy.
He and the client believe cowboy outfits who claim to guarantee top listings.