Dear friend, I think SEO is a heart of a website. Without SEO a website can not get more user , if user is low then website is going under from Google search. So that think what is the subject? Please come to learn SEO to develop our website.
Most of the people think the same, but in fact SEO is a process to avoid mistakes and remain genuine to search engines or users.
Yes i totally agreed with you many people think SEO have no value and SEO damage the worth of website so they prefer to paid campaigns. Paid campaigns are very expensive but if you find the good SEO expert then don't invest your money on paid campaigns.