Congratulations, you just confirmed the need for SEO in all its forms.
Lmao “if I need it I’ll just Google it and give my business to whoever paid the most to show up on the first page, thankfully those people don’t also spend tons on advertising too”
That's more than a little bit of a strawman. I would expect most people would shop around and do some research (now, comparison and review websites are also now a cesspool of spam and misshapen incentives, but at least that's only annoying while I'm researching what to buy. If companies only spent their advertising budget on SEO and buying reviews I would be fair bit happier)
Just because you can think out of alternative abuse that sleazy actors can resort to doesn't mean that we should accept the abuse under discussion.
Not all SEO is deceitful. Yes, it is useful for me for the website for your product to appear in relevant searches.