SEO is actually pretty dead since smart phones are now 70% of traffic, just look up any term on your phone, say lawyer or doctor or whatever, you see what, PPC ADS so SEM and PPC management is what local companies need, organic SEO is not producing much now EVEN if you can hit page one since no organic seo shows for any money terms for local companies pay huge amounts now for being one of the first 3 ads on a smart phone search
The IM game now is all about selling google position that relates to ppc ads and understanding how to maximize ppc budgets to show real ROI on ppc marketing
SEM is the game now
SEO is dead
99% of people or companies now claiming to do seo are just scams
The real IM guys/girls understand how seo is not anything to invest heavily in now
If you are a local company you better be one of the first view ads or you get almost nothing from google now