Yes this is a harsh reality, so let me address this now, in the form of my 4 laws of SEO.
( ^ because I like saying that )
Accept that. Nothing is guaranteed here, and Google search is - after all - a free service.
Remember...
If you're not paying for the product, than you are the product.
Because accepting this truth and understanding this is the first step to conquering it.
We're going to attack each of these 4 barriers directly to achieve the best possible SEO result.
Let's get started.