The number of, eh ... iffy backlinks for the phrase Boise SEO is Kuh - Ray - Z.  How do I know?  I get a Google Alert every time anything with 'Boise SEO" is indexed.  The average is about 2 per day (730 per year).

That number isn't gargantuan primarily because Boise, Idaho isn't a hotbed of SEO activity.  Which makes you wonder ... if an unpopular (in search terms) phrase like "Boise SEO" gets 730 baclinks embedded in nonsensical articles, how many backlink-laden nonsensical articles are created for terms like "lose weight now" or "six pack abs" or "genuine calfskin fanny pack".  (Ok, maybe not so much the last one.)

I haven't created a single fake or spun article to promote this site in my attempt to outrank Boise SEO shops and I won't because I'm not sure it's worth the effort.

Anyway, search is changing.  I'm not sure how much longer the current textbooks on search and SEO will stay relevant.

Actually, they didn't really say anything.  They don't even know I'm coming for them.  They don't even know that I declared war to take the top spot for the search term "Boise SEO".

A few months ago I decided to find out if a writer and SEO strategist could outrank SEO companies and firms for the phrase "Boise SEO" using a relatively new website and a fairly green domain name.  I'm happy to report, like a dead fish from the deep end of the pond, I have risen.

I'm not on page 1 yet.  But I am on the top of page 6.  Woohoo!  I noticed it just yesterday.  What a great feeling to see your pages rise in the SERPs.  It's addictive.

This exercise is part of a learning process.  I continuously study SEO.  I read the experts.  I read the not-so-experts.  I've found SEO theory very familiar and easy to understand.  FYI, there are some very complicated ideas and formulas about SEO out there.  And some very heavy on the math.  Why wouldn't they be?  Search engines are computers.

I enjoy reading about the math, thinking about the math and learning about the math, but I don't focus on the math.

The math attempts to analyze content.  To measure how well a piece of content imparts knowledge.  How well it entertains, enlightens and engages.  I like the math, but prefer to focus on the content.

I've little doubt that the current top dog in the "Boise SEO" battle will eventually spot me.  If he's an SEO worthy of the name, he's always got an eye watching the competition.  Can I overtake him?  I'm in the process of working up a competitor dossier on both of his websites.  I'll let you know.

A respected SEO recently published a post that really made me think.  First, I agree with the post's sentiment.  Second, the website housing this post tackles SEO Theory, so it's not a surprise that the post is tinted with colors of "what should be" rather than "what is".

I'm no blackhatter, but I do visit sites and forums of varying shades of grey.  One site I like a lot is frequented and owned by very smart webmasters.  These guys stay on the cutting edge of "what is".  Many of them provide tools and services that take advantage of search algorithms in genius, if not somewhat devious, ways.

In the past month I've witnessed a site buried deep in the SERPs jump to page 1 in a matter of weeks using one of the services.

What does this SERP boosting service do?  Backlinks.

The service is actually a system comprising thirty or forty servers (probably virtual) with class C network addresses hosting over 100 differently themed blogs.  The icing on the cake? A social networking/validation element that kicks in like a turbo booster.

A user provides three keywords and five supplemental keywords, pays the man his money and wallah!  Crap articles on fake blogs using a layered system of backlinks all socially validated to give your site a boost.

In my plight to rank for the phrase Boise SEO, I've considered using this service.  But that would go against the rules I set up for myself two months ago.  Nope.  If I'm to rank for "Boise SEO", I'll do it the organic way.  (Organic costs more sometimes, but it's supposed to taste better, isn't it?)

Some would say, "Yeehaw! Where can I sign up?'  Others would say, "No fair!  That's cheating. Where can I sign up?"

What I know about SEO is, content should always win.  But it doesn't.  So what if your title tags are off?  So what if your meta whatever isn't exactly right?  The education, entertainment and enlightenment you deliver should be enough.  Right?

Well, no say a hundred thousand million professional SEOs.  You've got to get your title tags right, because the search engine looks for them.  You've got to get your blah blah blah set up right.  Why?  Because the search engine uses them.  You've got to segment your content in usable and easily navigated hierarchies.  You've got to do this and you've got to do that -- all for the sake of search.

There's software for all of that.

There's software that will pore over every nook of your site and tell you exactly what's missing.  Some software can even suggest the phrases and words you should use.  It's a push button SEO world. So tell me ...

How is any of that different than the link building system I mentioned?

It's not. You need title tags, keywords and links in order to rank well.  In today's climate, why should any one of these be singled out as the "bad guy".

Do I long for the days when writing style and "having a take" actually mean more than all the signals an inhuman digital search radar can recognize?  Of course.  What writer doesn't?  What seeker of knowledge wouldn't?

For now, if you want to be recognized for more than an ethical stand against search engine manipulation, sometimes you've got no choice but to play by the rules -- no matter how bent or broken they may be.

EzineArticles purports to have grabbed the bar with two hands and given it a stiff shove up -- but have they really?

My SEO philosophy is summed up by a simple riddle:

Which came first, the content or the SEO?

Too many times I've seen website owners drive their new sites solely with an SEO steering wheel.  To make things worse, they base their SEO strategies on unproven techniques and SEO theories published by "SEO experts".

In website building, like most things, there's a process to follow.

It's not a process carved in stone tablets weighing down the creativity of creative professionals.  It's loose.  It has plenty of wiggle room for directional forking, innovation and ingenuity.  But there is a process.  And those who don't follow it eventually pay a steep price.

What is this process?  It's in the title of this post:  Content first, all else after.

In case you missed it, read more about my SEO philosophy here.

Last week several SEO companies received this note in their e-mail in boxes:

I’m contacting you to offer my professional services as an SEO content writer.

How Can I Be Of Service To You?

• I write 100% original SEO content

• I conduct accurate keyword research

• I deliver on time and meet every deadline

I’ve written web content and copy since 2006 and have a long list of happy clients.  I’ve covered a varied and eclectic set of topics and feel comfortable writing about anything.

Special Price and Terms For SEO Website Companies & Firms

The offer is simple: $40 for 500 words any topic.  You don’t pay until you’re happy.

Contact Me

I can be reached by e-mail: JLIB_HTML_CLOAKING

Once we start working together, I’ll send you my detailed contact info and you may contact me anytime.

I can start work immediately.  Samples provided upon request.

Thank you,

R Matt Lashley

JLIB_HTML_CLOAKING

www.mattwritesanything.com

I dropped twenty-five of these bad boys into the ocean. My open rate is 42%. I’ve received 6 responses.  I even have an unsubscriber.  (She was an SEO writer herself.  Oops!  She hates me.)

As chum goes, the note is a  little “dry” (chum should be fresh and juicy), but it contains all the relevant information: who I am, what I can do for you, how much I cost.   Seems to work okay.  While it didn’t generate a violent, crazy shark feed frenzy,  a few cautious goldfish swam to the top of the aquarium and nibbled a flake or two.

If you’d like to copy my Boise SEO content writer chum letter to stir up your own frenzy, feel free.

Do writers make good SEO analysts and strategists?  The amateur linguist in me says “Heck yeah they do!”   Here’s why …

A big part of an SEO analyst’s and SEO strategist’s job is identifying target keywords.

Why would identifying target keywords be an arrow in a writer’s quiver?

Because writers love words.  And they love the way words work.

Good writers understand that words symbolize thoughts, emotions and memories. Really good writers understand that words trigger thoughts, emotions and memories. Great writers use words to trigger thoughts, emotions and memories.

What do thoughts, emotions and memories have to do with search engine marketing and search engine optimization?

A search engine is a human attempt to extend intelligence.  If we say that human intelligence includes things like:

• “Picking up on things” quickly
• Remembering facts
• Learning and adopting special skills
• Realizing generalities and abstractions
• Storing knowledge

Then, whether he realizes it or not, a person typing words into a search engine is attempting to extend his intelligence.  But without thought, emotion and memory, what hope does the searcher have of actually increasing his intelligence?

Writers are terrific thought connectors, expert emotional evocators and magnificent memory manipulators.  Who better to effect superior SEO analysis and strategy than a writer?

THE INTERNETS — Today thousands of stunned website owners picked themselves up off the floor, brushed off their “I am Ninja.” t-shirts and began the frantic search to find what went wrong.

This reporter went directly to an expert.

“It’s simple, really.”, said a famous self-proclaimed Search Engine Optimization SEO Guru with a penchant for redundant titles. “These content poor and content thin websites have merrily ridden the search engine merry-go-round for years. All the while, their owners have given little or no thought to usability, readability and consumer happiness. The merry-go-round carny just kicked them off.”

I found his metaphoric depiction of search giant Google as a “carny” interesting.   Suddenly, just before I could ask him to expound, the famous SEO guru’s face twisted and his head jerked forward.   The back of his skull had been pelted by what this reporter can only describe as an half-eaten bag of sour gummy worms.

A fading cry of, “Shut up, stupid head!” could be heard as the apparent gummy worm hurling assailant sprinted down the street.

The guru, angry tears in his eyes, yelled back, “I’m telling mom!”, before running off in the opposite direction.

Surprised, stunned, shocked and awed, this reporter stood alone.  The tiny, broken, rubbery bodies of brightly colored gelatinous creatures lay scattered at my feet.

At that moment, as I stared down at what this reporter can only describe as stringy bits of rainbow throw up, I got it. I knew what it was all about.

Sour gummy worms were a metaphor, a vehicle if you will. An outward expression of the displeasing taste left in the mouths of disenfranchised website owners whose sites had been devalued, demonetized and devastated.

It wasn’t just a half -eaten bag of cavity creating confectioneries the assailant slammed into the back of the famous SEO guru’s head, it was a half-eaten bag of shattered dreams.

I needed to verify my interpretation.

Though I had little hope of finding him, I ran in the direction the gummy worm bandit had hit and then run.

I’d almost given the search up when I spotted him through a plate glass window.  He stood in the North facing first aisle of the South Street Best Buy playing Guitar Hero. I went to him.

“Is it true?”, I asked, out of breath.

“Is what true?”, he replied.

“Is it true that the half-eaten bag of gummy worms signified both your philosophical and pragmatic displeasure with the latest set of rules imposed upon you by the search engines?”

He looked at me through eyes squintier than Squint Eastwood’s.

“Man, what you been smoking? My brother ate the last frozen turkey pot pie even though I clearly called dibs on it yesterday.  And anyway, those were his gummy worms. Now go away so I can riff.  I am ninja!”

It's a dirty little secret of content providers. Now, I'm going to put it to the test.

Recently, I took a brief hiatus from the attempt to outrank Boise SEO firms for the (largely obscure) search term "boise seo".  During this rest period, my steady climb up the Google mountain stalled and my website started slipping. And that just won't do.

My approach to ranking for "Boise SEO" is purely content driven. One technique content providers use is called "mirroring content".  Here's a brief intro to mirroring content and forking content from Wikipedia.

A mirror is an exact copy of content and a fork is a tweaked copy of content.

For my purposes. I think forking will work better than mirroring. So I'll focus my efforts there.

Here's the plan:

1. Scour the "Boise SEO" search landscape for articles on page one sites

2. Attempt to digest an interesting article, chew it and spit out a version unique to my site

"What about originality?", you might ask.

What about it?

I imagine everything I pull from these high ranking Boise SEO sites will be based on something pulled from somewhere else anyway.  (Basically forked content.)  As long as what an author writes is in her voice and speckled with her experiences, it's unique.

Words defining words defining words, all from the same dictionary. That's a simple way to describe schema.org's attempt to formalize the structure of data displayed on web pages.

Another way to describe schema.org is, an object oriented step to increase search intelligence.

What Google, Yahoo! and Bing publicly want are to increase the relevance of their SERPs.  Right now, each search engine views the web through its own colored lens (which I hear are varying shades of dark grey).

HTML provides a basic "language" that search engines can count on across the board.  But the interpretation of what a search engine "reads" and the ensuing relevancy to a searcher's original query is up to the wizards behind the curtains.  A bit like highly systematic, highly educated guessing.

Search engines want to guess better.  To do that, they need more clues.  Thus the push to attract the web publishing community to the benefits of common standards and rules.  (In case you don't know, computers work best with  clear and concise standards and rules. :) )

If you've worked with XML or written object oriented code, you already have an idea of what microdata and schema.org are all about.

Here's an extremely inaccurate history I concocted to help those who don't:

In the beginning there was object.  And object had attributes and properties.  And it was good.  Soon object became lonely.  Object wanted more objects to interact with.

And so, from original object's thirteenth attribute, new objects were created.

Soon objects begat objects, each with attributes and properties.  Some possessed many, some possessed few.  But common to all objects was the desire to interact.

To satisfy this desire, objects met in the "upper storage area" to discuss how to interact.  And lo, the great G bestowed a common language upon all objects so that each object could understand other objects.  And it was good.

If you adopt schema.org's rules, when you write a product review about brand x shaving creme no longer will it be plagued with heterogeneous interpretations and ambiguous, off the mark results.

Now you can differentiate your review of brand x shaving creme by pointing to or supplying explicit definitions about what you mean by the words"creme" and "shaving" and "review" and "brand x" .

With a little extra effort, you can help a search engine disambiguate your prose from other prose by linking to descriptions provided by others of the nouns on which the backs of your sentences are built.

Interesting concept.  More words.  I like anything with more words.  Except alphabet soup.  I don't like seeing words in my soup.  Confuses me and makes me think God is trying to talk to me.

I wrote sample ad copy on request for a perspective client.  The instructions were, paraphrased: "Write something compelling and make us want to learn more about you."

I'm not quite sure this is what they expected, but I like it  --

The book Search Engine Optimization Secrets sheds light on questions SEO professionals (SEOs) want answered.  I've just begun reading the book and, as part of my usual pre-read, I scanned the table of contents and skimmed the chapters with the most interesting topics.

During this skimming, I couldn't help noticing that a lot of the SEO basics presented are implemented in the default Joomla! CMS (content management system).

I'm a big fan of Joomla!.  This site, the one you're reading, is built on the WordPress framework.  I chose WordPress just to keep my skills current.  But most websites I build are built on Joomla!

Many of the SEO tips I found in the book, Search Engine Optimization Secrets, I already know because of my work in Joomla!.  Adding title tags and meta tags are just part of the content creation process in Joomla!.  Creating logical hierarchies to segment information is fundamental to Joomla!.  So are menu systems and navigational systems.

I am enjoying the book.  It's a pleasant read and it contains a lot of information.  The writer's style is casual and I get the impression that he enjoys sharing his SEO experience and expertise.

So far, Search Engine Optimization Secrets has solidified the things that I already know about SEO.  As I begin digging deeper into the book, I've no doubt that I'll find more than just affirmation of my current knowledge base.

As an SEO exercise, a month ago I decided to rank for the term “Boise SEO” using nothing but my SEO writer skills on a very new website.

(During the same period, I’ve ranked two web pages hosted on older websites in the top results for a couple other phrases.)

According to Google’s Keyword Tool, global and local monthly searches for the phrase “Boise SEO” are 480 and 390 respectively.  Not a lot of traffic.  However, not too bad for a city the size of Boise, Idaho. (Currently 500,00+ including the surrounding areas within a 25 mile radius.)

In an effort to win the title, World Dominating SEO Writer To The Stars, over the past months I’ve done a vast amount of research on the current state of SEO and the practice of SEO in general.  I’ve discovered hundreds of varieties of “SEO experts” planted all over the SEO landscape., but I’ve found only a select few that I respect and trust.  One of these is SEO Theorist and Expert, Michael Martinez.

Michael’s blog is one of my favorite SEO resources.  Lucky you that I shared it with you.  I considered not.  :)

What has all this to do with ranking for the search phrase “Boise SEO”?  Everything.

Where and who you learn SEO tactics, SEO techniques and SEO theory from is vital.  The basics of SEO are easy to grasp.  (You can find basic SEO in the structure of a simple paragraph. A paragraph starts with an idea.  The idea is represented in a thesis statement.  The thesis is supported by sentences.  The sentences contain meaningful words.  Those words and the thoughts, memories and feelings they represent are the underpinnings of basic SEO.)

When you move beyond the basics of SEO and into advanced theory and technical implementation, that’s when your quest for credible SEO expertise can run into trouble.  There are a lot of SEO experts to choose from, but it boils down to this:

You can follow the over-publicized strategies touted by the mob in the SEO flower of the month club, or you can perform a bit of due diligence and find the real experts who will tell you that Google never promised you a bed of roses.

Needless to say, though said anyway, I have an ear for all things SEO.

This morning I heard a radio commercial for a local website building company.  I think the company is new, but the guys behind it seem to have a good bit of experience in IT and software dev.

The ad is for SEO 4 Boise.  I like it.  And not just because I run a website that substitutes a number 4 for the word “”for” (www.4salebywriter.com).

I like it because it was easy to remember when I got out of the car.  The deep pitched radio voice made sure I knew it was SEO 4 (the number 4) Boise dot com.

Why am I touting a competitor’s website?  Because there’s plenty of work in quality content creation to go around.  Besides, I don’t see them as competitors.  Rather, as potential allies.

One of the hardest things about leaving the software development world I was part of for 19 years was leaving behind the team.  The comrades.  The guys and gals to bounce ideas off.

Don’t get me wrong — I love being on my own.  It’s fantastic.  Besides, I’m a writer at heart.  And really good writing bubbles to the surface in the tranquility (or agony) of solitude.

Will the guys at SEO4Boise succeed long term?  Will they outrank me and the folks I’m trying to outrank for the “seo boise” and “boise seo” search terms? Not sure I know.

What I do know, they sparked my interest with a simple thirty second radio ad.  And that was pretty cool.

**** Update May 02, 2011 11:05 a.m. MDT ***

I have “SEO Boise” and “Boise SEO” on the brain.  These guys actually own two websites.  The SEO website design company mentioned above and this one mentioned in the radio ad,  http://www.seoforidaho.com/, which hosts an in-depth and informative SEO Blog.

Welcome to … (drum roll) …  an experiment.

Hypothesis: A writer writing well-written content on a WordPress platform with only organic backlinks will outrank bona fide and successful SEO firms for the SEO firms’ keywords.

After the crashing waves of Google’s Panda update 1 and Panda update 2, I thought it’d be a great time to test the waters of the search engine ocean.  What better way than an attempt to dominate the search engine result pages (SERPs) in a particular niche?

I’ve long believed that well-written, entertaining and informative content, hereafter referred to as “quality content”, does more to boost your rank than drip feeds, article directory scrapes or all the $1 articles you can buy on ODesk and Elance.   (Not that the Boise SEO firms I’m trying to outrank use article directory scrapes or $1 articles.)

The keywords are simple and they are searched for less than 720 times per month.

The rules of he experiment are:

• No fake backlinks or Facebook Likes purchased through Fiverr
• Post only original, well-written, SEO-friendly content
• Submit/update one sitemap per week