I don’t dismiss everything around SEO as junk, I just think it’s better for everyone, including Google if humans come first before spiders. This site has a page rank of 5, an Alexa Ranking below 30,000 and has a devoted fan base all accomplished without any SEO trickery.

Kinda my point; Google isn't the one who's reading your blog, actual people are. I'd much prefer to have a dedicated readership than a high Google ranking where people will visit once and never come back. If you're blogging for Google you've got the wrong end of the stick.