This Is Jeremy Rivera
Howdy! I’m the founder of SEO Arcade, a two-decade SEO who got into this the hard way, and the host of the Unscripted Podcast Network — 200+ candid interviews with SEOs, founders, and operators. I build tools, run branded podcasts that generate links and authority, and I’m an unapologetic evangelist for doing SEO the white-hat way.
I created this keyword-research tool after downloading my 1,000th Ahrefs CSV and screaming there has got to be a better way. I partnered with the former lead developer of Raven Tools — where I’d been an SEO and product manager myself — and built a streamlined research process that outputs a clean, decision-ready report. But that’s just one corner of the arcade. Here’s the whole story.
My Journey: From a Costly Mistake to a Career
My SEO career started with a mistake — a big one. When I was a customer-support rep at a web hosting company, I built a feature that let our customers set up reciprocal link exchanges en masse. I was trying to make their lives easier. Instead, that feature helped contribute to the event that made Google penalize reciprocal links across the board.
I watched a consultant named Greg Boser methodically get 20,000 websites released from being de-listed, and when Matt Cutts confirmed at a conference that reciprocal links were dead, it clicked: I wanted to do this work seriously — to help people undo the kind of well-intentioned newbie mistakes I’d just helped create at scale. That’s the day I became a white-hat SEO.
From there I went deep. I was an SEO and product manager at Raven Tools, where I learned what a lifestyle business done right looks like — founder John Henshaw once paid out of pocket to cover an employee’s wife’s surgery when insurance refused — and then watched what an acquisition-for-extraction does to a company built on people. I was also part of Advanced Access, a real-estate web-hosting company acquired by Dominion Enterprises alongside Homes.com around 2012–2014, when they cornered the real-estate digital market.
I’ve been everywhere since — freelance, a couple of large agencies, and one tiny hunting-focused shop that served outdoor brands exclusively (yes, Wasp broadheads; yes, working with Jeff Foxworthy). I’ve taken a drug test just to edit a website and sat through four meetings with a dozen people to change a single H1 at a major hospital system. Those experiences taught me what actually moves the needle — and what’s just theater.
Today, I build. SEO Arcade is my keyword-forecasting tool and my done-for-you podcast studio. I host the Unscripted Podcast Network, I run a handful of SEO and community ventures (below), and I do it all from Cookeville, Tennessee.
“SEO isn’t about pushing metrics. Your website is the digital shadow of your real-world company — my job is to make the shadow match the substance.”
What I Believe About Modern SEO
The Digital Shadow
Your site and mentions are the digital shadow of your real-world company. Businesses doing real things in the real world have an easier time ranking — because the shadow follows the substance.
The Human-Bot-Human Sandwich
You’re not writing for a robot, or just for a person — you’re writing for a bot that serves your content to a human. Structure for the machine; substance for the human.
AI Search Is a Consensus Engine
LLMs recommend what the whole ecosystem says about you, not what you say about yourself. You can’t keyword-stuff your way in — SEO and PR are converging.
The Interview Is the Best Keyword Research
A candid conversation between two practitioners surfaces the real pain points, in the exact language clients use, better than any tool can originate.
Human Content Is the Coming Premium
As AI content floods every channel, verifiably human, expertise-powered content becomes the differentiator — the ‘organic / handmade’ of the content world.
LLMs Make Link Building Easier to Justify
A single brand-anchor in relevant content now satisfies both the LLM brand-mention need and the classic backlink. The same spend does double duty.
A Few War Stories
cheeseburger.space
I ranked an intentionally absurd domain for Nashville real-estate queries — proof that authority and topical relevance beat surface-level assumptions about a domain name.
443% in 3 Months
One recent client grew 443% in three months implementing our authority-plus-links content strategy. Real conversations, turned into real content, that ranks and converts.
10 Letters, 10 Links
At Raven Tools I hand-wrote ten letters (hand-writing the URL, too), offering an embeddable graphic in exchange for a mention. Ten links from ten letters. Old-school still wins when everyone else automates.
300% More Leads, Worst Month Ever
I once walked in celebrating a 300% lead increase — and the sales team cut me off: it was their worst month ever. More leads ≠ more revenue. SEO that stops at the form submit leaves a black hole.
The Tin-Hat Theorist
Practitioners argued for a decade that click-engagement signals mattered; Google denied it. Antitrust documents later showed it’s roughly 30% of the ranking system. I felt very vindicated.
Feed the People-Pleasers
Google was an adversarial black box. LLMs are the opposite — they need your data to do their job. So hand them the answers directly, like an unhired support rep you can finally instruct.
Projects & Ventures
SEO Arcade is home base, but it’s part of a bigger network. Here’s what else I’m building:
SEO Arcade
Keyword forecasting and done-for-you branded podcast production that builds links, SME content, and AI-visible mentions.
Explore →Unscripted SEO
My SEO interview podcast — candid conversations with the practitioners actually doing the work today.
Listen →Unscripted Small Business
Off-the-cuff interviews with small-business owners on what really works.
Visit →Unscripted SaaS
Conversations for founders and operators building software companies.
Visit →Link Building Ideas
A whole site — and podcast — of white-hat link building tactics, SOPs, and a free playbook.
Get ideas →Guests On Podcasts
Get your brand on the mic four ways to earn authority and real editorial links.
See how →Human Certified Content
Human-written, expertise-powered SEO content for agencies — powered by my 200+ interview library.
Learn more →Community Clean Links
Real-world cleanup events run as a local marketing and link-building engine.
See it →Jeremy Rivera SEO
My personal consulting brand and blog for the AI-search era.
About me →How I Can Help You
Podcast Production (PAASS)
We find a host, source guests, edit, and turn every episode into two SME articles, a newsletter, clips, and links. Podcasting as an SEO service.
Book a call →Link Building Services
White-hat prospecting and outreach at scale — links and citations from real businesses, never PBNs.
See the service →Hands-On SEO Training
Train you and your team on the process, or set up the SOPs your agency can run internally.
Get trained →Keyword Forecasting Tool
Skip the 1,000th CSV. Get a clean, decision-ready keyword report built from real SERP data.
See pricing →Interviews, Articles & Resources
I’m active in the SEO community as a builder and an SEO journalist — interviewing experts, writing in-depth guides, and sitting on panels. Start here:
The Complete SEO Knowledge Hub
Seven full resource guides — keyword research, link building, entity/AI visibility, technical SEO, local, forecasting, and podcasting as strategy.
Open the hub →200+ Expert Interviews
Every episode becomes unique, indexable content. Browse the interview library on the Unscripted SEO Podcast.
Browse episodes →Link Building & Authority
My complete resource guide on earning links and building brand authority in the AI era.
Read it →Let’s talk about your SEO
Grab 30 free minutes with me, or see exactly what it costs to work together.
Book a Free Call →See Pricing