The idea is that you google 'wordpress sites for heritage language asian schools' and this guys blog is the only thing on the SERP for the informative, expertise-demonstrating content he's got there. At no point does he have to be explicit about being the foremost expert in this or any other niche.

Right. Or, when you're talking to a potential prospect who has just been referred by your middle school teacher, you say "I know you've got a web site at the moment, but it probably got done by somebody who does web sites for dog walkers and legal firms. Do you ever look at it and think it was written by someone who just doesn't get you, and what you do, and what your parents want in a school? Think that maybe the site doesn't understand that Mrs. Tanaka is terrified that Sakura won't ever know her grandmother if Mrs. Tanaka picks the wrong place? I know where Mrs. Tanaka is coming from. I've spoken to her a thousand times. This is all I do: making Wordpress sites for schools just like yours. Want to hear about three things I can do to improve your website?"

I wasn't critiquing the specialization, I was critiquing the claim of being the worlds leading expert. Going for the long tail doesn't require lying.

Way to read into it. That was totally beside the point. The point was just to specialize. The example pitch was exactly that; an example.

If you were the director at a heritage language Asian school (whatever that is) who just wants a website that represents the school well, you might find it more compelling. Not everybody is as cynical as you or I. Because of this, pointing out "This wouldn't work on me" isn't particularly illuminating unless you are the target audience (and maybe not even then).

So said the Inuit, when presented with "the world's coldest ice cubes". The problem, it turns out, isn't the marketing claim.