Episode 11: SEO Smackdown
Listen (23 min, 11 seconds)A few weeks ago we threw the gauntlet down by speaking poorly about Search Engine Optimisation. Rob Stokes, head honcho of SEO Company "Quirk" felt that our comments were unfair. To get a better understand of SEO we decided to take a look at it from two different points of view.
Search Engine Optimisation is loosely defined as pushing your website up the search engine so that it comes out as the first result on a specific search term. The Digital Edge felt that this was often used to beat the system and promote dubious or incorrect content. We decided to find out.
We speak to an anonymous SEO expert to hear how he manipulates the Google search system purely for the purpose of selling products and not giving the user the most relevant search results. We also speak to Brendon Scott, a practitioner of "Negative SEO". Brendon uses the Google search algorithm to actually push websites down the search rankings rather than up as with traditional SEO. Brendon gives us some insight as to why you would want this service and a brief overview of how to take advantage of Google.
Finally we get to hear the positive side of SEO from Rob Stokes, founder of Quirk E-Marketing. Rob is joined by Christopher Mills of "SEO GURU WP" and Imod. They give us an explanation of the commercial model surrounding Search Engine Optimisation and show it's usage for promoting good content.
As always there's our regular news roundup and "Agency of the week". Kerry-Anne Gilowey joins us as always for the news and Marlon Parker is featured in the Agency. Marlon is involved with Impact Direct, a drug abuse-counselling centre that uses social media as its tool for counseling. Our Top 10 this week is read by "Phillygirl", recently crowned the Best African Blogger in the International Bloggie Awards.
Whatever your opinion on SEO is, pick a side and come listen to the debate.
Guests:
Brendon Scott:
Brendon's specialities are SEO, both within search engine guidelines ("clean" or whitehat), and without ("negative" or blackhat). He is also involved in affiliate marketing, especially in the UK market, and has some PPC experience.
Christopher Mills:
Chris is a PHP developer and SEO specialist. He is currently employed at The Forge and also authors the award winning blog Imod. Chris is an SEO lover and you will often find him zipping around the Western Cape sporting the "SEO GURU WP" license plates.
Rob Stokes:
Besides finding blissful enjoyment in serious amounts of late nights and hard work, our very own Rob Stokes has also found a way to use his hilarious and gregarious nature to power Quirk. Initially, it began in Rob's bedroom, with only the voices inside his head to keep him company. But the growth of Rob's ideas was inevitable. They crept out of his bedroom into his lounge, and then all the way to a warehouse in Cape Town and then to offices in London and Johannesburg.
Marlon Parker:
Marlon Parker is a Social Entrepreneur and an Information Technology Lecturer at Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) since October 2000. He obtained his Masters degree in Information Technology (Cum Laude) and is currently busy with his PhD at CPUT. He is often invited by many organisations and institutions (UCT Graduate School of Business, University of Rhodes, schools, NGOs, corporate) across the country as guest speaker on ICT for Community Empowerment. Marlon also produced several research academic papers, supervises post-grad students and co-authored in a published book called “The social and economical impacts of e-commerce“. His passion for community development has influenced his research interests and he is currently working on a project titled “Using Technology as a change agent to empower citizens in a Community in Tension (CiT) of which DAS using Mobile Instant Messaging was birthed.
Links:
Brendan Scott: http://tinyurl.com/d69g3n
Rob Stokes / Quirk: http://www.quirk.biz/
Chris Mills / Imod: http://imod.co.za/index.php
Marlon Parker: http://marlonparker.blogspot.com/
Phillygirl: http://www.gladtobeagirl.co.za/
Kerry-Anne Gilowey: http://www.capetowndailyphoto.com/
Jarred Cinman: http://jarredcinman.com
Saul Kropman: http://saulk.co.za
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