About Ian Naude

If you’re researching SEOPEAKS, you should know who you’re dealing with.

I’m Ian Naude. I started my career as a web developer in 2003 — back when building a website meant writing HTML by hand and SEO was barely a concept. By 2011, I’d made the full transition into SEO strategy and began working at one of South Africa’s top SEO agencies, serving both local and international clients across a broad range of industries.

In 2016, I shifted focus to eCommerce SEO — working with South African online retailers at a time when local eCommerce was accelerating fast. That expanded into SEO for African markets and, later, SaaS SEO — a discipline that requires a different approach to keyword architecture, content, and product positioning entirely.

Over two decades in digital, I’ve worked with brands ranging from SA and African retailers to international eCommerce businesses, financial services companies, lifestyle brands, and B2B technology businesses. I’m based in South Africa and work with clients locally, across Africa, and internationally.

Senior strategy, without the agency overhead

Most SEO agencies charge senior rates and deliver junior work. An account manager takes your brief, passes it to someone two years out of university, and the strategy suffers. You only find out when the results aren’t coming.

SEOPEAKS delivers the kind of senior strategic thinking you’d normally only get inside a large agency — without the account manager layer, the junior delivery, or the overhead that comes with it. Every audit, every strategy document, every keyword model, every monthly report goes through senior hands. When you email a question, you get a direct answer. When there’s a decision to make, it’s made by the person who understands your data.

How I work with clients

Audit first. Before I recommend anything, I need to understand where you are. I use GA4, Google Search Console, Screaming Frog, and Semrush to build a full picture of what’s working, what’s broken, and where the real opportunity is.

Strategy before execution. I don’t start writing page briefs until the keyword architecture makes sense. Jumping to execution before strategy is the most common reason SEO programmes fail.

You implement, I direct. SEOPEAKS provides the strategy, the briefs, the specs, and the recommendations. Your team does the implementation. This keeps costs lean and puts the decision-making where it belongs.

Monthly reporting in plain language. No dashboard you can’t read. No vanity metrics. A monthly report in plain English — what happened, why it happened, what we’re doing next.

Why I run SEOPEAKS on AI

I use AI to run my business the same way I recommend clients use it — systematically. SEOPEAKS operates on an AI-powered internal system: specialist agents, documented SOPs, and automated workflows that make every audit faster, every keyword brief more thorough, and every report consistent.

The practical effect: more thorough work in less time, without compromising on accuracy. Your audit isn’t done by a junior using a template — it’s done by a senior using a system.

Brands I’ve worked with

Engagements span SA eCommerce, retail, media, financial services, and B2B — including SweepSouth, Bounty Brands, Zando, Radio Cape Town, AvoOrange, IngleHart Engineering, WpCycling, National Debt Advisors, and others.

Results delivered:

• +137% organic revenue for a leading SA home décor and textiles retailer
• Non-brand clicks +62% on the same engagement — significantly more discovery traffic
• Average search position improved from 9.81 to 5.92 across tracked keywords

Work with SEOPEAKS

If you’re looking for senior SEO strategy — not a team of account managers and juniors, not a template audit, not monthly reports that tell you nothing — let’s talk.

Discovery calls are free. 30 minutes. No pitch. I’ll tell you what I see in your organic data and what I’d do about it.

Book a free discovery call →

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