SEOmoz
SEOmoz, Inc. is an American software development company based in Seattle, WA specializing in search engine optimization (SEO). It was founded by Rand Fishkin in 2004 as a consulting firm, but shifted to software development in 2010. The company hosts a website which includes an online community and SEO related services.
History
SEOmoz was founded by Rand Fishkin in 2004. It was incorporated as "SEOmoz LLC" on November 1st 2005 in Washington.It raised $1.25 million in Series A funding in September 2007. On October 17 2007, it changed its name to "SEOmoz, INC" and incorporated in Delaware.. The Delaware corporation SEOmoz, INC incorporated in Washington on July 28, 2008 under the same nameFrom 2008 to 2011, SEOmoz grew from $1.5 million to $11.4 million in revenue. In 2010 SEOmoz passed its consulting clients to an SEO agency Distilled and began focusing on SEO software.It raised $18 million in 2012. In June 2012, SEOmoz acquired Followerwonk, a tool for searching, filtering and managing Twitter bios with other Twitter management functions like analytics. The terms were not disclosed, but SEOmoz said the acquisition was for somewhere between one to four million US dollars.
Tools
SEOmoz has a series of tools on its SEO Toolbox page, including an SEOmoz Term Extractor, which shows the importance of words or phrases and what HTML components keywords show up in. It also has a tool to determine the relevance of a page based on sampling. moztrust compares how trustworthy a website is compared to others. mozRank is an alternative to Google PageRank. SEOmoz also has a tool for researching popular search trends and a community site called YOUmoz. There is an SEO audit tool called SEO Toolbar. It sells three different versions of SEOmoz Pro.
Culture
SEOmoz has a culture of transparency. When it raised funding in 2012, the CEO Rand Fishkin blogged AbOUT his personal opinions, doubts and analyses as the company went through the process. In September 2007, more than 400 readers posted opinions on SEOmoz on the CEO's facial hair based on six photos he posted. According to the New York Times, he arrived to the conference in Stockholm "unshaven and bristly" based on the crowd-sourced decision.
Business
The organization's business model is largely based on Inbound marketing. Eighty-five percent of the trial users of its software come through organic search, social media and referrals. As of October 2007, SEOmoz's sources of revenue were contents subscription and consulting service.