Search engine optimisation program startup Moz acquired by iContact Advertising Corp., 17 yrs immediately after launching in Seattle

Website positioning software startup Moz has been obtained by electronic mail advertising and marketing company iContact, a subsidiary of J2 International. Phrases of the offer were not disclosed.

Rand Fishkin and his mother Gillian Muessig introduced Seattle-based mostly Moz back again in 2004. The company, at first regarded as SEOMoz, grew into a single of Seattle’s prime startups, even though its journey was not often sleek. Moz, which built a popularity for its corporate transparency, reduce 28% of its employees in 2016 and went by way of economic struggles in 2013.

Moz was rated No. 10 on the GeekWire 200, our record of top rated privately held tech companies in the Pacific Northwest. The startup is rewarding and expanding. It declined to provide profits numbers.

Companies these kinds of as Alaska Airlines and Zillow Group use Moz to assist good-tune their Search engine marketing and rank higher in look for engine benefits. Research and Search engine marketing continues to be a increasing market, even extra than two decades right after firms these kinds of as Google and Yahoo released on desktop. The proliferation of mobile devices and other supplemental spots in which buyers carry out on-line searches, such as within mobile applications and shopping websites such as Amazon, has produced reliable desire for Web optimization solutions.

Moz’s brand name will remain intact less than its new proprietor. iContact aided provide 68 billion e-mail past yr for tiny and mid-sized enterprises. The corporation works in tandem with its sibling models Campaigner, SMTP, and Kickbox, all owned by J2 Worldwide, a publicly traded corporation that noted Q1 earnings of $398 million, up 20% yr-around-calendar year.

Moz will join J2’s email internet marketing manufacturers and pair methods to assist the shared client base with search methods and analytics.

“The shared emphasis on offering impressive electronic advertising and marketing solutions is a great suit for our brand, team and community,” Moz CEO Sarah Bird, a previous law firm who took over as CEO in 2013, mentioned in a assertion.

Moz employs extra than 300 people. The firm obtained six other startups and had raised $29.1 million in outside the house cash.

“If we check with our buyers, which we do routinely, what the range just one tool that they require, outside of e mail, it’s without doubt Search engine optimisation. So there’s a excellent pairing of Website positioning and e mail internet marketing,” Michael Pepe, president of iContact, claimed in a video announcement.

Fishkin still left Moz in 2018 and still left the board in September 2020. He now operates Seattle marketing and advertising startup SparkToro.