moz

Moz began as an SEO service in 2004, but over time, grew to become one of the world’s leading SaaS companies. So much so, that they even launched their own Pro app! Started by a mother-son duo, Moz sells marketing analytics and SEO management software to their subscribers. So how did this mother and son, revolutionise the world of SEO marketing? Here’s a look at how the idea for Moz took shape, and the impact it made.

The Idea Hits

Rand Fishkin was an entrepreneur with a penchant for web design. In 2001, Fishkin realised the importance of organic search and web traffic. He learned about a variety of search engines like MSN Search, Yahoo!, and Google. This helped him develop SEO strategies and digital marketing analysis for clients. Eventually, as the demand for SEO specialists rose, so did Fishkin’s thirst for knowledge regarding the same.

After a while, he became not just proficient, but an authority on SEO. So. In 2004, he began SEOmoz as a way of helping people figure out the secretive world of SEO. The SEOmoz blog helped bring in a constant stream of clients. Since then, the once-struggling blog has become an SEO empire, bringing forth and introducing a slew of products. Read on to see how Moz grew from being a small experiment to one of the biggest SaaS companies in the world.

Humble Beginnings

Founded by Rand Fishkin and Gillian Muessig in 2004, Moz functions as a consulting firm which later became a software developer. The company now boasts of a massively successful online service, with a community of over 1 million digital marketers. The company started as SEOmoz in 2004, and three years later had their SEO-Pro app. In 2007, Moz launched a set of SEO-based tools and resources. This helped generate half their total revenue by the end of the year.

Towards the end of 2007, Ignition Partners and Curious Office, chipped in $1.1mm to help Moz grow. With a conversion rate of over 56%, Moz grew tremendously in the following years, and their subscribers grew with them. A year later, in 2008, they launched Mozscape which served as a scalable online crawl. The company was also able to grow its traffic at 54% during that same period.

Change of Hands

They even invented the TAGFEE code, and soon hit 5000 subscribers. In 2010, Moz became an Inc. 500 list website. In August of the same year, they launched their web app and followed it up in 2012 by acquiring Followewonk. The company received its first funding in 2007 and tried twice again in 2009 and 2011 to raise capital. The Foundry Group and Ignition partners helped them raise $18 million in 2012. Following this, Foundry employee Brad Feld Moz’s COO, Sarah Bird joined the board. This came as a result of Gillian Muessig stepping down from the helm the same year. Between 2008 and 2011, Moz grew from being a $1.5 million company to generating $11.4 million in revenue.

A Family Deal

Muessig co-founded Moz along with her eldest son, Rand Fishkin in Seattle 15 years ago. Since leaving the company in 2012, she worked as an advisor for various companies. She also sits on multiple boards, including Soro and Brettapproved. She is also the CEO of the venture capitalist firm Outlines Venture Group and co-founder of the Sybilla Masters Fund along with Microsoft veteran Alka Badshah and Anne Kennedy. In the early days of the company, Muessig’s youngest son would come to the office after work and did small duties for her. Her daughter too was huge support for her, being her cheerleader, always reassuring and comforting.

New Tools and Prolonged Success

The company rechristened itself Moz in 2013 and began to get more involved in inbound marketing. Later that year, they launched Moz Analytics, which used inbound marketing strategies to improve brand marketing. They followed this up, by launching Moz Local in 2014, which served as a platform to manage listings online. The company celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2014 by crossing 15,000 subscribers.

Their SEO Toolbox offers a variety of tools such as the Term Extractor, Trust factor and mozRank, which works like the Google Page Rank. An SEO audit tool, named YOUmoz, helps users learn about new trends in SEO. In 2014, Rand stepped won as CEO but continued to work at Moz in various other roles till 2018. With almost 85% of their users finding them through social media and organic search, Moz is a true social media sensation.

Moz currently has over 36,000 customers and 160 employees. Annual revenues are in the high 40’s with the company bringing in over $42 million in 2017. This was a steep rise from the $38 million they made the year before. Over the years, Moz has evolved to become a one-stop solution for all SEO and marketing needs, and the future looks brighter than ever before for the SaaS giant.