It was very interesting to learn today that SEOMoz is changing their name to simply “MOZ”. Upon watching their video, two things are immediately apparent. First, they look to be working on some seriously fantastic software, and second, they are fully embracing the concept of Inbound Marketing, a phrase made popular by the founders of HubSpot. Does this mean that Moz is, all of a sudden, back in the forefront of digital marketing? Were they ever NOT in the forefront of digital marketing?
MOZ is a true pioneer in internet marketing.
Yes, they are sounding more like Hubspot, Marketo, and other notable Inbound Marketing companies now, but don’t take that to mean they were ever irrelevant. MOZ has built some of the most powerful analytics and data collection tools in existence. In fact, HubSpot’s Marketing Grader utilizes MOZ data in it’s results, as do numerous other SEO data services and websites. When it comes to search-related data, MOZ is, and always has been an industry leader.
[sam id=”10″ codes=”true”]
So why drop SEO from their name?
Is SEO dead? No – in fact, that is far from the truth. However, while SEO has enjoyed the “top dog” status in the realm of internet marketing for many, many years, Inbound Marketing is rapidly overtaking SEO and becoming the new buzzword for internet marketers. We recently published an article on internet marketing trends, using search volume as an indicator, and a quick glance is all you need to see that Inbound Marketing is on a rapid upward trend. SEO, on the other hand, is flying in the opposite direction. So, it just makes sense for Moz to drop SEO from their name, otherwise the perception would remain that they are only about SEO. Most of Moz’s tools were already named things like MOZrank, MOZscore, etc. So they have actually been ready for this name change for quite some time. Now just happens to be a fantastic time to do it.
Where does SEO fit in the grand scheme of things?
SEO is a huge part of the Inbound Marketing methodology. One cannot exist without the other. After all, if you don’t understand what your audience is searching for, then how can you provide valuable content and expect them to find it? Well-formed pages, adhering to SEO best-practices, are a key requirement to any successful content marketing strategy. We still need SEO tools, and who better to provide those tools than the original pioneers.
The inbound analytics market is about to get VERY interesting.
If MOZ is the undisputed name in SEO research and tools, HubSpot is the undisputed leader in Inbound Marketing software and processes. It will be very interesting to see the final release of the new MOZ software and how it stacks up to the HubSpot platform – at least on the analytics side of things. Keep in mind, analytics is only a part of the HubSpot platform – the primary components are tools for managing the content creation itself. To my knowledge, MOZ isn’t tackling this part of it. It does, however, provide a very interesting option for those who use other tools to manage their content and only need a robust analytics package.
Looking forward to getting our hands on the beta of MOZ analytics. We will give it a thorough run-through and post our findings right here! Stay tuned…
[sam id=”10″ codes=”true”]