SEOMoz Dumps The SEO And Goes With Moz - Does SEO Have A Bad Name? What Does The Future Hold?

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For people in the 'SEO' industry, industry leader SEOMoz rebranding as Moz and dumping the 'SEO' can't be good news. See the announcement

It makes sense, though. SEO is a banged up name with a shady reputation and is becoming increasingly more irrelevant on today's 'social internet.'

How many of you who are currently selling SEO services are going to jump ship and rebrand along with Fishkin?

It's probably a good idea!
#bad #dumps #future #hold #moz #seo #seomoz
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  • Profile picture of the author Icematikx
    The problem is, whatever the new "term" is, you'll always have suppliers who give you 5,000 blog comments per day, and suppliers who give you 1 link a day from their own network. The local business community needs to learn how to distinguish between the good and the bad, which will never happen - because they don't have enough time to research into how it all works.
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    • Profile picture of the author PerformanceMan
      Originally Posted by Icematikx View Post

      The problem is, whatever the new "term" is, you'll always have suppliers who give you 5,000 blog comments per day, and suppliers who give you 1 link a day from their own network. The local business community needs to learn how to distinguish between the good and the bad, which will never happen - because they don't have enough time to research into how it all works.
      Definitely. I guess it's more like SEOMoz is trying to distance themselves from SEO so they can become an 'integrated analytics' company.

      I take it that they must feel like 'links being the most important factor in Google' is no longer true. Therefore they're focusing on integrated reporting that shows social engagement and the like.

      I'm sure the real reason is because subscription growth to SEOMoz PRO was flat and the investors wan't to push into new verticals fast.
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      • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
        Originally Posted by PerformanceMan View Post

        I'm sure the real reason is because subscription growth to SEOMoz PRO was flat and the investors wan't to push into new verticals fast.
        Yep surely - because we all know that companies never ever roll out new services unless things are flat.

        Seriously Barry I am literally cracking up (well I mean so to speak - laughing) over you claiming people should distance themselves because of the reputation of SEO while holding yourself out as an "Internet marketer". Thats freaking hilarious. lol
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  • Profile picture of the author dennis09
    Maybe it's just me but the name "moz" doesn't have any kind of ring to it whatsoever. I would dare say retarded but to each his own I guess. #bland
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  • Profile picture of the author oogyboogawa
    I wouldn't read too much into the implications of this within the rest of the SEO community. The idea that SEO means spam to some people is not exactly a new thing. I don't even really see this as them distancing themselves from "SEO" as much as them trying to get closer to other markets. Let's be honest, they've already got a large chunk of the SEO market that would follow them off a cliff if they asked nicely.

    Honestly, the only thing I would read into this is that it is a business that is doing well and wants to continue to broaden its horizons. Sometimes to do that, you need to rebrand in a way that opens your company up to a wider market.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
    Originally Posted by PerformanceMan View Post

    For people in the 'SEO' industry, industry leader SEOMoz rebranding as Moz and dumping the 'SEO' can't be good news. See the announcement
    Yes Barry its really bad news. Young mothers have been seen holding their young ones weeping uncontrollable. We have to use umbrellas lest pieces of the sky falling slap us in the head. chicken little has dived for cover, Obama has been dispatched to AIr Force One, A niki minaj looking hair piece was seen on the street as they whisked her away upon hearing the news and every SEO company with the name Seo in it is running for cover - all Because SEomoz announced that because they are offering more than SEO now they have changed to the name Moz. :rolleyes:

    Horrible horrible news.

    Exaggerate much? Ignore the majority of reasons given for the name change just to focus on what you want it to be exclusively?

    Yep

    How many of you who are currently selling SEO services are going to jump ship and rebrand along with Fishkin?
    Nope - not here. Why? Cause go figure despite your claims of how no one wants to be associated with SEO it still gets

    7.4 million search per month matching the phrase
    673,000 exact match searches globally
    49,000 searches per month related to people looking for "seo services"
    nearly 33,000 phrase searches a month of people looking for a "SEO agency"
    12,000 a month/ 400 a day looking for an "SEO expert"

    I guess all those companies and website owners each month didn't get your memo. Hey chicken Little where you at? Come out man.....False alarm bro. Don't molt now. There there here are some worms. Feel better? Yeah the guy was just fibbing.
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  • Profile picture of the author Backlinko
    IMHO the move had more to do with the fact that the site covers a lot more than SEO than the fact SEO has a bad name (although that was definitely part of the move and Rand admitted such on the blog post).

    Just look at the youmoz section: there's stuff about Linkedin, Instagram, PPC etc.

    So it's a make-sense move from a branding perspective.
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    • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
      Originally Posted by Backlinko View Post

      IMHO the move had more to do with the fact that the site covers a lot more than SEO than the fact SEO has a bad name (although that was definitely part of the move and Rand admitted such on the blog post).
      Very small part of it for anyone that reads it. There is not lick of evidence that if not for the other branding, product expansion, service increases the change would have been made but the OP for previous anti -seo viewpoint reasons is trying hard to make it the main focus despite Rand stating

      I am most certainly not doing, is giving up on the fight for the legitimacy, value, and importance of SEO. Organic search remains my personal passion, and one of the most powerful marketing channels in history. For as long as I'm active in the field, I will be shouting the value of SEO from the stages on which I present, the publications where I write, and the social channels where I share.
      IF this was about distancing from SEO then Rand would be crazy to say he is still going to very much as the leader of Moz be a champion of SEO.
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  • Profile picture of the author Icematikx
    My end conclusion for why they have rebranded has to lie within the fact that they effectively offer nothing related to SEO. SEO, or Search Engine Optimization is the art of optimizing the site for better rankings within major search engines. Whether that be on-page optimization or building links, so be it.

    The fact is, SEOMoz barely provide any tools which effectively help with "SEO". They provide a computer generated report and track your SERP results, none of which help your SEO efforts. They don't provide links, they republish old content daily and repeat the same crap that everybody else does, and they live off an outdated search tool that tries to mimic Google's algorithms.

    Sure, their product's and services and training courses/modules are related to SEO, but they aren't actually SEO. My idea would be that they are merely rebranding to focus on something similar, but different. Let's face it, the majority of their subscriptions, from my point of view, comes from those who use Opensite Explorer to get some insight into competition, or use the API, as I do, to see expired domain metrics.
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    • Profile picture of the author PerformanceMan
      Originally Posted by Icematikx View Post

      My end conclusion for why they have rebranded has to lie within the fact that they effectively offer nothing related to SEO. SEO, or Search Engine Optimization is the art of optimizing the site for better rankings within major search engines. Whether that be on-page optimization or building links, so be it.

      The fact is, SEOMoz barely provide any tools which effectively help with "SEO". They provide a computer generated report and track your SERP results, none of which help your SEO efforts. They don't provide links, they republish old content daily and repeat the same crap that everybody else does, and they live off an outdated search tool that tries to mimic Google's algorithms.

      Sure, their product's and services and training courses/modules are related to SEO, but they aren't actually SEO. My idea would be that they are merely rebranding to focus on something similar, but different. Let's face it, the majority of their subscriptions, from my point of view, comes from those who use Opensite Explorer to get some insight into competition, or use the API, as I do, to see expired domain metrics.
      Very astute post. Check out this article on the reasons a company would rebrand.

      They really aren't all that great. Rebrandings often end in failure.

      If the 'SEO Industry' and the SEOMoz brand were strong, there would seemingly be no good reason to make this change.
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      • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
        Originally Posted by PerformanceMan View Post

        V
        If the 'SEO Industry' and the SEOMoz brand were strong, there would seemingly be no good reason to make this change.
        In other words you linked to the thread but didn't read it. Rand gives several reasons and you just dishonestly discount all of those that doesn't suit your anti-Seo stance to proclaim there is seemingly no good reason.

        Sorry, "seemingly" would include the reasons given not ignoring them. The seomoz brand is extremely strong as evidenced by the fact that no one reading this is saying - who?

        but anyways you can see one of the reasons they made the change that Rand listed

        http://moz.com/

        looks good. Total analytic tool that goes beyond SEO to brand monitoring, social and general online marketing.
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      • Profile picture of the author Karan Rawat
        Originally Posted by PerformanceMan View Post

        Very astute post. Check out this article on the reasons a company would rebrand.

        They really aren't all that great. Rebrandings often end in failure.

        If the 'SEO Industry' and the SEOMoz brand were strong, there would seemingly be no good reason to make this change.
        They think they have better than SEO, Holy Crap..!
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  • Profile picture of the author GyuMan82
    I think you're seriously reading way too much into this OP.

    As long as Google is around there is going to be a demand for SEO.
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    You can't take the SEO out of something that never had SEO to begin with.

    I skimmed the brand killing article (risky publicity stunt at best) they mentioned social 17 times on that page which suits them well (better than claiming SEO).

    Hey Kool-Aid Kid!





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    • Profile picture of the author paulgl
      Why do people keep spamming these links? And yes I mean
      SPAMMING! Sites like seomoz, searchengineland, etc., do NOT
      NEED OUR LINKS.

      They also have their own agenda. That's right, folks. They
      are in business! They do stuff for their own business! That
      does not mean that whatever they do or say is gold,
      the truth, meaningful, or otherwise worthwhile to most
      people. But they sure like playing Pied Piper.

      Paul
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  • Profile picture of the author OneManSEO
    I was tempted to post a comment to the effect of, "Whoa! Someone is fed up with Google's Penguin updates!"
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  • Profile picture of the author Duy Nguyen
    Originally Posted by PerformanceMan View Post

    For people in the 'SEO' industry, industry leader SEOMoz rebranding as Moz and dumping the 'SEO' can't be good news. See the announcement

    It makes sense, though. SEO is a banged up name with a shady reputation and is becoming increasingly more irrelevant on today's 'social internet.'

    How many of you who are currently selling SEO services are going to jump ship and rebrand along with Fishkin?

    It's probably a good idea!
    Who the f*ck cares if they turned their name into something else? Are they gods? Nope! Then why bother

    SEO was, is and will always be there as long as there is at least one search engine exists on the field be it G00gle or something else.
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    • Profile picture of the author PerformanceMan
      Originally Posted by Duy Nguyen View Post

      Who the f*ck cares if they turned their name into something else? Are they gods? Nope! Then why bother

      SEO was, is and will always be there as long as there is at least one search engine exists on the field be it G00gle or something else.
      Of course they're Gods, especially compared to you

      I f**kin' care, man. That's who cares.

      What the f**k do you care if I f**kin care?

      You guys are starting to sound like the last buggy whip manufacturers when the automobile was invented. "Oh, nobody is going to start driving horseless carriages. As long as there are roads there will be a need for buggy whips."

      The so-called 'SEO industry' is changing - rapidly. One of the industry leaders doing a complete rebrand to go 'social' has to be a clue to at least some of you that there's an image problem with 'SEO' and 'link building.'
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      • Profile picture of the author Duy Nguyen
        Originally Posted by PerformanceMan View Post

        Of course they're Gods, especially compared to you

        I f**kin' care, man. That's who cares.

        What the f**k do you care if I f**kin care?

        You guys are starting to sound like the last buggy whip manufacturers when the automobile was invented. "Oh, nobody is going to start driving horseless carriages. As long as there are roads there will be a need for buggy whips."

        The so-called 'SEO industry' is changing - rapidly. One of the industry leaders doing a complete rebrand to go 'social' has to be a clue to at least some of you that there's an image problem with 'SEO' and 'link building.'
        Lol, seems like I insulted your belief or something Anyway, you believe what you want to believe. SEOMoz lost their "SEO" aspect long time ago, and became a propaganda machine to Google with all the so-called "white-hat" theories that hardly anyone can make them work (because they're theories at best).

        Tbh, I'm not surprised that they rebrand their name. But hey, whatever.

        So, nothing to do here anymore. Cheers man
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        • Profile picture of the author PerformanceMan
          Originally Posted by Duy Nguyen View Post

          Lol, seems like I insulted your belief or something Anyway, you believe what you want to believe. SEOMoz lost their "SEO" aspect long time ago, and became a propaganda machine to Google with all the so-called "white-hat" theories.

          Tbh, I'm not surprised that they rebrand their name.

          So, nothing to do here anymore. Cheers man
          No, you didn't hurt my feelings I was just goofing around! LOL

          I learned a long time ago not to take forums too seriously!

          You're saying what most people seem to be saying. The SEO in SEOMoz wasn't that great to begin with so now they're just MOZ. Hopefully Mozilla doesn't mind.
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      • Profile picture of the author nik0
        Banned
        Originally Posted by PerformanceMan View Post

        The so-called 'SEO industry' is changing - rapidly. One of the industry leaders doing a complete rebrand to go 'social' has to be a clue to at least some of you that there's an image problem with 'SEO' and 'link building.'
        I have no idea what is changing, as long as I can rank pretty crappy sites with a whole bunch of high PR links and see my rankings increase during Penguin 2.0 then there is not much changing AT ALL.

        Yeah sure, spammy links don't work (long) anymore but weren't we already warned for that more then a year ago during Penguin 1.0

        For me absolutely nothing has changed during this update and this whole social talk, pfff, good luck ranking with links from Facebook and Twitter and such and a few more +1's or likes aren't going to help you either.

        Then there are some people who say you have to go social by spamming all the social bookmark sites LOL, ok they didn't say it exactly in that way but that's what the link profile of their example site showed. Well done High PR society guys.

        That there is an image problem with SEO is undeniable though, 1.5 years ago I called a couple of offline companies and they sounded pretty scared of link building. Back then already.
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  • Profile picture of the author jinx1221
    I have to admit, for two seconds I did think about renaming my product, which isn't out yet, then thought, why? It is SEO related, and I am proud of it. Why should I bow down just because someone tweaks an algorithm a little bit, makes a few videos and all of a sudden everyone's fearful about doing SEO (their ultimate goal btw) to the point that I should be driven to totally rebrand my company? Thats giving in to their 'ultimate goal'.. "SEOMoz is now just Moz.. SEO must be bad". They win again.

    Yes, SEO as we knew it (spam your way to the top) has changed. That doesn't mean the name SEO has to be thought of as a dirty practice, and should be avoided at all costs. If all the health talk in the media has made you fearful of cholesterol and fat, go vegan, its your choice. As for me, im in the mood for a nice, juicy Angus burger right about now.. hold the mayo, though
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