If the SEO sector is predicted to bring in $122 billion by 2028, then who is the real money maker and are there any chances for those of us with the right talents to have a piece of the action?
Having said that, I should warn you not to accept the revenue figures I’m providing as gospel. Several are self-reported, and some are based on my own calculations, where I might have made errors. Nevertheless, I’ve provided my work and would be pleased to address any issues.
Let’s dive in…
Centori – $28,800 in Annual Revenue
Centori was once a tool named “BlogTrackr,” which helped businesses position themselves. However, after a few changes, the company found itself on a new road that catered to those who wanted to rank their websites higher in search engines.
Approximately $2,400 is currently generated each month by the SEO coaching and Slack community, with revenue figures confirmed by Stripe (through IndieHackers).
Every time I update this report, I like to begin with a smaller, more “realistic” success story, and Centori is a good fit for that.
Although their income is a little inconsistent right now and I don’t think they’ve really achieved product-market fit, I nevertheless wish them luck.
Front Page SEO 🇦🇺 – $144,000 in Annual Revenue
Founded in 2014 by Janet Camilleri and headquartered in Brisbane, Australia, Front Page SEO was formerly known as Front Page Web Writing.
Janet didn’t decide to rebrand the business until 2021 in order to give it a stronger SEO focus and begin providing workshops, audits, and keyword research.
We can tell that she is currently making about $12,000 per month because to this 2022 interview.
Despite the fact that Janet’s website isn’t flawless—I’ve seen countless of SEO agency websites over the years — I adore how personal it is. That must be a big factor in drawing people to her services.
SEOButler – $268,000 in Annual Revenue
SEO Butler was purchased by Onfolio Holdings, a publicly traded business that trades as $ONFO on the Nasdaq stock exchange, towards the end of 2022.
We are aware that SEO Butler was making $268,000 in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) as a result of the transaction.
SEO Butler was purchased by Onfolio for $950,000, or a 3.54x multiple.
The first product you are urged to purchase on the SEOButler website is their content writing services, which makes sense to me since I usually think that a business is making the most money from the offering it tries to push the most.
A 3,000-word piece would cost $210 at the time of writing. If you want the 3,000-word post to be optimised using the SEO tool “Surfer,” it costs an additional $405.
Credo – ~$500,000 in Annual Revenue
It’s been amazing to see John Doherty, the founder of Credo, move from leading the marketing department at HotPads, a Zillow subsidiary, to founding essentially a digital marketing matchmaking service for consumers seeking for reputable, screened service providers.
Credo disclosed in an interview that their monthly revenue was $32,000 in the first published version of this report. Based on our own independent research, we have updated this for 2023 and raised it to $48,000 each month.
Although there will be monthly variations, these figures are not precise; rather, they represent a reasonable average.
Credo isn’t only about putting consumers in touch with SEOs; their headline (seen above) references SEO, so it’s clear that this industry is what made me aware of John.
Indexsy 🇨🇦 – $598,000 in Annual Revenue
Indexsy, which bills itself as a “enterprise SEO solution,” was established by Jacky Chou, a well-known public builder.
Despite Indexsy’s growing success, Jacky’s primary source of income comes from other sources. This proves that you may provide services that customers are willing to pay for and yet concentrate on other projects.
I’m not sure if they only work with enterprise clients, but unlike the majority of businesses on this list, they solely provide SEO-related services (many others also offer PPC management, website design, and other services).
The figures provided by Indexsy are current as of 2023, and their revenue for 2022 was $598,000.
WriterZen 🇸🇬 – Just Raised $1.35M with 12,000 Customers
The only firm on this list for whom I do not have financial data is WriterZen, but I wanted to share their story anyway because I believe they will be an intriguing company to follow in the future.
particularly considering that they received $1.35 million just a few months ago (in November 2022) to further its AI-powered SEO content production software.
Monitoring the SEO sector ought to encompass not only the established players but also the emerging ones, at least in my opinion.
They disclosed an intriguing statistic along with their investment round: they presently have more than 12,000 users.
Revenue Zen – $1.4M in 2023 Revenue
Openly listed Recently, Onfolio Holdings announced that RevenueZen, a B2B SEO agency, has been acquired.
In the announcement, it was disclosed that RevenueZen produced around $1.4 million in revenue in 2023, along with $227,000 in adjusted EBITDA.
RevenueZen was spending at least $150,000 a month on outsourcing services to other suppliers, which Onfolio believes they can now shift to their own solutions, according to the news release from Onfolio. I think that was a really wise choice.
RevenueZen serves clients for content marketing and LinkedIn in addition to SEO, but SEO is unquestionably their primary focus.
Demandwell – $1.8M in Annual Revenue (Raised $5M)
Located in Indianapolis Demandwell refers to their software as a “content product suite” that can assist you in using SEO to get significant results.
They were able to generate $1.8 million in revenue annually in just 18 months of operation, as confirmed by GetLatka and covered on the SaaSClub podcast.
Demandwell seems to operate similarly to other solutions in that you provide a few keyword suggestions for articles, and their software assists in creating an outline that you may further develop. If you want a more thorough explanation, I suggest visiting their features website as there is a bit more to it than that.
They obtained $5 million in seed money in January 2022 with the goal of “accelerating the transformation of the SEO industry.”
WordLift.io – $1.9M in Annual Revenue
WordLift positions itself as an AI-powered solution that increases your website’s visibility in search results.
Among the notable brands that are highlighted on their webpage are Ray-Ban, Oakley, and Airbnb.
With plugins for platforms like WordPress that sit next to your material while you write, their main product helps you add structured data to your work.
In an interview with Nathan Latka, they initially disclosed their earnings, stating that they had brought in $1 million in 2021.
In 2022, this was updated to show that their yearly revenues had increased to $1.9 million.
Inbound Pursuit 🇦🇺 – $2M+ in Annual Revenue ($1M+ Profit)
Keval Shah launched Inbound Pursuit, an e-commerce SEO agency, a few years ago.
I’ve been following Keval on Twitter for a while, and he frequently talks about his agency’s success and the outcomes he can help his clients reach.
In 2023, Keval disclosed that his agency generates over $2 million in income year, with over $1 million going towards profit.
With all due respect to Keval, I believe you wouldn’t conclude his agency is the success story that it is after looking at its website for just a moment. The design and everything about Keval himself lack charisma, which is the exact opposite of his Twitter character.
MvH Media 🇳🇱 – $2.59M+ in Annual Revenue
MvH Media was identified by The Financial Times as one of the fastest-growing businesses in Europe in 2022.
They are a full-service Dutch digital marketing business with yearly revenues of €2.39M (or about $2.59M USD). Based on their homepage, it looks that their primary concentration is on SEO services.
Even though I’ve visited the Netherlands more than 20 times in my life, and even though I don’t speak Dutch very well, I can tell they’re doing well there because they have 13 nominees for the 2022 Dutch Search Awards.
The Financial Times’ verification of their income also allows us to view additional company data, such as their 29 employees and 63.73% compound annual growth rate.
Serpstat 🇺🇦 – $2.6M in Annual Revenue
The Ukrainian company Serpstat bills itself as “The growth hacking tool for SEO and content marketing” and says it has received the highest votes on ProductHunt among SEO tools.
Helping you with keyword research and monitoring Google rankings for any online brand is their main priority.
Sepstat reported $840,000 in annual revenues when this report was originally released.
They have now verified to me in 2023—which I believe to be an exclusive—that they are now bringing in $2.6 million annually.
Growth Machine – $2.8M in Annual Revenue
Nat Eliason, an entrepreneur I now regard as a friend (at least in the sense of “met and chat sometimes on the internet”), launched Growth Machine.
When this story initially went live, we disclosed that his agency was making about $85,000 per month, and they were expected to generate seven figures in income in just two years.
As of 2023, the company generates approximately $83,000 monthly revenue through the provision of on-site audit services, content creation, and link building. It was confirmed by our own investigation.
RankScience – $3M+ in Annual Revenue
With the use of automatic SEO split testing from Rank Science, you can optimise a percentage of your website’s pages to discover what Google and other search engines are looking for, allowing you to consistently apply optimised variations.
Rank Science has raised an additional $1.8 million from investors after the publication of our initial report, bringing their total funding to $1.9 million. This demonstrates the brand’s potential as well as the confidence in its execution and model.
They have some amazing companies on their client roster and are in an attractive market with few competition (for the time being).
Updated for 2023, we have independently confirmed that they are now generating over $3 million in revenue year, having previously only made about $960,000.
WordAgents – $3.3M in Annual Revenue
With a clientele that includes highly ranked websites such as DigitalTrends, WordAgents provides content writing services with an emphasis on assisting clients in boosting organic search traffic.
Although they have a wide range of possibilities, as of this writing, they offer the following three packages:
20,000 words of content for $1,300 is the silver package.
60,000 words of material in the gold bundle for $3,600
100,000 words of content for $5,500 is the Platinum Package.
The quality of the packages doesn’t seem to differ in any way. Simply put, the cost per word decreases as you pay more.
Smaller alternatives are also available, with 1,000 words of material starting at $70.
PlumberSEO – $5M in Annual Revenue
I had to mention one of my fave instances of going niche if you’re going to offer SEO services, PlumberSEO.net, for those of you who have read any of my articles over the years.
See, even when the.com domain is taken, success is still possible.
They reported their 2017 revenues to Inc.com, showing a 78% growth in three years to $3.3 million.
I saw this interview lately, which reveals they made $5 million in income in 2020.
Although I would have preferred more recent data, I couldn’t help but include this intriguing example—which is still a running business—in the list.
ThirdDoorMedia – $6-7M in Annual Revenue
Though you might not be familiar with ThirdDoorMedia, you could be aware of their well-known media brands, such as Search Engine Land and MarTech, or their marketing conferences, like SMX, which are mainly attended by SEOs.
Third Door Media was founded by Danny Sullivan, who is currently employed by Google as their public search liaison. The company’s main sources of income include advertising and event sponsorships.
ThirdDoorMedia reported $10 million in annual income when I first published this advice. In order to be listed on Inc’s yearly Inc 5,000 list, they had disclosed their revenue figures to Inc.
The most current revenue projections I’ve seen online fall between $6 million and $7 million.
Impression 🇬🇧 – $7.8M in Annual Revenue
Impressions is a UK-based digital marketing organisation primarily focused on providing SEO services. It has offices in Nottingham and London.
Co-founder Aaron Dicks disclosed in November 2022 that the business was making about $650,000 a month and was on pace to reach its annual revenue target of £10 million ($12.2 million).
Although Impression isn’t a company that specialises only in SEO, SEO plays a significant role in what they do. I generally like businesses that are.
Their SEO service is the subject of the first testimonial on their homepage and the first item of emphasis on their services page. They also won “SEO Agency of the Year” at the Global Digital Excellence Awards, which is the first honour they display on both of those pages.
Helium SEO – $8M in Annual Revenue
Things are moving fast at Helium SEO, as evidenced by their inclusion on the Inc 5000 for 2022, their first year on the list.
I began off with BizJournals’ sales figures, but I came up with their most recent revenue estimate on my own.
The revenues from prior years that they have revealed were:
$796,061 in 2018
2019: $2.9 million
2020: $4,2 million
Since the Inc 5000 for 2022 includes 2021 revenue data, which shows a 971% three-year growth, I have revised my estimate of Helium SEO’s yearly revenue to be about $8 million.
Rankings.io – $12.1M Annual Revenue
One excellent example of what I’ve been teaching folks for years is to go niche when choosing a marketing agency: Chris Dreyer’s Rankings.io.
The company was established in 2013, and as of 2022, they have achieved the extremely remarkable feat of being listed on the Inc 5000 for five consecutive years.
The $12 million in annual revenues for the year were reported.
Rankings.io’s listing on the site indicates that its three-year growth rate is 156%. Inc rankings are determined by revenue and growth rate.
Chris is a well-known figure in the SEO industry, so it’s wonderful to see him succeeding.
It’s fascinating to see that the company’s branding has changed a little since this story was originally published.
Ayima 🇸🇪 – $14.3M in Annual Revenue
As a publicly traded business, Ayima is required to provide its financial statements to investors on a quarterly basis for review. The company was created in Sweden, which is why all figures are stated in SEK (Swedish Krona).
It’s important to mention that they also have offices in Hong Kong 🌭🌰, the US 🇻🇸, Canada 🇨🇦, and the UK 🇴🇧.
As of the time of writing, their most recent yearly income figures are 150.24 million SEK, or around $14.39 million USD.
I’ve made updates to the figures for 2023. Following publicly traded companies has its benefits.
They identify themselves as a “SEO and digital marketing agency” on their website tailored for the UK, where they list Easyjet, a well-known low-cost airline, among its clients.
Thrive Agency – $18.7M in Annual Revenue
For six years running, Thrive Internet Marketing Agency has maintained its remarkable distinction by being listed on the Inc 5000 list of the fastest-growing private firms in America.
They generated $6.3 million in yearly revenues when they were placed on the Inc 5000 back in 2018. According to reports, they grew by 197% over the course of three years in 2022, bringing their sales for the prior year to over $18.7 million.
This is consistent with their disclosure in a December 2020 Mixergy interview that they were generating over $15 million annually. Therefore, even while I wouldn’t consider the figure I provided above to be exactly correct, it’s the closest you can go without them disclosing the precise figures once more.
Ignite Visibility – $18.9M in Annual Revenue
Ignite Visibility is something I kind of like.
When I was sixteen years old and starting my first blog (on a website you might recognise, ViperChill), Ignite Visibility was a rapidly expanding company that encouraged me to persevere even in the face of difficulty gaining clients.
For teenage Glen, it was a huge issue that I was able to communicate with the creator a few times via email and blog comments.
If my memory serves me well, their main emphasis at the time was social media marketing rather than SEO, although they do provide SEO services now. Although it isn’t their only service, it is the first one listed on their webpage.
SocialSEO – $19.7M in Annual Revenue (Close Estimation)
Since SocialSEO was acquired, I won’t be able to report on their revenue for probably the last time, thus I was apprehensive to include them on this list.
Even though I know I’ll have to remove it in a year or two, I think it’s worth the effort to write this since I think their narrative is worthwhile.
SocialSEO, formerly known as Pikes Peak SEO, has impressively appeared in the Inc 5,000 list six times in a row, including for 2022.
I don’t know their exact sales figures, but a 2018 news release stated they anticipated surpassing the $10 million milestone in 2019. Based on Inc.’s 2022 three-year growth rate, we can calculate their approximate yearly revenue of $19.7 million.
Go Local Interactive – $24.2M in Annual Revenue
Although Go Local Interactive bills itself as a full-service digital marketing firm, it’s reasonable to assume that ranking clients higher in search engines is a top concern for them given the three calls to action on their site that are all related to SEO.
When they were featured on the Inc 5000 for 2018, they shared the $12.1 million in initial revenues that were reported in this report. In 2021, they were listed on the Inc 5000 list once more, despite the fact that Inc no longer provides revenue figures for businesses.
It is rather common for businesses on the Inc 5000 list to have three-year growth rates of less than 100%, thus it is reasonable to assume that GoLocalInteractive generates at least $24 million in revenue annually, if not more.
The Hoth – $26.5M in Annual Revenue
They boast over 300,000 consumers, ardent admirers, and outspoken detractors.
Whatever your opinion of The Hoth’s content and link-building services, one thing is certain: they know how to market them.
The 2010 startup Hoth—acronym for “hit ’em over the head”—was eventually purchased by Next Net Media, the company that also runs Backlinks.com.
You might know them as the sole link-building business I’ve rated (so far) if you read Detailed.
With a three-year increase of 155%, they have been listed on the Inc 5,000 list of the fastest-growing private firms for the sixth consecutive year.
This makes sense because the $10.4M in revenue we previously reported for them was disclosed to Inc.
Oxylabs 🇱🇹 – $27.1M in Annual Revenue
Even though Oxylabs isn’t an SEO agency or a company that only performs SEO, it does help a lot of SEOs and companies that make SEO tools to sell their products.
At first glance, Oxylabs appears to be a proxy service supplier. To put it simply, they allow you to crawl and scrape data from the internet, and they literally have millions of IP addresses that you can use to avoid getting “blocked” while doing so.
They list “SEO monitoring” as one of the first five possible uses for their offering on their homepage. They also have a service page specifically for those who want to scrape and extract data from search results (like Google’s).
Moz – $60M in Annual Revenue
In the SEO industry, Moz was without a doubt the top brand when I first started out.
In addition to having the most well-read blog, they also spent millions of dollars developing a Software as a Service platform that allowed users to improve their website‘s Google ranking.
Even while Moz isn’t the industry leader anymore—Semrush and Ahrefs undoubtedly own a larger market share—they are still a significant force in the field after more than ten years.
Moz increased their yearly sales to over $60 million with the aid of $30 million invested across several fundraising rounds.
BrightEdge – $60-120M in Annual Revenue
I find it difficult to like BrightEdge. They began (and lost) a four-year legal battle alleging Searchmetrics violated their patents related to search engine optimisation. Later on, the five BrightEdge patents that were up for debate were found to be invalid.
Putting aside my personal opinions, BrightEdge has created a product that many businesses are willing to pay for. Some of the top businesses in the world rely on their platform, which they characterise as “driving the convergence of SEO and content marketing.”
Their yearly revenue was $50 million in the first iteration of this report, which was based on their Inc 5,000 list profile from 2015.
Ahrefs – $100M+ in Annual Revenue
Ahrefs was one of the only estimates on this list when I initially published this report a few years ago since, at the time, they were reluctant to discuss their revenue.
I had estimated their yearly revenue to be between $40 and $50 million. The creator of another business on this list effectively “laughed at” this prediction since it was too low.
As Ahrefs confirmed they were generating $40M in annual revenue at the time, it appears I was correct.
Ahrefs is a little less coy about how successful their business is these days; in 2020, they disclosed that their yearly sales were $66 million.
They disclosed to TechCrunch in 2022 that they were bringing in over $50 million annually from more than 50,000 clients.
Semrush – $293M in Annual Revenue
Semrush seems to be everywhere these days, offering a wide range of tools to assist you reverse engineer the success of your competition.
They have always been somewhat private about their real revenue figures, much like Ahrefs, but now that they are a publicly traded business (trading as $SEMR), we have a lot more information on how successful they are operating.
We have access to their financial information, but they also disclose their consumer base and growth trajectory.
Yext – $390.6M Annual Revenue
Having publicly traded companies on this list has the benefit of providing me with current revenue figures that are updated on a regular basis.
According to Yext ($YEXT)’s most recent full-year financials, they will make over $300 million in 2022.
You might be surprised to learn that Yext only has 2,700 clients, despite producing those sales figures. In fact, that represents a 15% rise from the previous year.
Although that figure may seem large, you can see how much certain brands must be paying them when you contrast it with Ahrefs (which has over 50,000 clients) or Semrush (which has 94,000 customers).
Although many may no longer consider Yext to be merely an SEO firm, seven of the twelve solutions they offered over the years.
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