Software company Moz is dropping its social media and content marketing tools in an effort to “double down” on core SEO products. The company stated it has not seen the growth it anticipated for Followerwonk and Moz Content, and therefore will no longer be investing in them.
”We’re focusing our efforts on core SEO such as rank tracking, keyword research, local listings, duplicate management, on-page, crawl, and links. In the future, we’ll no longer offer Moz Content or Followerwonk.”
Moz, founded in 2004 as “SEOmoz”, was formerly a consulting firm before shifting toward developing SEO software in 2009. After a round of funding in 2012 the company acquired Followerwonk, which was around the time when it expanded its product offerings to include social media and content marketing software.
In May 2013, the company formally transitioned from “SEOmoz” to just “Moz”, stating it was no longer a purely SEO-based software company. That decision proved to last just a little over three years — here we are today in 2016, where Moz is once again focusing exclusively on SEO software.
What This Means for Users
Moz says it will attempt to find a good home for Followerwonk, a service which is used by many but not a revenue driver for the company. Moz Content will be shut down completely, so users of that service would be wise to start looking for an alternative if need be.
With those products gone, Moz will ramp up investments in core SEO features with a particular focus on local search. Here’s what users can look forward to in the future:
”We’ve got updates planned for crawl and rank tracking that we think you’ll love. We know we’re behind in link technology right now, and we’re working on something ambitious.”
The company affirms its passion for developing search products and assures that its customers will see a continued investment in those features.
What This Means for Moz
While the company hasn’t seen the growth it expected with Followerwonk and Moz Content, it is seeing increased interest in its SEO offerings. Moz says churn rates are as low as ever, and its average revenue per user is on the rise.
Reducing its line of product offerings and refocusing on SEO has led to Moz making the tough decision of asking 28% of its staff to leave. The company promises to assist its former employees with the transition in the form of severance, coaching, and helping them find new roles.
In fact, not only will Moz be helping its former employees with finding new jobs, but the community has already taken the initiative to do the same. In the comments section of the company’s announcement, dozens of individuals have been sharing potential job opportunities. In addition, the hashtag #hiremoz has been making its way around Twitter with even more individuals sharing job opportunities for the former Moz employees.
The Reaction So Far
Through reading the comments in Moz’s post, as well as comments shared on Twitter so far, it’s apparent that people are understandably concerned about the strength of the community going forward.
“Moz is not just a tool, it’s a community of marketers… better: people. It’s not a community of customers, like many other that are communities just because they self define like that.”, states Gianluca Fiorelli in one of the top rated comments.
Sarah Bird of Moz says in response: “The Moz community is very special and its a privilege to host it here at Moz. Undoubtedly there will be a few hiccups as we go through this transition in the next couple weeks, but we are committed to nurturing the Moz community.”
The company says to expect more details to come regarding the transition. In the meantime, if you know of a job opportunity that would be a great fit for someone who used to work at Moz, we invite you to share it in the comments section of this post. We’ll do our part by helping to distribute your comments on Twitter.
