NMA has recently released their annual Marketing Services Guide detailing the turnover and staff levels of 36 UK search agencies and it makes very interesting reading. The guide doesn’t split natural search revenue from PPC revenue in the main table but if you click on the company name the split is listed in the profile page.
What I find interesting is looking at the number of staff some agencies have in comparison to turnover, useful for figuring out how important search is to their revenue stream. It’s also interesting that a lot of “big” agencies that appear to specialise in natural and paid search don’t really make much money from it.
The list isn’t particularly comprehensive, I can think of quite a few that would make the top 20 on here.
| Agency | Income from this specialism | Year to | Previous year | UK staff |
Founded in UK |
Owner | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bigmouthmedia | £12,628,070 | 06/09 | £13,402,989 | 105 | 1997 | LBi |
| 2 | iCrossing | £7,368,977 | 12/08 | 100 | 1997 | independent | |
| 3 | Greenlight | £6,633,939 | 08/09 | £5,287,053 | 98 | 2001 | independent |
| 4 | Forward3D | £5,539,607 | 07/09 | 55 | 2004 | independent | |
| 5 | Latitude | £4,986,430 | 12/09 | £10,426,941 | 93 | 2001 | independent |
| 6 | Jellyfish | £4,808,747 | 12/09 | £4,100,000 | 61 | 1999 | independent |
| 7 | Unique Digital | £3,690,000 | 12/09 | 35 | 1999 | Syzygy | |
| 8 | Stickyeyes | £2,861,759 | 12/09 | £2,353,836 | 55 | 1998 | independent |
| 9 | Tamar | £2,488,272 | 12/08 | 31 | 1995 | independent | |
| 10 | Steak | £2,375,190 | 02/10 | £2,846,020 | 72 | 2005 | independent |
| 11 | Propellernet | £2,268,210 | 09/09 | £1,381,980 | 20 | 2003 | independent |
| 12 | Golley Slater Group | £2,108,048 | 03/09 | 255 | 2003 | independent | |
| 13 | Epiphany Solutions | £1,909,836 | 01/09 | £1,439,797 | 37 | 2005 | independent |
| 14 | Agenda21 | £1,697,466 | 12/09 | £1,174,068 | 28 | 2005 | independent |
| 15 | Equi-Media | £1,690,083 | 01/09 | £1,911,021 | 50 | 1999 | independent |
| 16 | I Spy Marketing | £1,537,388 | 12/09 | 35 | 2005 | independent | |
| 17 | Summit Media | £1,484,902 | 01/09 | £1,208,160 | 68 | 2000 | independent |
| 18 | VCCP Search | £1,163,462 | 12/09 | £957,200 | 14 | 2007 | Chime Communications |
| 19 | Harvest Digital | £1,153,479 | 07/09 | £1,094,422 | 33 | 2001 | independent |
| 20 | SiteVisibility | £1,140,000 | 12/09 | £1,055,245 | 18 | 2002 | independent |
| 21 | Positive Digital | £958,888 | 12/09 | 19 | 0000 | independent | |
| 22 | Guava | £953,209 | 06/09 | £1,685,136 | 46 | 1998 | independent |
| 23 | Sitelynx | £866,627 | 11/08 | 18 | 1996 | independent | |
| 24 | DBD Media | £779,522 | 03/09 | £512,364 | 12 | 2000 | independent |
| 25 | Further Search Marketing | £758,520 | 12/09 | 18 | 2006 | independent | |
| 26 | Coast Digital | £745,680 | 04/09 | 27 | 2002 | independent | |
| 27 | Leapfrogg Digital Marketing | £606,358 | 12/09 | 13 | 2003 | independent | |
| 28 | Lakestar Media | £598,393 | 12/09 | 27 | 2007 | independent | |
| 29 | Euston Digital | £489,539 | 09/09 | £513,836 | 9 | 2000 | independent |
| 30 | Artemis8 | £482,000 | 03/09 | 20 | 2004 | Big Ideas Group, Sirius B | |
| 31 | Tug | £461,636 | 07/09 | 12 | 2006 | independent | |
| 32 | SEOptimise | £308,848 | 12/09 | 7 | 2007 | independent | |
| 33 | Strange | £221,722 | 03/09 | £336,372 | 22 | 1999 | independent |
| 34 | Vivid Lime | £209,690 | 04/09 | £328,590 | 25 | 2000 | independent |
| 35 | Web Marketing Group | £182,000 | 06/09 | 63 | 2000 | independent | |
| 36 | iVantage | £30,139 | 03/09 | 8 | 2002 | independent |
Patrick Altoft is Director of Search at Leeds based digital & SEO agency Branded3. Patrick also runs Blogstorm.You can get our blog posts delivered for free by email every day - simply add your email address to the box below or alternatively grab the RSS feed.
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
This is an interesting read considering the number of agencies listed, and when you take into account their staff numbers. Obviosuly the amount of staff is relative to the income from SEO, but I think it’s interesting to note that there are two companies in the top five with very similar staff numbers, but very different income levels.
Clicking into the profiles of each company it’s quite an insight to see what notable clients they have, and their investment in staff types. It does seem that the majority specialise in organic search engine optimisation, although many still take on a third of their work through paid optimisation.
I’ll be interested to see the comments regarding this and how the data is interpreted. As stated the list isnt completely comprehensive, so it would be an insight to view the data of those obmitted here.
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Interesting, when comparing this with 2008 results. Shows which companies have been bought, sold, gone into administration, re-branded and those companies that have moved away from search altogether.
http://www.nmamarketingservicesguide.co.uk/2008/section.php?section_id=7
More comments from davedewarNice list.
So where do Branded3 appear?
I thought they would be on this list
looks like bingo and gambling are the way to go if you use stickyeyes as a guide.
Bingo and gambling? Yes please!
Those numbers have to be messed up somewhere. No way can you have 63 people on a turnover of £182,000.
Patrick,
Why did you leave us off the list? Number 13 is missing!
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Shane, when I looked you were in the section saying “These agencies were unable to supply UK Turnover figures” but it seems somebody has fixed it since then. I will update the post. Cheers.
More comments from Patrick AltoftAm I missing something or does the last company on the list really only do £30k turnover?
Hey,
We’ve contacted NMA these numbers are not correct!
The WebMarketing Group numbers =
June 2009 – £2,759,868
June 2008 – £2,150,628
It’s all at companies house…..
We have 63 employees across 4 sites Harrogate, Leeds, Sheffield and Peterbrough.
Patrick – could you update your table?
Thanks.
I agree with Tom how is a company at position 36 only turning over 30K that sounds unsustainable…
Adam, Scott and Tom
I think the key thing to note is that income shown on this chart is derived from SEO services only (“Income from this specialism”)- whilst I suspect staff numbers is not.
Craig
There was also a mix up between revenue and profit.
yes this info is very helpful for all SEO services
Interesting names up there! I’m a little surprised on the placements.
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