Last night was a big night for Seeker (yes, big nights can still happen during lockdown).
We’ve kept it on the down-low, but we’re proud to confirm that last night Seeker Digital landed 25th place on the prestigious Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50.
Last night’s awards ceremony (virtual, of course) was a celebration of those companies that embraced innovation and entrepreneurship to achieve fast growth over the past four years.
Naturally, this respected award is a big deal for us at Seeker. Read on to learn why we won, what it means for our agency, and what the future holds for Seeker Digital.
Big news for a (not so) little agency!
Before we get stuck into celebrating our win (and, yes, tooting our own horn a little), let me start by explaining a little about the award.
For those not in the know, the Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50 is a yearly celebration of the 50 fastest-growing tech companies in the UK.
These companies span a range of different niches—previous winners include Deliveroo, Fruugo, SimplyCook, and Hostmaker, for instance.
But what sets them apart is an innovative application of technology in order to help them grow and develop.
It is a pattern seen around the business world—those companies that embrace technology in new and creative ways are those that experience real and substantial growth within their niche, and it is exactly this that helped Seeker land a place on the prestigious list.
Seeker has pioneered the application of machine learning in its digital marketing processes.
By leaning on AI to automate huge amounts of the link building process, we’re able to quickly and efficiently conduct keyword research, prospect sites, optimise pitches, and have conversations in outreach without sacrificing the crucial human element.
Winning the Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50 is affirmation of our strategies. Using machine learning and automation helps us deliver effective full-stack SEO and advanced link building services to our clients, and it’s something we’re both proud and humbled to be recognised for.
What does this award mean for Seeker?
It goes without saying that this is an amazing time for Seeker.
What started out as a team of four in a tiny office has expanded to a team of over 30 marketers, SEOs, account managers, writers,designers, and support staff in a period of just over four years.
Every day, the team works tirelessly on outreach, SEO, content creation, and the myriad other processes required to run a busy agency. Ranking on the UK Technology Fast 50 is testament to that effort and hard work.
We got to where we are today by focusing on three key areas:
We specialise
Firstly, we specialised, both in terms of sector and our tactics.
Our mission is to be the SEO agency of choice for technology brands, with a focus on SaaS and ecommerce. From the beginning, we set out to focus on these niches, niches whose clear search query-focused goals were a perfect match for our services.
We also doubled down on tactics. An SEO agency is, by its very nature, quite specialist, so we focused our efforts on building valuable, sustainable links.
Google’s algorithm looks at a huge variety of different signals to measure SEO value, but the most powerful of these are content and links.
Amazing links are usually built as a by-product of PR work, marketing, or creating entertaining or educational content. Seeker helps its clients excel by creating this engaging content and then shouting about it.
We innovate
Secondly, our innovative use of technology and systems is essential for delivering our work.
By embracing future technology, machine learning, and automation, we speed up our work to better understand search algorithms—and then create the content and links that work with the algorithm.
We hire the right people
Finally, nothing has been more impactful for our journey as an agency than the people behind it.
For a service-based agency, the people we hire and the talents they bring are its lifeblood. We pride ourselves in hiring the right people for the right roles, and it is this that has buoyed us as an agency.
An unprecedented time for us all
This award is especially resonant because of the world we’re living in right now.
The digital industry has, like virtually every other industry, been impacted by the pandemic. Coupled with economic uncertainty here and abroad, the past few months have been a trying time for everyone.
As such, being able to sustain our growth against such a tumultuous backdrop is a humbling achievement and affirmation of where we’ve been—and where we’re going.
Of course, while this award is recognition of the efforts of the agency, this journey wouldn’t have been possible without those who have helped and supported us along the way. Thanks go to our amazing clients, our growth consultancy Cactus, the wider SEO industry (looking at you BrightonSEO), and of course Deloitte, for recognising those companies that embraced innovation and entrepreneurship on the challenging journey as a growing business.
Beyond the agency: what does this mean for the wider tech industry?
Obviously this is a great win for Seeker, a deserving recognition of the fantastic work our team has put in over the past few years.
But the award is also a reflection of how the wider tech industry should look to the future too.
The Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50 celebrates innovation and entrepreneurship, and it is this emphasis on innovation that is particularly important.
Our commissioned live illustration of Deloitte’s Fast50 awards last night.
Sustained growth requires sustained innovation, and this means a constant focus on new and emerging technologies and their application.
We already use machine learning and automation to power many of our processes, but as 2020 draws to a close and a new year approaches, we—and the tech industry as a whole—need to look at how we can build on our previous successes and continue to innovate through technology.
In short, sustained growth doesn’t stop at automating the outreach process. It’s a brave new world in tech, and it needs brave new approaches to succeed in it.
This is a reflective time for us right now. It’s humbling to be ranked alongside so many other incredible companies, but we’re also proud to be part of the burgeoning South West tech scene. With this award under our belt, we’re hopeful that 2021 will bring fresh opportunities and new challenges on the next part of our agency journey.
Coverage:
- https://www.deloitte.co.uk/fast50/winners/2020/
- http://www.bristol-business.net/tech-driven-marketing-agencys-hyper-growth-gives-it-unique-place-in-deloittes-fast-50-rankings/
- https://bristolcreativeindustries.com/bristol-marketing-agency-makes-25th-in-deloittes-fast-50/
- https://www.businessinnovationmag.co.uk/deloitte-technology-fast-50-2020-reveals-five-companies-from-across-the-region/