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My guess is that Semrush paid somewhere between $20-50M for Backlinko, likely with a mix of cash and stock.
So why would they pay tens of millions of dollars for an SEO blog?
Here's my thought process...
Backlinko is one of the most dominant influences in the SEO space.
So instead of Semrush (1) trying to compete with Backlinko in Google rankings or (2) begging/paying for links and mentions... why not just buy it?
As I talk about in Marketing Like A Media Company we're going to see more and more companies use M&A to buy distribution.
Backlinko is a behemoth.
- 89 Domain Rating
- 483k backlinks
- 269k keywords ranking
- 592k estimated monthly search traffic volume
Look closely and you'll see that Backlinko is ranking 1-3 for 16,472 keywords π€―
That's a LOT of top positions.
Here's one of the more interesting bits: The Backlinko domain rivals the top SEO software competitors with a fraction of the amount of content.
Quality > Quantity
Backlinko also has a huge six-figure newsletter.
So now Semrush gets to remove all mention of their competitors in Backlinko content, leverage all the traffic for what are essentially product advertisements, use the newsletter for built-in distribution, and send offers to all past customers.
The Backlinko acquisition is one of my favorite M&A Marketing case studies yet because of the SEO dominance.
- HubSpot buying The Hustle = email
- Stripe buying Indie Hackers = community
- Semrush buying Backlinko = SEO
The only questions are:
- Can Backlinko maintain the trust of its readers and subscribers without looking like a shill for Semrush?
- Can Backlinko hold its SEO dominance or will it fade?
- Can Semrush avoid changing too many things that will kill the magic?
Either way, Semrush is also getting the entire Semrush team, including Brian (founder) himself, to create content for Semrush and build out more of their content.
What do you think? Would you pay up for Backlinko if you were Semrush?
βCorey
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