ScribbleLive buys SEO platform Linkdex

Content marketing has one goal: Show a potential customer the most useful branded content, at the right time.

Step by step, Toronto-based content marketing platform ScribbleLive is building and acquiring the tools for a complete ecosystem to reach that goal.

In January, for instance, it added a content creation marketplace to its data-driven platform with the purchase of Visually, and now it has announced the acquisition of London-based enterprise SEO platform Linkdex.

The newest purchase, according to ScribbleLive, offers “the first major alignment of organic search and content marketing software.” Terms of the deal were not made public.

In the blog post announcing the acquisition, the company wrote:

“This acquisition streamlines content marketing and SEO software to empower an all-in-one marketing platform. Marketers can now operationalize their strategies, create beautiful content, target the right audiences, and measure the organic impact of their efforts. By reaffirming a commitment to data-driven processes, marketers can measure the direct effects of their work and map out how to produce content to complete the customer journey. This convergence of content marketing and SEO technology brings marketing teams one step closer to becoming the most effective revenue drivers in their organization.”

In a typical use case, ScribbleLive CEO Vince Mifsud told me, a marketer will create content and publish it to his website or other channels, and now will also be able to optimize the content’s topic, terms, tags and other features to maximize its chances at good placement in organic search results for related search terms. Previously, he noted, ScribbleLive didn’t offer any SEO tools.

To help plan the most appropriate content and placement, ScribbleLive employs predictive analytics — originally developed at Cornell University — that suggest the most effective topics and measure the impact of the content.

In addition, Linkdex owns an author database that highlights which writers have the greatest online influence in specific subjects. In its announcement, ScribbleLive noted it will also obtain Linkdex’s ongoing relationships with major brands and agencies.

Mifsud noted that some competitors, like BrightEdge, originated more on the SEO side of content and have added content marketing tools, while ScribbleLive has evolved the other way. His company is now differentiated by its range of content tools and algorithms to guide topic choice and creation, he said.

Linkdex CEO Mark Smith is heading up the new division as Managing Director, and his staff will remain at its locations in London and New York.