Distilled, a U.K. based SEO and digital marketing firm, has struck a partnership with SEOmoz in which Distilled will take over the SEO consulting practice. Striking up a formal partnership with SEOmoz, worth an anticipated $1m in the first year, Distilled will be joining SEOmoz in Seattle in its first US based office. Distilled claimed the new office will enable it to expand its client base and operate the custom SEO consulting practice formerly run by SEOmoz, whilst SEOmoz said it can now focus all its energy on developing tools and resources for the search engine optimization community.

This partnership is an extension of collaboration between the two companies since 2007 and whilst many of the day to day operations of SEOmoz website remain unchanged, it is a move that both companies are extremely excited by. Will Critchlow of Distilled says the "the US is a big opportunity for us" and he expects to double their UK business over the next two years.

"Distilled's partnership with SEOmoz has worked perfectly because of our shared vision of SEO in clients' boardrooms," comments Will Critchlow, Co-founder of Distilled. "The opportunity to take over their consulting business as their subscription platform takes off presents us with a fantastic opportunity to expand in the US and we look forward to rapid growth in 2010."

SEOmoz currently makes 85% of its revenue from the SaaS based SEO tools subscription products it offers. SEOmoz have been seeking second round funding from investors and this latest partnership could boost its valuation as a pure play SEO tools company.

"At SEOmoz, we like to have our cake and eat it, too. We're thrilled to have Distilled taking over our consulting business and growing its operations here in the US. The partnership with Distilled lets us focus on what we do best--build great SEO software and tools--while continuing to gain the experience and insight that comes from an experienced consulting team working across diverse projects," said Rand Fishkin, CEO and Co-founder of SEOmoz.