1st Online Solutions

What 1st Online Solutions does

1st Online Solutions (legal entity First Online Solutions Ltd.) is a privately held UK digital agency founded in 2007 and headquartered at 98 Tooley Street, London, with a stated 200-strong team operating across offices in London, Austin (Texas), Perth, Melbourne, Sofia, and Varna, and a referenced hiring presence in Copenhagen. The firm delivers search engine optimisation, local search marketing and listing management, responsive web design, and copywriting/content strategy to a hybrid client base of Fortune 500 enterprises and small/local businesses, with stated emerging-market reach into Russia, China, and Turkey via Yandex and multilingual content (15 languages across 5 countries).

The company's service delivery rests on a proprietary in-house SEO software suite — SiteDxr (site indexation and crawl metrics), SEODxr (local and natural search position tracking with share-of-voice scoring), CallDxr (click-to-call tracking and offline conversion attribution), and MapDxr (citation management and automated reporting) — used alongside third-party SEO tools (Moz, Majestic, AnalyticsSEO) and connected to local-search platforms including Google+ Local, Google Places/Maps, Google Mapmaker (where the firm holds trusted-editor status), Bing Maps, Yahoo! Local, Yandex, Yelp, Foursquare, and Qype, with business-data providers InfoUSA, InfoGroup, and Yellow Pages underpinning citation accuracy. A separate content lab branded Writecamp (writecamp.org) showcases copywriting work. Integrations also extend to Google AdWords for paid search and Google Analytics / Webmaster Tools for client reporting.

The business model is primarily professional services: clients select custom service packages under an annual agreement, invoiced with 7-day payment terms plus VAT and interest at 3% above Bank of England base rate on overdue amounts. A recurring VIP-plan subscription layer (with a 10% late fee and per-visit ancillary charges) and a managed domain registration service under Nominet for .uk domains at £0 per 2-year period supplement core revenue. Go-to-market is sales-led with account-manager direct outreach, a "15-second contact form" lead capture mechanism triggering 24-hour reconnaissance and tailored proposals, inside-sales phone coverage in the UK/US/Australia, and in-person executive meetings at the London Southbank headquarters for enterprise clients from the UK, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. The firm is founder-led: co-founder and CEO Rune Sovndahl and founding director Anton Skarlatov remain in leadership roles. No external funding, M&A, or ownership changes are disclosed in the source material.

Name

1st Online Solutions

Legal name

First Online Solutions Ltd

Website

https://1stonlinesolutions.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2007

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

1st Online Solutions is a London-headquartered private digital agency delivering SEO, local search marketing, responsive web design, and multilingual content strategy to Fortune 500 enterprises and SMBs across the UK, US, Australia, Bulgaria, and emerging markets, underpinned by an in-house proprietary SEO software suite.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices7 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Service packages (SEO, local search, PPC, design, content): Clients select service packages under a services agreement; pricing is fee-based, billed against an invoice issued by 1st Online Solutions and payable within seven days, plus VAT. Late amounts accrue interest at 3% above the Bank of England base rate.
2. VIP-plan subscriptions and ancillary product/service sales: Recurring VIP-plan memberships combined with one-off fees for non-covered products, services, and mileage; payments collected on the date of service or invoiced with 5-business-day terms. Late payments assessed a 10% late fee; all sales (including VIP plans) are final with no refunds.
3. Domain name registration and renewal: Revenue stream from domain name administration for .uk domain spaces on behalf of clients; charges £0 per domain name for a 2-year period with free renewal, free cancellations, transfers and changes of registration.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

1st Online Solutions is a digital marketing and local-search agency that delivers Search Engine Optimisation, Local Search Marketing & Listing Management, Pay-Per-Click management, Responsive Web Design, and Copywriting & Content Strategy services to businesses ranging from Fortune 500 enterprises to small local shops. Service delivery is powered by a proprietary in-house SEO software suite (SiteDxr, SEODxr, CallDxr, MapDxr) and direct platform relationships with Google, Bing, Yahoo, Yandex, Yelp, Foursquare and Qype, with content produced in 5 countries across 15 languages.

Product overview

1st Online Solutions (First Online Solutions Ltd.) is a single digital agency offering a portfolio of related services rather than one unified software product. Its core offerings are Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Local Search Marketing & Listing Management, augmented by UX & Responsive Design, Copywriting & Content Strategy, and a Technology/local-search-platforms sub-service. Underpinning the SEO practice is a proprietary in-house SEO software suite made up of four modules — SiteDxr, SEODxr, CallDxr and MapDxr — used alongside third-party SEO tools (Moz, Majestic, AnalyticsSEO) for site analysis, ranking and citation tracking. The local search offering connects to major platforms (Google+ Local, Google Places/Maps, Bing, Yahoo!, Yandex, Yelp, Foursquare, Qype, Google Mapmaker) and business data providers (InfoUSA, InfoGroup, Yellow Pages), while PPC and analytics work is delivered through Google AdWords, Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• SiteDxr: Proprietary in-house SEO tool providing site indexation metrics, crawl stats and content enhancement metrics.
• SEODxr
• CallDxr
• MapDxr
• WriteCamp

Products and services

• Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) SEO service covering international and natural search, including site architecture, content tuning, influencer outreach and ongoing optimization; supported by the in-house SiteDxr/SEODxr/CallDxr/MapDxr suite and third-party tools such as Moz, Majestic and AnalyticsSEO; delivered to enterprise and SMB clients.
• Local Search Marketing & Listing Management Cross-platform local SEO service that manages and optimises a client's business presence on Google+ Local, Google Places, Google Maps, Bing, Yahoo!, Yandex, Yelp, Foursquare, Qype and other vertical directories, leveraging business data providers such as InfoUSA, InfoGroup and Yellow Pages; cited hotel-chain ROI of 135:1 and average ~32:1 ROI across local search client roster.
• Local Search Platforms (Technology Service) Technology-focused offering covering platform expansion and listing enhancement across Google+ Local, Google Mapmaker, Bing Maps, Yahoo! Local, Yandex and emerging-market local search platforms; delivered as part of the local search marketing practice.
• UX & Responsive Web Design Responsive website design and development service for desktop, tablet and mobile, using grid-based percentage layouts to deliver device-, browser- and location-appropriate experiences; cited rationale that ~30% of all search and web browsing is via mobile and tablet.
• Copywriting & Content Strategy Content creation and strategy service spanning SEO web content, offline content, ad copy and conversion-rate optimisation, plus social media content; delivered in multiple languages across 5 countries and showcased through the company's WriteCamp content lab.
• .uk Domain Registration & Administration Domain administration service for the .uk domain space operated under Nominet policies, including registration, renewal, cancellation, transfer and DNS lifecycle notifications to clients; priced at £0 per domain name for a 2-year period with free renewal.
• Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Account Management Paid-search account management service delivering large-scale Google AdWords campaign management, remarketing and mobile campaigns on behalf of clients; capability cited as both a service and a proof-point in sales conversations.

Quantifiable outcome

• $1.1m in added local search revenue per year for a hotel chain case study
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration17 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and minor.

• NominetcoreTechnology or Integration1st Online Solutions operates as a domain administrator for the .uk domain space under Nominet's policies and terms. Clients are notified they must comply with Nominet's terms and conditions, and 1st Online Solutions handles registration, renewal and lifecycle notifications on behalf of clients.
• Google (Google+, Google Places, Google Maps, Google Mapmaker)flagshipTechnology or IntegrationCore local-search platform partnership: 1st Online Solutions manages client listings on Google+ Local, Google Places, Google Maps and works closely with Google Mapmaker as a 'trusted editor' to correct listings, pin placements, website URLs and resolve duplication and DNS issues that affect visibility.
• Yahoo! and Bing (Microsoft Bing, Yahoo! Local)coreTechnology or IntegrationWorking with Bing and Yahoo! account managers and support staff to improve their local search offerings and generate new demand for local search clients. For 2013-2014 roadmap, they were notified of platform updates, dedicated service, phone support and new technical features.
• YandexcoreTechnology or IntegrationEarly-adopter partnership covering Yandex search and Yandex maps for clients targeting Russia and Russian-language demand; technical support is described as comparable to Google's and ahead of Yahoo! and Bing for that market.
• Yelp, Qype, FoursquarecoreTechnology or IntegrationConsumer-review and check-in platforms managed on behalf of clients as part of local-search listing expansion, alongside citations on business- and vertical-specific local platforms.
• InfoUSA, InfoGroup, Yellow Pages and other business directoriescoreTechnology or IntegrationMajor business data providers used to boost rankings and drive traffic/revenue for clients on Google+ Local by ensuring consistent and accurate business data across the local-search ecosystem.
• Writecamp (writecamp.org)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerBranded 'Content Lab' hosted at writecamp.org showcasing 1st Online Solutions' copywriting and content-strategy innovation; positioned as an in-depth look at the company's work in the copywriting field.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Yext: Listed SaaS platform for managing business listings, citations and local search presence across Google, Bing, Yelp and others — directly overlapping with 1st Online Solutions' local search listing management offering and MapDxr capabilities.
• Conductor: Enterprise SEO and content intelligence platform with a strong agency channel — competes with 1st Online Solutions' in-house SEO software suite and is a substitute for clients evaluating SEO tooling.
• Rise Interactive: Full-service digital marketing agency focused on media, SEO and analytics for mid-market and enterprise clients — comparable in service mix, customer profile and delivery model to 1st Online Solutions.
• Moz: SEO software suite (rank tracking, site audits, link research) used by 1st Online Solutions itself and sold to the same SMB/enterprise SEO buyer — a direct competitor in the SEO tooling layer underpinning the agency's service.
• BrightEdge: Enterprise SEO platform providing rank tracking, content optimization and share-of-voice scoring — comparable to 1st Online Solutions' SEODxr and the broader SEO practice delivered to Fortune 500 clients.
• SEMrush: Global SEO and digital marketing SaaS platform covering keyword research, competitor analysis and content optimization — directly comparable to 1st Online Solutions' SEODxr positioning and a likely in-house alternative for many of the agency's clients.

Emerging players

• Croud: Tech-enabled digital marketing agency using a global network of on-demand practitioners — directly comparable operating model to 1st Online Solutions' 380+ SEO expert pool, but structured around a crowdsourced delivery model.

Regional players

• DAC Group: Performance and local digital marketing agency with strong presence in North America, providing SEO, paid media and local listings services — overlapping with 1st Online Solutions' Austin hub and US enterprise pursuits.

Broad incumbents

• iCrossing: Established digital marketing agency owned by Hearst, delivering SEO, paid media, content and analytics to enterprise clients — directly competitive for the SEO and local-search mandates 1st Online Solutions sells to enterprise customers.
• Jellyfish: Global digital marketing agency offering SEO, paid media, content and creative across multiple geographies — competing for the same Fortune 500 and multi-market enterprise engagements that 1st Online Solutions targets.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/first-online-solutions

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about 1st Online Solutions