What a year! From traveling to software development, saying goodbye to old friends and growing the team with new ones, we've had a tremendously exciting 12 months at SEOmoz. To celebrate, next week, on Wednesday, January 6th 2010, we'll be hosting an informal meetup at the Elysian Brewery on Capitol Hill in Seattle, WA. Everyone from the Seattle technology, startup and SEO community is welcome to attend, and we'll be hosting a special guest, Distilled's Will Critchlow (who's chosen the worst possible time, weather-wise, to visit our fair city). Please RSVP via the Google form below! 

In addition to the meetup, I thought it would be appropriate (and fun) to celebrate the year with a look back in pictures. Enjoy!

SEOmoz's Mel Gray, Matt Heilman, Gillian Muessig, Nick Gerner, Sarah Bird & Mike Thompson at Seattle's Big Climb Event, raising money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

 

The SEOmoz December holiday party at Olive8 - (Left to Right) Arden, Jimmy, Christine, Sarah, Ben Huff, Timmy, Gillian, Adam, Sam, Jen, Rand, Chas, Kate, Darren, Danny & Nick. Why did we all stuff into the dual showers? Umm... I don't know. It seemed like a good idea at the time. You can watch our holiday video greeting and more holiday party photos on Facebook.

 

SEOmoz's Chas Williams and Sarah Bird won most festive attire at our holiday event.

 

Tony Adam (BillShrink), smiling next to his SEOmoz Werewolf/Search Spam card at Pubcon Las Vegas in November

 

Kristy Bolsinger (blog), Kate Morris (blog) & Matt Cutts (blog) at the SEOmoz Werewolf Party at Pubcon Las Vegas

 

Ben Hendrickson and Jen Lopez, attired in full moz regalia, carrying "link juice" by the SEOmoz booth at SMX Advanced in Seattle

 

Ben, Danny (with a mustache! - he's hidden so look real close), Chas, Scott & Timmy at lunch downstairs from SEOmoz's offices at the Elysian Brewery on Capitol Hill

 

Sarah Bird hard at work in our cramped conference room

 

Sometimes, when we have tough decisions to make and could go either way, we Roshambo. I lost this round, and we ended up spending $5K on some professional services in our search for a new VP of Engineering.

 

Aimclear's Marty Weintraub sent us a singing gorilla for the holidays. Tragically, I was out of town, but got to watch the video on Facebook :-)

 

At the beginning of the year, we had some construction work done on the office to help accomodate new arrivals

 

Mozzers hard at work in the conference room (and apparently freezing cold, too).

 

Ben Hendrickson explains ranking models and how we can "prove" H1 tags don't really matter for SEO

 

Rand, Sarah, and SEOmoz board member & investor, Michelle Goldberg at The Naked Truth (a startup event in Seattle). Leaning on my shoulder is Mystery Guest, who tragically forgot sunglasses (why didn't I give her mine?!)

 

The Conversion Rate Experts squirrel (yes, they have a mascot) at the SEOmoz/Distilled London PR) Training Seminar in October. Must check on progress of the SEOmoz Ring-tailed Lemur mascot costume.

 

Jon Kelly (Quinstreet), Tony Adam (Billshrink), Andy Liu (BuddyTV) and Neil Patel (Quicksprout) at SEOmoz's annual party after SMX Advanced in Seattle at the Garage (photo-bombing courtesy of Matt Cutts)

 

Rand on Hubspot TV with Mike Volpe in Hubspot's Boston offices (Rand: "My grandparents asked what channel I was going to be on.")

 

Rand is subsumed by Kristjan Mar Hauksson's (of Nordic eMarketing) gigantic Viking hands in an Icelandic ice bar in the capital, Reykjavik following RIMC 2009

 

Dixon Jones (Receptional), Adam Lasnik (Google) & Rand go glacier hiking in Iceland

 

Rand at Searchfest Portland with Anne Kennedy (BeyondInk) and Adam Audette (Audette Media) speaking about SEOmoz's history & future (apparently I was a bit more animated than most other folks) :-)

 

On a panel at SES London chaired by Mike Grehan (SES), Rand pictured with Brett Tabke (WebmasterWorld), Chris Sherman (Third Door Media), Jill Whalen (HighRankings) and Kevin Ryan (WebVisible)

 

Outside the Chicago Hilton for SES Chicago with Richard Zwicky (Enquisite), Bill Leake (Apogee), Aaron Kahlow (OMS)

 

Jane Copland (Ayima), Danny Dover, Rand & Richard Baxter (SEO Gadget) in London following the Distilled/SEOmoz PRO Training Seminar

 

Mystery Guest gives Rob Kerry (Ayima) a gift in London on our way back from lunch near the Ayima offices. ("Why is my love always a source of linkbait?" - MG)

 

Rand & Will Critchlow (Distilled), standing under their respective time zone clocks in Distilled's London offices.

 

Alexander Holl (blog), Rand, Sandra & Matthew Finlay (Rising Media), Marcus Tandler (Mediadonis)  at an SMX Munich party

 

Rand with Vanessa Fox (NineByBlue) & Mystery Guest in Bled, Slovenia for a day trip following SMX Munich

 

Rand & Mystery Guest join Nirav Tolia (Fanbase) for lunch in San Francisco during one of Rand's VC fundraising expeditions to the valley

 

Bob Rains (blog), Lawrence Coburn (Rateitall), Lauren Vaccarello (Salesforce), Todd Malicoat (Stuntdubl) and Donna Rains in a limo during a (loosely SEO related) wine tasting trip in Monterey, CA

 

Laura Lippay (blog), Mystery Guest, Vanessa Fox (NinebyBlue), Lauren Vaccarello (Salesforce) & Jessica Bowman (SEM in House) in San Francisco following the Jane & Robot conference

 

Rand, Tom Critchlow (Distilled), Ken Jurina (Epiar), Dharmesh Shah (OnStartups & Hubspot), David Mihm (blog), Matt Brown (Define Search Strategy), Danny Dover & Nick Gerner at the SEOmoz PRO Training Seattle

 

Mystery Guest homemade retro Star Trek outfits for Halloween this year (and got a wig + Vulcan ears to complete her ensemble)

Rand with his grandparents, Si & Pauline Fishkin at a Broadway musical following SMX East in New York City

 

Rand & Cindy Krum (Rank Mobile) tour Soho during SMX East in New York City

 

Left to Right: Rand, Greg Boser (3Dog Media), Barry Smyth (BSocial), Stephen Pavlovich (Conversion Rate Experts), Rob Kerry (Ayima), Aidan Beanland (Yahoo!7), Michael Motherwell (MMIT Search Australia), Bruce Clay (Bruce Clay, Inc), Greg Grothaus (Google)

 

The SEOmoz whiteboards in our conference room, showing off early concepts of new software (codenamed "Turbomoz") we're hoping to launch this coming June

 

Ciaran Norris (Mindshare) was interviewed by Channel 4 in the UK on social media, search & Rupert Murdoch's threats to shut off Google traffic. Tragically, he appeared garbed in naught save rags, and couldn't be bothered to properly attire with a cravatte. Credit to Jane Copland for the image capture.

 
Rand, with a traditional Colombian hat, a gift from Gustavo Parra (at right) pictured at SMX Advanced Seattle

 

The SEOmoz crew outside the Garage following our party at SMX Advanced

 

David Temple (SEM Scholar), Gillian Muessig and Barry Smyth (BSocial) at SMX Singapore

Jen Lopez at SMX Advanced with Michael Gray (Wolf Howl)

Oh, and just FYI, the photos above are in no particular chronological order.

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NOTE: If you've got other photos to share, please feel free to link to 'em!