Digital Growth Agency ‘The SEO Works’ Becomes Employee-Owned

1st July 2025

Award-winning digital growth agency The SEO Works has announced that it is now an employee-owned business.

Through an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) structure, the Sheffield-based business has transitioned ownership from its two founders to the staff, a step aimed at enhancing the brand and the organisation's future.

Founded in 2009 by Neil Palmer and Simon Margetts, the digital growth agency has since expanded to a team of more than 80 employees offering SEO, PPC, Digital PR, Social Media and Web services.

Alongside impressive growth and a variety of prestigious award wins, the agency has always prioritised its people and its roots - remaining firmly headquartered in Sheffield, focusing on ‘responsible growth’, and investing in its culture.

Moving to being ‘owned by its people’ is the latest evolution of this mission - allowing the business to retain complete independence, reward employees for the business’s success, and create an ownership culture that properly reflects the ethos of the agency.

CEO, Ben Foster, said,

“I’m incredibly excited by this development. Our transition to being employee-owned is the perfect evolution, reflecting who we’ve always been - a business driven by its people.

Across the last 16 years, we’ve grown from an exciting local start-up to one of the leading digital growth agencies in the North - all thanks to our team of experts. Our future as an agency has always been in their hands, but now it’s official.”

Operationally, it’s ‘business as usual’ for the recent winners of Global Integrated Search Agency of the Year. The SEO Works will continue with its existing management structure - with three active directors, an experienced senior leadership team, and ‘pod leaders’ guiding their teams. The change of ownership however, will allow them to further increase levels of transparency and team involvement at all levels.

“For us, an Employee Ownership Trust was the obvious choice”, says Managing Director James Corry. “We’re incredibly proud of what we’ve built here as a team, and of the brilliant service we deliver to our clients. This transition allows us to retain that, whilst bolstering the very thing that makes us so great - our culture.

This is a very exciting step and gives a genuine stake in the business to all of our brilliant team members!”

The move has been supported by Shawbrook Bank and Brabners LLP, who have both been instrumental in turning the vision into a reality. 

Anthony Dean, Senior Director at Shawbrook Corporate Leverage, said:

"We are delighted to support The SEO Works Ltd in their transition to an Employee Ownership Trust. The business has a strong management team with a clear vision for the future, and we admire their ambition to give employees a greater share in the strategic direction of the company. The SEO Works Ltd is a well-established leader in its market, and we are excited to see how they continue to evolve under this new structure."