• by Shankar Gupta , February 9, 2007

Search engine marketing firm iCrossing plans to acquire Spannerworks, a U.K.-based company, for around $18 million, OnlineMediaDaily has learned.

Spannerworks, a 10-year-old search engine marketing company based in Brighton, England, has done work for clients including Best Western Hotels, car insurance site Confused.com, SN Brussels Airlines, and nursery company Kiddicare.

In addition to search engine marketing and optimization, Spannerworks maintains a marketing practice around social networking. Similar to buzz monitoring companies, Spannerworks offers a "social media audit," which tells companies how their brands are perceived online, and who the key influencers are.

With the deal, iCrossing will gain its first office outside of the United States. Currently, the company maintains offices in Atlanta, Chicago, New York, Dallas, San Francisco, and Scottsdale, Ariz.

The move marks one of several recent iCrossing expansions since it tapped Don Scales, former CEO of Omnicom's Agency.com, for president. Late last year, the company acquired a San Francisco-based search agency, NewGate Internet, Inc. In addition, last year iCrossing hired three industry veterans with ties to Madison Avenue: Ian Baer, formerly chief strategic officer for TBWA's Tequila; Christopher Marquardt, formerly head of client services at Omnicom's Organic; and Lance Williams, from Agency.com.

An iCrossing spokesman said only that the company intends to make an announcement regarding "corporate activity" on Monday.