With great power comes great responsibility

From today, I’m taking on additional responsibility at Yoast. We’re recognising that with a new job title – I’ll now be Head of SEO. This formalises the involvement that I already have in our R&D and product processes and makes that clearer both internally and externally.

The timing coincides with Joost de Valk’s announcement that he’s stepping down from his position as Chief Product Officer (and transitioning into an advisory role). Joost is a paragon of SEO, and with his reduced involvement in the day-to-day decision-making, we want to ensure that people can continue to be confident that our products – and their websites – are in good hands. I can firmly say that this will absolutely continue to be the case, and I’m proud to bear more of the responsibility for ensuring that happens.

In the four years that I’ve been working at Yoast, Joost and I have discussed, debated, and made decisions about how to provide the best possible technical SEO and content optimization tools to over 12 million websites. In that time, we’ve developed a tightly aligned vision of how our software can best serve our users, and how we think about SEO. I’ll miss being able to spar with him quite as readily, but I’m also excited to take on more of the responsibility to make those kinds of decisions in his stead. That said, I’ll undoubtedly still be eager to lean on his expertise and wisdom during the days when he’s at Yoast HQ.

Whilst this may seem like a considerable change from the outside, the ship continues to sail steady. I’m happy to share that even with Joost’s reduced presence, the company and our products are healthier than ever, and we have a bright future. Following Yoast’s acquisition by Newfold Digital, we’ve unlocked the resources, infrastructure and velocity to do more, build better, and go faster.

I’m thrilled to be stepping up to lead our narrative and decision-making around SEO. I have a head full of ideas, we have an exciting roadmap stretching far into the distance, and we maintain a clear focus on our mission of SEO for everyone.

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