Former co-owner of Yoast, Marieke van de Rakt, has stepped down from her role at the prominent WordPress SEO Plugin company, following her husband, Joost de Valk. This transition marks the beginning of a new chapter under the ownership of Newfold Digital.
Yoast SEO – Marieke van de Rakt
The Yoast SEO plugin, one of the most widely used and influential plugins globally, was founded in 2010 by Joost de Valk and co-owned with his wife, Marieke van de Rakt.
Marieke van de Rakt served in several capacities at Yoast, including Managing Director, CEO, Creative Marketing Manager, and most recently, Chief Growth Officer.
During her tenure, the company experienced significant growth, evolving from a bootstrapped plugin to a multi-million dollar enterprise with over 140 employees.
Her departure follows the sale of Yoast to Newfold Digital, a leading web presence solutions provider, in August 2021.
This milestone represents a steady transition from the founding team of Marieke van de Rakt, Joost de Valk, and Thijs de Valk to a team integrated within Newfold Digital.
Newfold Digital includes top brands such as Bluehost, HostGator, Web.com, and Network Solutions.
Yoast SEO Company Culture Remains
Despite the leadership change, many of the original team members remain, ensuring that the values fostered by the founders continue to be part of the company’s core.
Sam Alderson, Head of Marketing at Yoast SEO, emphasized that Yoast will maintain the identity that people worldwide have come to know.
Current Yoast COO Chaya Oosterbroek and CTO Derek Herman will continue in their leadership roles at the company.
Sam shared his thoughts on the future of Yoast SEO:
"Chaya and Derek are still running the company as our executive team.
We also have a strong leadership team supporting them and focusing on what this next phase of Yoast looks like.
Each of them are strong believers in WordPress and open source and will carry our mission of ‘SEO for everyone’ forward.
Within the team, we have Taco, who is heavily involved in the WordPress community and is well-respected there.
Jono, our Head of SEO with over 10 years of experience in the SEO world and a significant presence within the WordPress core, continues at Yoast.
As Head of Branding, I will also work to carry forward the Yoast culture and core values.
Marieke is leaving us in an excellent place, and since the acquisition, she has been sharing her knowledge with the team.
We have a lot on the horizon, and everyone is excited to see what this new phase of Yoast looks like.”
The official Yoast announcement stated:
"Whilst we’ll be sad to see Marieke leaving, it’s a positive reflection on the stability of the company and brand that she’s able to do so safely and happily.
Marieke has spent the last few months working with our teams, ensuring that her wisdom and vision is passed on successfully."
New Phase for Yoast SEO
The commitment to nurturing open source and contributing to the WordPress core, along with producing the leading SEO plugin, will undoubtedly persist.
Featured image by Shutterstock/Gabriele Maltinti
