Joost de Valk

Joost de Valk is an entrepreneur and application software developer from Wijchen, Netherlands who is best known for Yoast SEO.[1][2][3] De Valk started out as a consultant and blogger in 2004 before developing Yoast, one of the most successful plug-ins for WordPress.[4][5]

Joost de Valk
Born (1982-02-16) February 16, 1982
NationalityDutch
OccupationEntrepreneur, App developer
Years active2007-present
Known forYoast SEO
Notable work
WordPress SEO

Career

De Valk started out as a consultant for companies like: eBay, The Guardian, Disney,[6] and other major companies. Working on the plugin was a hobby in his spare time. De Valk started a blog in 2004,[4] and by 2005 his website for SEO was named "joostdevalk.nl".[7] After moving to and eventually selling the domain "css3.info", de Valk created the Yoast platform in 2007,[3] and launched the first version of WordPress SEO in 2010, and founded the company Yoast BV in 2010.[8][9]

At first, the Yoast company was to consult before he developed both the Yoast SEO plugin and a Google Analytics plugin, both for WordPress. In 2012, De Valk released a premium version of Yoast SEO. In April 2016, Yoast BV sold the Google Analytics for WordPress plugin. In June 2020, Yoast acquired the Duplicate Post plugin, another very popular WordPress plugin.

The software that De Valk created runs on more than nine million websites and on 11.4% of the top million sites in the world.[10] On WordPress, the De Valk SEO software has been downloaded five million times.[11] Michael David, the author of WordPress Search Engine Optimization (2015), referred to it as "the granddaddy of all SEO plugins".[12]

In January 2019 De Valk stepped down as CEO to become Chief Product Officer for Yoast and began working for WordPress in marketing.[13] De Valk's wife Marieke van de Rakt, took over as director (CEO) of Yoast.[14] De Valk left his position with WordPress after six months citing a failure to see his place in the organization.[13][15] De Valk and his wife are investors in blockchain startup WordProof.

Personal

When De Valk was twelve years old he borrowed money from his parents for a computer; he then began building websites. He attended the University of Applied Sciences and continued in Internet Technology. At 24 years old he became a father.[6] De Valk married Marieke van de Rakt and together they had four children: Tycho, Wende, Ravi, and Borre. Marieke was a professor with a Ph.D and she left her job in 2013 to support Yoast SEO.[16]

References
  1. Constantin, Lucian (21 April 2015). "Poor WordPress documentation trips developers, yields plug-ins with XSS flaw". PCWorld. IDG Communications, Inc. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  2. "The History of Yoast". Yoast.com. Yoast. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  3. "Yoast SEO And All in One SEO Pack — What to Choose?". PC Tech Group Ltd. 26 June 2020. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
  4. Dunlop, Michael. "Joost De Valk – Why I'm Successful Mr Yoast SEO". incomediary.com. IncomeDiary. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  5. Ward, Eric; French, Garrett (April 5, 2013). Ultimate Guide to Link Building: How to Build Backlinks, Authority and Credibility for Your Website, and Increase Click Traffic and Search Ranking (Paperback). Irvine, California: McGraw-Hill Companies, Incorporated. p. 179. ISBN 978-1599184425.
  6. Kats, Carin (1 June 2018). "This Dutch Google specialist converts € 10 million per year with his internet company and is deliberately not in the Randstad - this is the reason". Business Insider. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  7. Dunlop, Michael. "How Joost de Valk became a successful internet entrepreneur". incomediary.com. Retrieved December 8, 2018.
  8. "Joost de Valk, founder of Yoast, shares his success story". First Web Designer. March 15, 2016. Retrieved December 8, 2018.
  9. Eisenberg, Bryan (October 7, 2014). "37 SEO Experts Those in the Know Follow". ClickZ. Retrieved December 8, 2018.
  10. "Yoast Plugin Usage Statistics". BuiltWith. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  11. Balkhi, Syed. "WordPress SEO". wpbeginner.com. WPBeginner LLC. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  12. David, Michael (2015). WordPress Search Engine Optimization: a complete guide to dominating search engines with your WordPress site. Birmingham, UK: Packt Publishing Ltd. p. 264. ISBN 978-1-78588-764-2 – via Google Books.
  13. Boogert, Erwin (7 June 2019). "Joost de Valk has left WordPress". Emerce. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  14. "Marieke van de Rakt new CEO Yoast". Emerce. 25 January 2019.
  15. Chandler, Jeff (5 June 2019). "Joost de Valk Steps Down as WordPress Marketing Lead". WorldPress Tavern. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  16. "EP. 5: How the Founders of Yoast SEO Are Managing Happiness". Davidhenzel.com. David Henzel. Retrieved 4 August 2020.

Further reading
  • Ward, Eric; French, Garrett (2013). ultimate Guide to Link Building. United States: Entrepreneur Media Corporation. ISBN 978-1599184425.
  • Karr, Douglas; Flannery, Chantelle (2010). Corporate Blogging for Dummies. Hoboken New Jersey: Wiley Publishing Inc. ISBN 978-0470604571.
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