Yoast the most popular search engine optimization plugin for WordPress sites is acquired by Newfold Digital. The plugin since founded back in 2010 has become a staple in the WordPress community, which has been installed on 12 million WordPress sites.
Newfold Digital is a leading web technology provider backed by Clearlake Capital Group, L.P, and Siris Capital Group, LLC. Newfold Digital owns Network Solutions, BlueHost, Domian.com, and Register.com have a vast presence with other web brands. This acquisition has given Newfold new capabilities in SEO and social media as it gets a direct connection to 12 million WordPress Sites with the Yoast plugin.
The announcement for the acquisition was made by the current Yoast CEO Marieke van de Rakt, which said “Joining Newfold Digital provides us with the freedom to build and iterate on ideas to further our mission. We plan to release many new features and products to help people with the findability of their websites.” Currently, Yoast has over 140 employees and a whopping 12 million active downloads.
On moving Yost forward the van de Rakt said, “All the important things remain the same. Team Yoast will remain the same, all of our employees stay with us. Our headquarters stay in Wijchen, the Netherlands. Our brand will remain our brand. Our mission will remain our mission. Yoast CEO will remain our CEO and all of the board members will stay in their role.”
As Yoast has been in the industry for over a decade and is a strong pillar of the community, it has gathered a huge following. It is the cause of this the community will be closing watching over them for the next few months.