Rand Fishkin, the founder of Moz, is stepping down from his operational role at the company and moving into an advisory role. Fishkin founded Moz, originally called SEOmoz, 16 years ago with his mother, Gillian Muessig.
Sarah Bird, the CEO at Moz, announced the news this morning, calling this a six- to nine-month transition period as he moves into the role of a Moz Associate. Moz Associates is a part-time volunteer program where passionate marketers “contribute time and effort” within the Moz community.
Rand Fishkin first joined the search marketing world in 2002 and became a well-known personality in the community by 2004. He started SEOmoz as a blog to contribute to the SEO knowledge base while also offering SEO consulting services. Soon after, SEOmoz turned into primarily an SEO software company. It rebranded as Moz and expanded its product lineup, but trimmed operations in 2016 to focus back on SEO tools.
Fishkin stepped down as CEO in 2014.
As for what is next with Rand, that remains to be seen. Bird said he’s still one of the “largest shareholders and will remain Chairman of the Board” of the company.
