1. Home
  2. /
  3. My Origin Story

My Origin Story

Making SEO Make Sense

My Origin Story

Carla dos Santos - The SEO Coach with Dog the Cat

Eyes Closed, Pondering SEO

The image of me—originally captured by Tamara Wilson and augmented by Kate Kuilman—is a masterpiece. It perfectly depicts how I feel when I work: eyes closed, travelling through space and time, pondering what Google is cooking up.

The cat on my shoulder adopted me during COVID. I have named him Dog, and now I am teaching him SEO also.

The SEO & Google Story: It’s Complicated

In 2012, everything changed. Penguin, Panda, and Hummingbird set the SEO world on fire. As a community, we realized we could no longer outsmart Google. For me, that’s the real poetry of SEO: it’s a constantly evolving art, and your ability to adapt quickly is your greatest asset.

My career has been a series of pivots driven by a simple truth: SEO is about serving the user.

From C-Suite to Coach

The Genesis of SEO

In the late 90s, I saw how online tourism was taking over. I was managing overland safaris and discovered that if we had a webpage with the answer, we would get the booking. I was building information architectures before SEO even had a name.

The Professional Pivot

Working across South Africa, Namibia, and Botswana, I handled SEO and website builds until I became a full-time Marketing Technologist.

Agency & Corporate Leadership

I led large teams and worked with enterprise clients in the agency world. I mastered my skills navigating C-suite management and complex methodologies like Agile and Prince2.

The Final Pivot: The SEO Coach

I stepped away from my C-suite career to focus on hands-on production and mentorship. I realized I could be of greater service as a teacher.

Stats (Just for Fun)

Experience 20+ years digital production professional – full stack, full service, full-on.
Leadership 125+ direct reports across my career.
Proficiency Agile, Waterfall, Prince2, and “Carla, it’s on fire!” methodologies.
Hobbies Astronomy, Cosmology, Palaeontology, Chess, and Crosswords.

Fulfilling the Purpose of a Guide

Today, I am the SEO Coach. My purpose is to teach my favourite thing to spend time on—SEO and everything it impacts. My drive is to take the individual, the small business, and the corporation on a journey through search, space, and time. Whether I am exploring the Stanford paper that started Google or looking at the stars, I am constantly seeking the underlying order in chaos.

Search is more than just ranking; it is a historical record of human intent. By understanding where we’ve been—from the early days of online tourism to the generative AI models of 2026—we can better prepare for where we are going. My coaching is designed to give you that same resilience and strategic vision. Together, we will make SEO make sense.