I got laid off last week from my role in Organic Search at a travel company. I had been anticipating this for a while as I watched my team gradually shrink over the past couple of years. People were leaving, and instead of hiring replacements, the company opted to bring in an agency to handle our SEO efforts. This was the second time we had tried using an agency, and the previous experience had not gone well. Despite assurances from C-level executives that this time would be different, the agency failed to deliver. They provided generic templates and poor translations, and their work contradicted itself. Meanwhile, pressure from leadership increased due to declining revenues from travel disruptions and uncertainty in the Gulf region, compounded by the company being acquired by a large Chinese conglomerate earlier in the year. A new CMO came on board as a temporary replacement for the previous one, who was dealing with health issues. From the start, she seemed skeptical of the existing SEO setup and organized meetings without including me. She never took the time to understand the history of the channel or the resources that had been lost over the years. She only met with me once to gather feedback about the agency. As time went on, it became clear that SEO was seen as a problem that needed fixing. During a recent All-Hands meeting, the CEO announced that the agency would be let go and that they were looking for a new solution. The CMO then discussed various marketing channels but completely omitted any mention of SEO. The next day, I joined a regular alignment call with my manager, the Head of Marketing, and HR, and that’s when I was informed of my layoff. I was told the company needed someone 'more strategic and more capable of driving change.' Just a day later, a job ad for my exact position was posted on LinkedIn. When I asked my manager about it, she claimed it was to replace the agency, not me, and justified it by saying they needed to document everything from the agency before terminating them. The CMO never reached out to me, never acknowledged my departure, and offered no thanks for my contributions. It felt like I was being blamed for the agency's failures. Since the announcement, many colleagues have reached out to express their shock and support, with some saying they would have contested the decision had they been consulted. Unfortunately, it seems I wasn't the only one affected, as others in different departments faced similar fates shortly after.