The other day, it was reported by Search Engine Land that Google’s Matt Cutts is going to be taking a long break from his duties as Google’s Chief web spam fighter. This was originally reported on his personal blog that he’s taking leave through October. That is going to be one long vacation.
Since taking his place at Google back in 2000, this will be the longest break Cutts will have taken since overseeing the web spam team in 2004. According to his post he says this:
“When I joined Google, my wife and I agreed that I would work for 4-5 years, and then she’d get to see more of me. I talked about this as recently as last month and as early as 2006. And now, almost fifteen years later I’d like to be there for my wife more. I know she’d like me to be around more too, and not just physically present while my mind is still on work.”
During his hiatus away from work, he will not be checking any work email, and that there’s no specific event behind him taking the time off, aside from having promised his wife that he would take the time off to spend more time with her.
Who will be taking over the role of web spam leader? At this point, it isn’t clear. Cutts has advised those who want the type of advice he usually gives to check out these resources:
- Google’s webmaster forums
- Office Hours Hangouts
- Google Webmaster Central account on Twitter
- Google Webmasters Central account on Google+
- Google Webmaster Central blog
- Google Inside Search blog
- Google’s webmaster videos
- Google Webmaster Central
- Google’s Webmaster Academy
- Google help documentation for webmasters
- Google’s SEO beginner’s guide