Google's Webmaster Outreach Changed Hands From Matt Cutts

[engine]

Matt Cutts was, for many years, Google's one-man webmaster outreach.
Back in July this year he announced a few months leave. [webmasterworld.com]

Well, those "few" months are now over, and there speculation as to whether he's going to return, or not, either as the webmaster outreach, or head of webspam team.

Interestingly, Matt has updated his blog post indicating that he's going to extend the leave into 2015.

Added: When I went on leave, I wanted to see how webspam would go without me. I’ve been talking to people on both the algorithmic and manual webspam teams during my leave, and they’ve been doing a top-notch job. So I’m planning on extending my leave into 2015.Matt Cutts extends his leave. [mattcutts.com]

I'm not convinced we'll see Matt back in the same way with the same webmaster outreach we all got to know so well. Others have been providing webmaster help and assistance, and it seems that a switch from one main contact is one of the key aspects of change.

Are we getting good feedback from google? Does google even see the feedback as important any longer?

Folks such as John Mueller, Pierre Far, and many others have been feeding back information particularly over the last few months. Is it now a team thing?

[seoskunk]

or in some kind philanthropic effort a la Bill Gates

Maybe the pair of them will team up and save the world from Ebola

[aristotle]

Well if Cutts has thrown in the towel, that might open the way for Google to take a different approach to how it tries to fight spam.

[jrs79]

The story of Google, the internet, and the webmaster makes me think more and more of the banks role in "The Grapes of Wrath."



"Some of the owner men were kind because they hated what they had to do,and some of them were angry because they hated to be cruel, and some of them were cold because they had long ago found that one could not be an owner unless one were cold. And all of them were caught in something larger than themselves. Some of them hated the mathematics that drove them, and some were afraid, and some worshiped the mathematics because it provided a refuge from thought and from feeling. If a bank or a finance company owned the land, the owner man said, The Bank - or the Company - needs - wants - insists - must have - as though the Bank or the Company were a monster, with thought and feeling, which had ensnared them. These last would take no responsibility for the banks or the companies because they were men and slaves, while the banks were machines and masters all at the same time. Some of the owner men were a little proud to be slaves to such cold and powerful masters. The owner men sat in the cars and explained. You know the land is poor. You've scrabbled at it long enough, God knows.”

[goodroi]

If your traffic drops when the next update hits, this might be the reason. Not Matt Cutts but because of the time you spend to speculate about him. How is speculating about Matt or sharing your feelings about Google helping your website perform better? Are you learning anything profitable or discussing ways to improve your website? Your competition is improving and they will take your traffic if you waste your time and stagnate.

I understand it is interesting to speculate but IMHO it just isn't very profitable.

[superclown2]

I understand it is interesting to speculate but IMHO it just isn't very profitable.

It helps me pass the time while I'm waiting for a new site to upload :-)

[rish3]

I understand it is interesting to speculate but IMHO it just isn't very profitable.

You're not only a "top poster" on this forum, but you've posted in two different threads about Matt and his sabbatical. I can't tell if you're being tongue-in-cheek, or if the irony is just this thick.

[RedBar]

I understand it is interesting to speculate but IMHO it just isn't very profitable.

I seem to be a not-for-profit.org sometimes:-)

[Planet13]

Would be happy if the gave the job to Maile Ohye, creator of the Webmaster Tools product. Seems like it would be a good the position of webmaster outreach to the person who developed their product / app for webmaster outreach...

Plus, she seems much more articulate than the others I have seen who would be possible candidates.