I'm surprised he's been there this long, he puts up with a lot of grief and he doesn't need the money.

Enjoy yourself Matt, before you go, how about a penguin update?

Good for him. Who'll be the designated whipping boy for the next four months?

Good for him indeed. If I had his job I'd have become a serial killer by now.

Guess we'll just have to come to our own conclusions for a change.

"Whipping boy" or "Sacrificial lamb?"

Once a slew of cartoons come out that depict you as The Lord of evil, it's time for a break. He seems like a genuine nice guy.

He does seem like a nice guy, I don't imagine it would be an easy job, especially as so many people have been severely impacted due to these changes.

I wonder if this means it will be a quietish summer (or winter for us in Australia) with him taking some time off? A Panda free few months?

Isn't there a parallel thread somewhere about Google employee perks? With all those blogs and videos and pronouncements year in and year out without visible break, the guy has got to have accumulated a fair amount of vacation time. The only noteworthy part is that it was deemed necessary to announce it, as opposed to "Matt? Oh, didn't we say? He's in Aruba."

"Cutts Cuts Out!"

Apparently this passes for news at eleven... :)

I do hope it is vacation... after all the devil we know may be better than the devil we don't know. (wink wink!)

If I had his job I'd have become a serial killer by now.

More money, more problems. I would not want to be the face of Google's algorithm either, but that money would make it a lot more manageable.

In Matt's absence I wonder if we will see an even bigger change? The announcement of his absences strikes me as strategical. Will he return?

I do think he is genuinely a nice guy and can only imagine the ethical dilemma's that he faces.

Nice vacation! I would like to see miss Panda making videos .

Good riddance! Never seen anyone spam so much FUD as this guy.

The aggression often shown towards him as an individual is quite unjustified, imho. Google would be making the changes with or without his outreach. The next few months will show that the changes continue to occur, without his communications.

Enjoy the vacation, and I hope to see you back communicating with us all as you have done in the past.

This is a great time for Google to experiment with a quieter approach. (Maybe John Mueller should go on vacation, too.) Let the losers, haters, and obsessives find their own targets instead of hanging out a dartboard with Matt Cutts's face on it.

This is a great time for Google to experiment with a quieter approach.

With or without Matt, Google will continue with it's obfuscation-of-information program. Not saying it's a moral or immoral thing to do. It's a business strategy. It's easy to blame the mouthpiece. It's also easy to like and have empathy for the mouthpiece if they're any good at what they do. It's in the job description after all. Get people to like and trust you so they'll latch on to every word that comes out of your mouth.

If your job description is to keep people guessing, confusing them with half-the-truth, evading real questions and toeing the company line, you're definitely gonna need a break from it at some point unless you have absolutely no conscience whatsoever.

Maybe they decided he was slipping and needed a break after he decided to sit down with Josh Bachynski.

Maybe they decided he was slipping and needed a break after he decided to sit down with Josh Bachynski.

I doubt if Google's PTB could care less about the likes of Josh Bachynski. Why should they? Google Search's target audience is searchers, not SEOs and their clients.

I doubt if Google's PTB could care less about the likes of Josh Bachynski. Why should they? Google Search's target audience is searchers, not SEOs and their clients

Nonsense. Google's obsession with SEOs is the reason why so many of their search results are awful.

Matt Cutts has done a wonderful job for his employers by presenting a likeable human face on a company that has ditched the spirit of it's motto. He deserves every minute of his holiday.

Nice guy delivering crap results!

With Cutts out for an extended leave, this may indicate no radical algorithm changes will occur until his return.

Google's obsession with SEOs is the reason why so many of their search results are awful.

Or maybe the reason is that SEOs are too obsessed with Google. That's a more likely explanation.

I had to stop watching Matt Cutts' videos because they're so agonizingly boring. But in the last one I watched, he appeared to be in an alternate reality where Google's algorithm is just one step away from perfection, and he and all of us little webmasters are just one big happy family.

Enough for pete's sake.....

Why am I remotely interested in when a Google executive takes a vacation?

I somehow doubt that part of the Google corporation lapses into some kind of non-functioning twilight zone because a team leader is away from the office. I'd hazard a guess that just maybe his role is being handled temporarily by another competent colleague.

You know.... just like with every other corporation around the world!

Nothing to see here folks.... let's move on.

Enough for pete's sake.....

Why am I remotely interested in when a Google executive takes a vacation?

I somehow doubt that part of the Google corporation lapses into some kind of non-functioning twilight zone because a team leader is away from the office. I'd hazard a guess that just maybe his role is being handled temporarily by another competent colleague.

You know.... just like with every other corporation around the world!

Nothing to see here folks.... let's move on.

+1

This is a great time for Google to experiment with a quieter approach.

They have been since GoogleGuy stopped posting here -- His answers and the info he provided here were miles better and more informative than the little "blurb" videos we've all gotten used to.

No information is the direction they've been heading for quite some time.

Or maybe the reason is that SEOs are too obsessed with Google. That's a more likely explanation.

Or maybe if they could algorithmically determine and told us what quality was based on, we could only "manipulate" the algo by actually building higher quality pages/sites -- The fact their algo can't actually determine what "quality" is based on on-page factors, imo, is the most likely reason they can't just be open and tell webmasters what they need to do to improve the quality of any given page/site.

If they could really determine the quality of a given page based on the factors contained on a page itself algorithmically, then all they'd have to do is tell us what the criteria are and we'd have to improve our quality to "manipulate the rankings" in any way, which would be a win-win-win [Google, us, visitors], but since they don't/can't say, the most logical bottom-line conclusion is: they can't figure out on-page quality algorithmically, so secrecy is the direction they have to take to keep from getting gamed -- The only way they could "get gamed" if they could detect and told us what the criteria are for on-page quality, would be in a "good way" for them, us and visitors alike.

Think about it for a minute...

---

TL;DR

If Google could determine on-page quality algorithmically, then they could give us the formula and the only way we could "game the algo" would be with higher quality pages/sites and that's an all-around win...

Well, an all-around win, expect for possibly Ad sales -- I think I really have to doubt their abilities to detect on-page quality algorithmically or have to start folding up a tinfoil hat if things keep going the direction they have been :/

[edited by: JD_Toims at 3:39 am (utc) on Jul 8, 2014]

Why am I remotely interested in when a Google executive takes a vacation?

This subject is just another in a long list of "straw man" discussions. It's the smoke and mirrors intended to distract us from what's going on behind the curtain (or perhaps door number 2). It's proof that Google can steer the discussion into stupid blathering points and keep everyone off balance while the real action is taking place stage left. There's nothing concrete to discuss any more that hasn't already been said to death. Old habits die hard and folks are looking for reasons, cause and effect or just a friendly pat on the back from someone who understands what they're going through. The pretense of having a real SEO discussion is disappearing and a lot of people aren't sure what to do with themselves any more.

Obfuscation of the issues is a brilliant strategy. When you can't see the cause of the effects, you're just guessing like everyone else so why not venture into abstract discussion for the sake of pure, unadulterated distraction, aka entertainment. I think that's what's happening here. And perhaps a bit of venting as well (do ya think?)

Oh, and what JD said too...

Nothing to see here folks.... let's move on.

The head of Google's spam team is taking four months off... C'mon, four months off, who in any other job is allowed to do that? Either someone is close to being fired or their conscience forced them to take some needed time off to rethink how they should proceed in the future.

In Australia its called Long Service Leave... usually 3 months off after 15 years of service. Other countries have similar arrangements.

Google are reportedly a very liberal employer and I'd expect them to have generous conditions for their people. I know that the USA on the whole is not noted for generous vacation time, but for Google to offer the equivalent of Long Service Leave would not surprise me in the slightest.

People also arrange extended leave of absence for personal reasons, to finish of a PhD or get a degree... or for lots of reasons.

Its not a big deal.

We all have our own roles in our companies and we shouldn't become personally upset when someone performs their professional duties.

I find this thread to be helpful in identifying people that seem to be more interested in personal vendettas and less interested in business. It is generally not a good thing when you let your emotions influence your business decisions.

It is generally not a good thing when you let your emotions influence your business decisions.

Deserved being said again.