What’s this about?
I’m pleased Danny Sullivan has landed on his feet.
It sounds like a nice plum job with Google, being their webmaster PR person.
I’m sure Danny would be the first to say he’s not Matt Cutts, and nor does he play him on TV, despite what webmasters are wishing.
This is an extract from TWIS SEO News & Updates 6th October 2017 (which is pretty good if you ask me).
You should now proceed in an orderly fashion to read the key issues, key actions and insights.
#SEO #SEONews #Google #NiceJobIfYouCanGetIt
Danny Sullivan Joins Google In An Undefined PR Role
Key Issues Summary:
- There was much excitement in the search engine marketing, and SEO world, when Danny Sullivan announced he was joining Google in an “undefined role”.
- Danny Sullivan stepped down from his role as advisor to Third Door Media, owner of Search Engine Land, which Danny started and edited for many years. I covered that in the story SEO Departures: The End is Not Nigh
- There is a perception amongst the search community that Danny Sullivan will be the new Matt Cutts. This is incorrect.
- The role is to “serve as some sort of public liaison for search”.
Key Actions List:
- Well, if you have Danny’s number on speed dial, give him a call to start bending his ear about how Google bugs you.
- If you don’t, you may be able to start a conversation with Danny on one of the various social channels. I’m taking bets on Danny re-activating his Google+ channel.
- Until the role is defined, there isn’t much else to do to be honest.
- Don’t expect him to be a replacement for Matt Cutts. He’s not.
- Click here to contact me to discuss how to interpret Google’s missives and communications.
Insights & Discussion:
So, Danny Sullivan, erstwhile respectable spokesman of the search community, has taken the silver dollar and joined Google. This is great for him, I’m really pleased.
I’m also saddened that the expectation on Danny to be the new Matt Cutts will be vastly over-indexed. Danny is nowhere near as technical as Matt (who effectively wrote the safe content search filter, a masterful piece of linguistic & other signals sorting and engineering) . What is also clear is that Google expects Danny to perform a more PR role.
As you can see from various recent announcements, Google has adopted more of a “for your convenience” PR puff stance, which rarely works. Employing a respected industry spokesman to do the puffing is a well-worn tactic which may or may not work, depending on how long the heroic glow lasts.
I really am trying not to be cynical about this, but Google has been such a disappointment recently that I’m finding it hard not to take the view that Google is trying to schmooze all over webmasters yet again.
Of course, the guys who currently provide webmaster support and contact may not be feeling a million dollars either.
More Information:
The State of SEO Mid-2017 Released
TL;DR
- After a few months swanning around Europe, Danny has turned up at Google.
- Being some sort of PR.
- I really hope it’s not as a sop to the webmaster community, but you never know.
- Before we know it being de-indexed will be “for your convenience”.
- Read The State of SEO in mid-2017.
- Read about how Google’s Mobile First Index is not Mobile Friendly.
- Finally, get your content ranking well on Google by starting to understand Find Crawl Index.
Thanks for reading. If you would like to discuss what these changes mean for your web property, or would like to know how to implement them, please feel free to contact me.
