Who is Matt Cutts?
Well, it depends who you ask. You could get either of the following answers:
- Google nerd. He’s head of Google’s Webspam team. (No, they don’t spam. They’re the ones keeping the spam away.)
- Porn cookie guy. He famously gave out his wife’s cookies to any Googler who turns up unwanted porn in the search results.
In his own words, he’s a software engineer and sometimes blogger. Of course, in the 8 or so years his blog has been up, he’s written about a thousand posts. So “sometimes blogger” may be understating things a bit.
His wife thinks he’s a *insert sarcasm here* very important man.
But what he’s really known for is SEO (Search Engine Optimization). In fact, more than 50% of his blog posts fall under that category.
And surely, if he wrote that much, he must have a few important things to say, right?
Actually, he does.
Cutts on SEO: 20 Tips to Get You By
All major search engines generate results. These are shown and ranked according to what the search engines think are most relevant to users. In essence, it’s free.
And if you’re in any business online, you want your website showing up on top of these results. Because the higher up you rank, the more clicks you generally get.
This video from Search Engine Land gives a pretty on point summary. It’s especially useful to SEO newbies:
Now, what does Cutts say about it? How can you be an SEO success, the Matt Cutts way?
Here’s a summary of Cutts’ tips from his presentation at WordCamp. (You can find the full pdf slideshow presentation here, too.)
On blogs
1. Don’t put blog at root page of the domain. People usually link to the main page. And they will link to your blog. That’s some extra links right there.
2. Name your directory “blog.” People make the mistake of naming it wordpress or some such. This could pose a problem if and when you decide to change your software.
On keywords
3. Use category names that are also good keywords.
4. This is how keywords should appear in url paths: domain.com/your-words
- Dashes are still the best to use
- Underscores are next
- No spaces are the worst
5. Don’t force it. Keywords must be those words that people normally type. Find a way to use them in the narrative naturally.
6. ALT tags are there for a reason. Adding 3-4 relevant words there helps with your search result rankings.
7. Searches are not only for articles. They also include images and videos. So don’t forget them.
On Usability
How easy is your blog to find, view, re-blog?
8. Your site should be crawlable.
9. Post creation dates must be easy to find.
10. Your blog has mobile view? Get a phone and check that it actually shows up properly.
11. Full-text RSS feeds translate to loyal users.
12. Do standard pings.
On Ranking
Matt also answers the age old question: Do you get traffic first, and then get noticed, or do you get noticed then get Google traffic?
The answer is “the second one!”
Matt expounds further, “… if you are trying to push yourself up into Google first, so that people can find you, you are kind of working against the grain, you are going uphill. It is much, much easier to think about all the different ways you can get known in the world and then Google will find out about you naturally.”
So how do you get known?
13. Provide useful service. In a world that’s increasingly app-obsessed, there’s a big opportunity for app creators. A safety sign creator found their niche in creating pdf’s. Find something people need and give it to them!
14. Get creative. YouTube videos, cat memes, parody accounts. These get people talking. Talking people gets you attention. Attention gets you clicks and likes.
15. Give tutorials. There are always people wanting to learn how to do stuff.
16. Give insightful analysis. Really, insightful here is debatable. (How much insight can you get from determining which email server has the most spam mail? But that guy apparently got a ton of likes.)
17. Live blogging. People need to be in the know all the time. But they might not always be there to watch things unfold live. So if you managed to snag much-coveted body space at Hall H during Comic Con, you bet there would be a gazillion other people outside and at home willing to wait for your live blog of every minute detail happening there.
18. Lists. Everybody loves ‘em. Admit it. The only reason you’re still here reading this is you’re waiting for number 20.
On Avoiding Mistakes
You will make mistakes. That’s true in every aspect of your life, virtual and otherwise. But here are a couple more tips to maybe help you not make them twice.
19. Change default permalink. Matt himself uses /%postname%/
20. No Pay per Post on WordPress. It’s on the freaking Terms of Service (that you know you didn’t really read.)
So… lots of tips. If you want to hear everything in his own words, here’s the actual video.
But, really. When you started reading this, half of you don’t even know Matt Cutts. When I first Googled his name, believe it or not, I got a dog grooming service. (I misspelled his name, so sue me. The point is he’s not exactly the most famous of people. Even if he may choose to believe to the contrary.)
And with that I ask, should we even be listening?
Listen to Matt. He knows!
If you ask the people at Bruce Clay, there’s certainly a lot to be thankful to Google and the SEO industry for. I mean, they basically used the Thanksgiving holiday to give Google a pat in the back. It doesn’t get any geekier than that.
According to Bruce Clay executive Maryann Robbins, “Matt Cutts and his videos — he does a really great job of being helping webmasters and SEOs. He provides insight into SEO technicalities so there’s less confusion.”
Even self-professed scammers think Matt is doing great with sharing Google’s SEO know-how. They even post his videos.
Geeks and Nerds Online has posted this video, and its readers have been calling it “helpful”, “amazing” and “insightful.”
The general consensus seems to be that Matt Cutts knows what he’s talking about. He doesn’t need to share the info. But the fact that he does makes him altogether one of the better men.
So, yeah. When Matt speaks, it’s generally best to start listening.
Dan M. Shahar is the owner of WesSellWords.com where he admitted that he sometimes sounds like a Matt’s fanboy. But he just like getting traffic. You can’t blame him.