It’s hard to imagine the search community evolving as it has without the support and active participation of Matt Cutts. Those newer to search marketing may never have had the opportunity to meet Google’s Distinguished Engineer and get to know what a thoughtful, kind and open participant he was with the SEO community in particular. I’m honored to have been able to get to know and spend as much time with him as I did while he was still with Google. He suffered an unimaginable tragedy last week, and we as a community rallied around him to help in ways large and small and let him know he remains an important part our industry.
Following the unexpected passing of Matt’s beloved wife Cindy, our community immediately offered heartfelt support for Matt in a tremendously difficult time, with search professionals around the globe letting Matt know just how much he has meant to our industry at large. Dixon Jones, founder of Majestic, began an online effort to send flowers to the service and donate funds to a mental health charity in the UK in Cindy’s honor, as mental health advocacy was important to both her and Matt.
In that spirit, the recipient of the annual donation made from a portion of proceeds in the Search Engine Land Awards this June will be Mental Health America, in honor of Cindy and other industry luminaries we have recently lost.
About The Author
Michelle Robbins, SVP Content & Marketing Technology, oversees editorial direction as Editor in Chief for Third Door Media’s digital publications, Search Engine Land, Marketing Land and MarTech Today, directing a full-time staff of reporters and editors managing contributed content. She is responsible for developing the content strategy across all properties and aligning those initiatives with the programming and audience goals for Third Door Media’s two leading marketing conference series, Search Marketing Expo and The MarTech Conference. In addition, Michelle oversees information technology operations, directing the marketing technology department.
An experienced domestic and international keynote and featured speaker, she enjoys connecting with the community at SMX, MarTech and other industry events. Connect online with Michelle on Twitter @MichelleRobbins, and Linkedin.