Matt Cutts: Being Google’s “Lightning Rod” For Unhappy SEOs Might Not Be Productive

Last week, the head of Google’s web spam team Matt Cutts announced that he was extending his leave. Now, Cutts has opened up a bit more about it, further suggesting he won’t return.

Cutts also suggested that having himself or anyone be a public face for Google in terms of publisher issues might not be a good use of time, because that role tends to be a “lightning rod” that attracts negative energy.

Cutts made his comments while participating in “This Week in Google” yesterday. Host Leo Laporte asked Cutts about his current leave and if he would go back to the same role at Google.

From Cutts roundabout response, it doesn’t sound like returning as Google’s head of web spam holds much interest for him:

[blockquote]Well, I really have been impressed with how well everyone else on the team is doing. It’s created a little bit of an opportunity for them to try new things, explore different stuff, you know, approach problems from a different way, and so, we’ll have to see how it goes.

I loved the part of my job that dealt with keeping an eye on what important news was happening related to Google, but, it’s not clear that having me as a lightning rod for unhappy black hat SEOs, or something, is the best use of anybody’s time compared to working on other things making the world better for Google…so we’ll see.[/blockquote]

Cutts said that Google has been really generous, and reconfirmed that he was extending his leave into 2015.

Cutts addresses whether or not he’ll return to the same position at Google in the following video around the 9:50 mark: