Search Engine Strategies Viewpoints

[Ed: Matt Cutts is a senior software engineer at Google who is often asked to speak to Webmasters and interested people at events such as the Search Engine Strategies conference, which is held in many cities across the world. Roger interviewed Matt at the one held late last year in San Jose, California. -- AN]

RM: What kind of concerns do you find Webmasters have at this conference, and how does that compare with past conferences?

MC: One thing that's always in the back of any Webmaster's mind is how their site ranks and how they can ensure that their site can be crawled by search engines. When you get to talk to Webmasters face-to-face, they're always happy to hear that we're just as concerned with getting their sites into our index as they are. We want to make sure that Webmasters who create useful sites are found by people who search on Google. Sometimes hearing that directly from a Google engineer can be really reassuring.

Matt Cutts

MC: Another trend that I've noticed over the past couple of conferences is that many search engine marketing firms are becoming more of "full-service" firms that can also manage pay-per-click and advertising campaigns for clients. It's nice to see that most firms have left behind the idea of trying to take quick shortcuts to easy rankings and are working with clients to make great sites that attract traffic on their own, not just from search engines.

RM: Google has taken steps, via FAQs, guidelines, and conference appearances, to educate Webmasters on best practices for proper indexing. Do you feel that more Webmasters are becoming aware of good design techniques and that this is gradually coming into the mainstream?

MC: I think we are seeing more interest from Webmasters in making sites that are easier to crawl and index. A lot of companies are really becoming aware of the potential of the Web, and the ability to establish new relationships with users and customers. It's gratifying to see that more and more Webmasters are making it easier for search engines to crawl their sites with good site design.

RM: What advice would you give to a Web designer who is in the planning stages of a Web site?

MC: If you can, try to make your site have simple navigation with static URLs. Include a site map from the beginning to help crawlers find all of your pages. Try looking at your site in a really ancient browser, or even a text browser (because that's what a spider basically sees) and make sure that you can reach all of your site. Lastly, make sure that it's a useful site so that you attract visitors who are looking for information, advice or shopping.

RM: To what do you attribute Google's uncanny ability to surprise us with new ways of presenting information?

MC: I think Google has a pretty good tradition of re-examining itself to see how it can improve every aspect of how we operate. We often rewrite parts of our architecture to be more scalable, more robust, or more efficient. That willingness to approach a problem from a fresh perspective pays off with our interface and features as well. We're pretty sensitive to what users want when they search, and we're always asking ourselves how we can do that better.

RM: Many people say that the next few years are going to see many changes in the search industry as it matures - do you see this as a challenge or an opportunity?

MC: The search marketplace is a very active and competitive industry which reflects the growing value of search and search marketing.

MC: One of our biggest challenges - which we also see as opportunities for Google - is to broaden our search to take in additional sources of public information. We continue to work on bringing users access to more information. Recent efforts - that go beyond Web pages - include providing access to printed catalogues (Google Catalog Search), newsgroup postings (Google Groups) and Google News.

MC: We also know that if a user doesn't get the very best search results possible, it's very easy for them to click on to a different search engine. This keeps us very motivated to do our best on every single search that we get. Google will continue to focus on providing the best search experience to our users, advertisers and partners.

[Ed: Calafia Consulting, an Internet and World Wide Web consultancy, is headed by Danny Sullivan, known widely for his work as editor of Search Engine Watch - http://searchenginewatch.com. - AN]

RM: The paid search market is perhaps the fastest growing area of the internet. How do you think this will impact the average user? Do you feel the user may eventually reach a point of "banner blindness?"

DS: I don't think users will ignore listings in the way they dismiss banners. Banners were often not targeted to the activity a user was doing. In other words, if you were reading an article about something, seeing a banner hawking domain registration may not have been an activity you wanted to do. In contrast, if you search for "domain registration," the listings that come back are much more likely to satisfy your desire. The biggest issue is really that users might abandon some search engines if the listings no longer seem relevant.
That can happen if the systems they use to power editorial results aren't tuned well or if the paid listings they deliver really aren't on target.

Danny Sullivan

Photo: Gavin Roberts,
Business 2.0

RM: What kind of concerns did you find that Webmasters had at the recent Search Engine Strategies conference, and how does that compare with past conferences?

DS: Nothing really stood out as particularly new. There continues to be a growing awareness of the need to track whether listings are performing, which is good. I think Webmasters are also becoming more aware of the need to have good content, to help convert visitors who get attracted to their Web sites.

RM: Do you feel that more Webmasters are becoming aware of search engine friendly design techniques and that this is gradually coming into the mainstream? Do you feel this is good for the user?

DS: Yes, there is more awareness, though it's amazing how many people still need to be educated. Of course, there's always new people coming into the field of Web design and marketing. It is also good for the user, if it helps make more good content accessible to search engines.

RM: What advice would you give to a Web designer who is in the planning stages of a Web site?

DS: In terms of search engines, I'd understand the key terms I'm trying to be found for an ensure I have well-written HTML content that targets those terms. I'd also follow the basic search engine placement tips I outline on http://searchenginewatch.com/webmasters/article.php/2168021

RM: Google's dominance - to what do you attribute it and do you think the other search engines will ever catch up?

DS: Google unveiled a great search engine when the others were mediocre. As a result, users gravitated over to it. The other search engines have already made great leaps to catch up technically. I think it will be hard for them to pull large amounts of people away from Google unless Google gets bad. However, they may be able to retain their own substantial audiences.

RM: Many people say that the next few years are going to see many changes in the search industry as it matures - What does this mean for the average search engine user?

DS: We should continue to see strong competition, which means better results for users. The search engines will continue to compete in ways to distinguish themselves, by rolling out new features and better relevancy.

About the Interviewer
Roger Montti is the founder of martinibuster.com. He is a regular, thought-provoking commentator at Webmasterworld and Orkut.

Reprinted from the March 2004 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia

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