You may remember back in January I let my slightly obsessive crush on Rand Fishkin get the better of me and take the form of this blog post. Well sticking with the “little known facts” format, I thought this month we could turn the spotlight on another SEO thought-leader, and who better than the content-loving Matt Cutts?
#1 Matt Cutts Has Groupies
Yep, it’s true. He has a strong gaggle of women (and men) who hang on his every word. Lady Gaga may have her Little Monsters, Bieber may have his Beliebers but Matt Cutts has his Cutlets. Hopefully his groupies aren’t quite as crazed as the Beliebers and “Cut for Cutts” doesn’t take off.
#2 He is a Complete Brainiac
OK, that’s not exactly a shocker, but the list of his achievements is extremely impressive and worth a mention. He graduated from Kentucky in 1995 with a degree in Computer Science and Mathematics and received the prestigious Maurice Clay award for outstanding graduating senior from the College of Engineering. In addition, as an undergrad he worked for the U.S Department of Defence and had top secret clearance.
#3 He Challenges his Colleagues to Find Porn and Gives them Cookies if they Find Any
Yep, don’t you wish you worked for old Matty? Paid to find porn and rewarded in sweet treats when you do. As Matt Cutts wrote the Adult Safe Search for Google, he requests that his team challenge it regularly to ensure nothing is slipping through the cracks; by finding porn he can then make the necessary tweaks to make it safer.
#4 He Loves Halloween
If you read Matt’s blog, you will soon realise that he is a big fan of Halloween and goes all out with his costumes. Last year, he dressed as Mitt Romney and did such a good job he is a solid contender for a look-a-like competition (although I’m not sure who would really want to judge that). The video below is another inventive Halloween costume from Matt.
#5 He Has Just Gone Gluten and Wheat Free
Matt and his wife Cynthia participate in 30 day challenges and his most recent was a month of a gluten and wheat free diet just to “see what that’s like”. He has completed many 30 day challenges which include 30 days with no TV and most notably, 30 days without Twitter and Facebook.
#6 Matt Plays the Ukulele
He may come across as rather serious at times in his updates and has no doubt enraged many a webmaster across the world with some of his decisions, but how much can you really hate the guy who plays the Ukulele?
#7 He’s a Charitable Dude
Matt and Cynthia set up a not for profit foundation back in 2010 which donates to numerous organisations including Room to Read and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
#8 He Has Been Interviewed by Rand Fishkin
Back in 2010, Matt appeared on the SEOMoz Whiteboard Interview, interviewed by my beloved Rand. Topics included headers, URL structures, status codes and a little bit of porn for good measure. I like to think that Rand and Matt are besties who share their inner-most thoughts with one another over a beer. I also like to think they have a bunk-bed and wear matching onezies.
#9 He’s a Meme Legend
Move over Baby Making a Fist, step aside Willy Wonka, the SEO meme crown has to go to Matt Cutts. Famed in the industry for his commitment to great content, a series of memes quickly emerged where a question was asked on any topic, to which the answer would always simply be “Great Content”.
#10 He Celebrates Arguably the Geekiest Day: 404 Day
On April 4th you will find Matt celebrating 404 day and where he encourages people to learn a little more about 404s as well as asking the SEO community to share their favourite 404 message!
Matt may not be the heart-throb of the SEO world (we all know who takes that title) but between his charitable deeds, 30 day challenges and sea of groupies, we can gather that he’s a pretty cool guy, even if certain webmasters do see him as a bit of a villain at times!
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