In a prepared presentation as part of his opening keynote, Matt Cutts, director all things SEO at Google, announced that the company was supplementing their algorithm approach with a simpler one - favor the sites he himself browses. "I know I'm going to take a lot of flack for this, " he told the audience of over 3,000 SEO professionals, mostly to nervous laughter. "But I started to playing with the idea and showed the results to my team and we found it fixed a lot of our problems."
Cutts explained further that he maintains a favorites list of over 350 sites and keeps it current, retiring sites he no longer uses or that are no longer relevant. "I go on the Internet a lot. Easily 3-4 times a day or more. So I see a lot of sites."
When asked how this could penalize sites he doesn't have in his favorites, his answers were evasive. "We are not penalizing anyone here. Really. If they are not in my favorites, I will be happy to consider them. Just send me an email at mattcutts@google.com. I don't get much email so I will be able to respond quickly."
While some had their doubts, others seemed encouraged. Long-time friend of Cutts, Jimmy Gale, told us he can't wait to see the results. "I don't know much about that Googling stuff, but Mattie told me he would be happy to include any websites I wanted in his little list. My phone has been ringing off the hook all week with people even offering to pay me to talk to Matt. Can you believe that?"
In a hurried follow-up announcement, Microsoft announced it will be considering a list of sites from Steve Ballmer for preferred Bing placement. However, after reviewing the list, the company axed the plans, with unnamed officials telling us the sites were "too boring and weird".
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