Listening to what Head of Google Webspam Matt Cutts says about Google is important whether you’re a beginner or trying to get more advanced in SEO. He is the guy who has the inside scoop with Google, and he constantly offers best practices to Webmasters. Whenever there is a change in the Google algorithm or his team starts to notice incorrect advice or a poor trend happening in the SEO world, Cutts is usually the one to break the news. In most cases, he does this by creating a video.
If you haven’t been following the Matt Cutts videos over the years (5 years to be exact), it can seem a little bit overwhelming. To date, Cutts has published 538 videos, many of which offer advice that is still relevant today. Fortunately, there is a tool out there called The Short Cutts that helps you sort through these videos and find what you’re looking for on a particular topic.
How The Short Cutts Works
As discussed above, theshortcutts.com is a resource that helps you categorize the over 500 videos from Cutts. It is powered by ClickConsult and allows you to sort by category, date, length, search for a specific video, or sort by the color of his shirt if you just want to check out some random videos. Below is a screenshot of how you can search through the directory:
After you have searched a category or if you simply visit the homepage, you will see not only the full video for you to watch, but a very quick summary of the question and the answer. In the screenshot above, for example, you can see the question or the main topic of the video: The most common SEO mistake. Under that you have a quick answer: Not having a website.
Although most of the Matt Cutts videos are only 2 or 3 minutes long, sometimes all you want is a simple answer, which is why this resource is so helpful. Below is a screenshot of what I see if I were to choose the category SERPs and then click the option Oldest First:
The upper right hand corner lets me know that there are 44 videos that fall into this category that equal to one hour and 43 minutes of video time (in the case of the last video above, you can see it actually falls into two categories: SERPs and Link Building). If I were to keep scrolling down the page, I could see all of the 44 videos through infinite scrolling.
A Few Notable and Timeless Matt Cutts Videos
I highly recommend searching around if you have any sort of SEO question. Keep in mind, however, that just because something comes from Matt Cutts doesn’t mean it’s still relevant. Some of these videos are from 2009, and while Cutts’ information was true in 2009, it might not be as straightforward anymore. In other words, be careful when you’re searching.
On the opposite note, many of the older Matt Cutts videos are still true today. By looking to the past, you can find answers to some of your questions. To give you a little bit of a head start, below are a few older videos that are still true for small business SEO success today:
Is Google putting more weight on brands in rankings?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMfWPWUh5uU
What is Google doing to combat the effects of comment spam?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZKHFQ5JBpI
Should I link to all press mentions of my site?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mO01nH31clU
For even more relevant videos, check out this article from HigherVisibility. Test out the resource at theshortcutts.com and let us know what you think in the comment section below.