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Google’s Matt Cutts – who holds the title of “distinguished engineer” — is taking a break from his duties as Google’s chief web spam fighter. Cutts has announced on his personal blog that he’s taking leave through October.
It will be the longest break Cutts has ever taken from Google since he started with the company back in 2000 and since he began overseeing the web spam team in 2004. It’s also one that he writes is overdue. From his post:
When I joined Google, my wife and I agreed that I would work for 4-5 years, and then she’d get to see more of me. I talked about this as recently as last month and as early as 2006. And now, almost fifteen years later I’d like to be there for my wife more. I know she’d like me to be around more too, and not just physically present while my mind is still on work.
Cutts says he’ll be off work through October of this year. He notes he won’t be checking any work email. He also stressed that there’s no specific event behind him taking the time off, other than fulfilling this long-standing promise to his wife.
It’s not clear yet who will be taking over his duties while he’s gone. Cutts did advise those seeking the type of advice he’s known for offering from Google to make use of these resources:
You can also check out his recent AMA from our SMX Advanced conference last month:
All the best with the break, Matt, from those of us here at Search Engine Land.

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July 24, 2026 at 6:58 AM
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