Recently we wrote about the new website, TheShortCutts.com that outlines all of the Matt Cutts videos for users. After all, the head of Google's webspam team has now recorded over 500 videos. This can get overwhelming so it helps to have a place to go where you can search all of the videos and find the answers to your questions.
The problem here, however, is that you have to know what you're looking for when you visit this website. You have to have an SEO question in mind for that search box, and this isn't possible for many who are just getting started in the world of SEO. There are hundreds of different topics and different opinions, so you have to know what you're searching for to really take full advantage.
Top 10 Must-See Matt Cutts Videos for Any Small Business
If you fall into this category of startups just getting their feet wet in SEO, don't sweat it. Below are 10 must-watch Matt Cutts videos for companies of all types and sizes:
1. Qualities of a Good Site. You can't get much more basic than this. Cutts explains in this video XML Sitemaps and how they work, a few content considerations that work well to help you rank, and how to make your site crawl-able.
2. Duplicate Content. As we all know, duplicate content is a big issue. There are many webmasters out there that choose to have the same content on their website twice (press release section, curation section, etc.), which is tricky when thinking about duplicate content. You also need to worry about things like block quotes. This video puts some of these questions to rest.
3. SEO Myths. A few of the myths mentioned in this video include using the same Javascript across multiple sites, having a lot of sites in the same server, and what happens when you publish a lot of content at once.
4. Google Terminology. It's always good to hear about some of the most widely used Google terminology, so hearing it from Cutts is a no-brainer. Take notes and use this 5 minute video as a way to familiarize yourself with America's largest search engine.
5. SEO as Spam. This is an overview of the importance of white hat tactics for SEO including keywords you should use, usability, site speed, and a few more. It's a great way for businesses to know what to ask SEO agencies in the future, and a great way to start understanding that SEO is NOT spam assuming you are using white hat (or allowed) practices.
6. 301 Redirects. Cutts has a few videos discussing 301 redirects, but this one talks about 301 redirects versus rel=canonical, which I think is a confusing topic for most. Both of these subjects are important to your overall SEO, so this is a good video to know.
7. Geographic Targeting. This video was recorded in 2009, but for the most part it really isn't outdated. Geo-targeting is important for businesses working with different countries, so this are a good general video to help.
8. Google Webmaster Tools and Unnatural Links. Many businesses get nervous about learning that Google thinks they have unnatural links. For businesses that have never bought links, it can be tough to know how to solve the problem. Cutts explains what you should do in Google Webmaster tools to help solve your problem.
9. Crawling. Probably one of the most basic questions ever asked to Cutts, this is a video that explains how Google search works. Cutts uses a whiteboard in this video to help break down such a huge answer into 8 minutes.
10. What to Expect. This video is Cutts' newest video and discusses the question "What should we expect in the next few months in terms of SEO for Google?" It's a basic question, but Cutts' answers it in a way that leads us to believe that some of these changes will be relevant for a long time to come. In short, it's always good to stay on top of the latest videos.
As you can see, most of these videos are covering the basics. However, these videos work great for even the most advanced SEOs because they are more-or-less static. In other words, many of these are SEO "truths" that everyone should take seriously throughout an entire SEO campaign.
Have you been watching Cutts' videos for a while? What are some videos you would recommend as must-sees for those looking to learn more from the man in charge?