During my morning research for what is going on in the SEO community, I spotted a post from John Mueller on Twitter that really made me sad. He wrote "is this the level of respect fostered at #mozcon ? I sincerely hope the rest of the SEO community doesn't get this treatment; it's hurtful & unprofessional. I <3 how you push the boundaries & respect your work, Mike, but it's easier when you don't resort to things like that."
Here is the tweet:
Is this the level of respect fostered at #mozcon ? I sincerely hope the rest of the SEO community doesn't get this treatment; it's hurtful & unprofessional. I <3 how you push the boundaries & respect your work, Mike, but it's easier when you don't resort to things like that.
— John ☆.o(≧▽≦)o.☆ (@JohnMu) July 12, 2018
Before that, he shared three additional tweets capturing screen grabs from slides that Michael King, a well respected personality in the SEO community and a rockstar speaker, used at Mozcon yesterday. Here are those:
Achievement unlocked! Didn't get called out by @ipullrank for explaining how redirects work. pic.twitter.com/B5l4WOsxUG
— John ☆.o(≧▽≦)o.☆ (@JohnMu) July 12, 2018
Only got told that me & my team might as well shut up. Oh wait, is that better or worse? pic.twitter.com/5DMPXXHT4V
— John ☆.o(≧▽≦)o.☆ (@JohnMu) July 12, 2018
And a dose of old-school body-shaming, which is kinda lame. Seriously, Mike? pic.twitter.com/MceXfB1f2k
— John ☆.o(≧▽≦)o.☆ (@JohnMu) July 12, 2018
Sometimes we forget that the people who work at Google are people. Google Webmaster Trends analysts are employed, partially, to communicate with the SEO community. But the truth is, many, like John, came from the SEO community and love the community. In fact, they would say they are part of the SEO community and I would agree with that. In fact, people like John not only work business hours helping the SEO community but year after year take time on holidays, when they should be with their family, helping their SEO family as well.
I said this numerous times - I 100% believe that they all mean well, they all want to do the best for the SEO community and they are never lying to us. Many in the SEO community don't share my belief, but I am hopeful that most do believe it.
Specifically John Mueller, I mean, there is no one that is currently at Google that has given so much of themselves to the SEO community. The amount of heat and negativity pointed his way is insane. We do not say thank you enough to what John does on a daily basis for our industry. From the daily SEO advice in the forums, on Twitter, over video hangouts, at conferences, in developer documents and much more. To working on holidays and days off. He does it because he cares about the SEO community, not just because it is his job. He can leave Google, do SEO, like so many others - but he stays, helping webmasters.
I am sure he has received death threats, I know Matt Cutts has numerous times and heck, even I have literally countless times. It is not right and needs to be stopped.
John - if you do read this - I can say the majority of us appreciate what you do, how you do it and all the effort you put in.
I really do believe the SEO community loves you and the team you work with.
Forum discussion at Twitter.
Update: You can download these slides over here.
Update 2: Sarah Bird, the CEO of Moz, responded:
We are committed to fostering a community of respect and professionalism for everyone. @JohnMu I apologize for how this series of slides landed. We absolutely appreciate your contribution to search, and efforts to help the seo community thrive.
— Sarah Bird (@SarahBird) July 12, 2018
Update 3: Please see Michael King's apology.
