Search Community Is Heart Broken Over Matt Cutts Wife Passing Away

Matt Cutts posted on his personal blog some terrible personal news that explained his wife passed away this week. Matt never mentioned his wife by name, but always referenced he had a wife and how much she has meant to him. I was always felt a deep sense of love and admiration in anything Matt shared about his wife.

Personally, I am heart broken to hear that Matt has lost his “wife and best friend,” as he put it. The community has shown an outpouring of love and sorrow over the news. I cannot imagine how Matt is feeling right now. The void, emptiness, loss of not having his wife by him must be unbearable. If all of us could just take a tiny bit of that pain away, it would be a blessing. But even then, even with the tens of thousands of people that is praying for Matt and his family – we know, there is really absolutely nothing we can do.

I strongly debated if I should cover such an event here. Who are we to talk about Matt’s personal life. But I felt (a) he wrote the blog post sharing it publicly and (b) hearing from those who care about you, is often something that helps the person grieving go through the process. Calling it a process, in itself, feels unsympathetic and emotionless.

Matt Cutts, and by extension, his wife, has been instrumental to our industry, fundamental to the building blocks of SEO and Google. Matt deeply cared about the industry, the people, and virtually everyone he encountered. Matt has a thing about him, a way about him, that made people who spoke to him connect with him in a deeper way. He always reminded me of my brother – the way he spoke to people, the patience, the way he thought before he talked, all done with the utmost sensitivity. Why? Because he cares.

To see Matt lose someone so special to him, so apart of him, it really tears me apart.

Matt – we all love you, deeply appreciate everything you’ve done for the community and now the US government and the people of the country. You are a very special individual and we know your wife was a huge part of all of that. I know it feels like you lost a part of yourself this week and there is no way you will ever get that back. I just hope some of the community can help you feel slightly better – even if it takes time.

Please take a moment to read what Matt wrote about his wife over here.

With the deepest respect – as we say in the Jewish culture, may G-d comfort you among the other mourners.

Here are some tweets and comments from those in the industry: