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I listened to a podcast the other day that featured an interview with Matt Cutts from Google. In the interview I was surprised to learn that Matt, head of the Web Spam Team at Google, doesn’t use the Google owned software publishing platform Blogger for his personal blog – he uses self-hosted WordPress.
A little about The WordPress Podcast
The WordPress Podcast is strictly an audio podcast. The show is hosted by two well known and knowledgeable developers Joost de Valk and Frederick Townes, and you can find The WordPress Podcast at http://wp-community.org/.
“The WordPress Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by Joost de Valk and Frederick Townes, interviewing people from inside and outside the WordPress community on how they use WordPress.
Each show features plugin picks of the week, news from the WordPress community and unique tips from the people that are interviewed.
Why Does Matt Prefer Wordpress?
- Flexibility
- Built in SEO features of Thelonious
- Stability
- Akismet
- URL Structure
Matt has used WordPress since 2005 and in the interview he openly admits that the latest version of WordPress also offered him the freedom to eliminate several plugins he previously relied on that are related to Canonical URLs. The interview is nearly an hour long and it’s worth every minute of your time.
Matt’s Blogging Tips
This interview with Matt is packed with tons of advice about blogging in general including, recommended plugins, Webmaster Tools, Google Analytics and the value of using meta descriptions.
More advice from Matt Cutts can be found on the Google Webmaster Central YouTube Channel. In this recent installment he answers a question about Page Rank Updates.
What are your thoughts about Matt using self-hosted WordPress instead of Blogger?
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{ 63 comments… read them below or add one }
This is not a surprise for me, Matt confirms many times that Wordpress is the best publishing platform for bloggers these days. I visit the Webmaster Channel everyday and I’ve learned a lot from his answers. Btw, do you know how to submit question to him?
Tek3D recently posted..How to Set Up WordPress Site for Mobile Devices
Twitter: Ileane
August 29, 2010 at 12:45 am
Hi Tek3D, that’s a great question. I’ll see if I can find out where to submit the questions. You are one of the few bloggers that is concerned with SEO and realizes that the Webmaster Channel is one of the best places to find answers to those burning SEO questions. Thanks for your feedback.
I wouldn’t trust him nearly as much if he only touted Google owned products; no smart person would.
What is surprising is that Google hasn’t put in much time to making Blogger better.
Dennis Edell recently posted..Twitter Weekend 1 Followup 1
That’s a good point. It’s almost like Kris Kringle in The Miracle of 34th Street (whatever the movie is).
Kissie recently posted..Modern Day Moses- Wyclef Jean
Twitter: technicallyeasy
August 30, 2010 at 12:44 pm
I’ve known about him using Wordpress for some time, but never clued in about the fact that he doesn’t use Google’s own Blogger platform. all the Google application blogs use Blogger. I believe Matt also uses the Thesis theme on his blog.
Paul recently posted..Can You Succeed With Google’s Blogger Platform
Twitter: Ileane
August 30, 2010 at 12:52 pm
Paul, glad you mentioned Thesis. In the interview Matt talks about using Thesis and how he might switch to something else.
During the first few minutes he also shares his views about the Wordpress/Thesis controversy. Hopefully you’ll have some time to listen in. Thanks.
I knew Cutts used Wordpress also because he’s talked about plugins he uses in the past. I think Blogger is really only for people who want to have a free blog, and if you’re going to pay for hosting then why would you reverse yourself and to go Blogger? Good information here, Ileane.
Mitch recently posted..Sunday Question – What Happened To Modesty
Twitter: Ileane
August 31, 2010 at 12:36 pm
Hey Mitch, thanks for your feedback. I use them all so I get to take advantage of the good stuff!
Ileane recently posted..Exploring Stats on Blogger in Draft
I try to turn people getting into blogging away from using Blogger. For some reason, a lot of people seem to think Blogger is “cooler”, maybe because it is easier to make it look decent I guess. But as far as flexibility, WordPress is always the way to go. Even if you are just going to use WordPress.com, start there and work your way up.
Wayne Howard recently posted..11 Things I’ve Learned as a Blogger
Twitter: Ileane
August 31, 2010 at 12:44 pm
Hey Wayne thanks for your feedback. I’ve been comparing Blogger against Wordpress for over a year and it took me awhile to see the benefits of Blogger. One of the neatest features they offer is the new real-time stats feature paired with the popular post gadget. They certainly rival offerings from Wordpress.com. The other downside to Wordpress.com is that you can’t install CommentLuv like you can on Blogger. The debate continues…
Twitter: newbizblogger
August 31, 2010 at 10:32 am
Hi Ileane,
Yeah, I knew he was using WP for a while. He actually gave a one hour workshop about a year ago and video taped it, and it was all about WP and some of his top plugin choices. (sorry can’t find the url for it, if I do I will be sure to post it here, it’s good stuff!)
Not surprised, WP is a much better quality script (just my opinion) and it has the unbelievable support and features to back it up.
At the end of the day, you go with what works best (even for Matt
)
Michele recently posted..3 SEO Mistakes You Need To Avoid
Twitter: Ileane
August 31, 2010 at 12:47 pm
Hey Michele, Ironically there was a good old-fashioned debate about Wordpress vs. Blogger on a blog I visit often and the person thought that Matt was using Blogger but on his own domain. I started to go back to that post and say – WRONG!! But I decided to post this instead and perhaps they’ll see it one day. Thanks for your comment.
Bill Gates owns a Mac too, right?
Kissie recently posted..Modern Day Moses- Wyclef Jean
Twitter: Ileane
August 31, 2010 at 1:26 pm
I bet he has an iPad!
I would too.
Kissie recently posted..Walks- Talks- and Oops … Must Eat Like a Vegan
Speaking of which, congrats on the Windows 7!
Twitter: evelyn_parham
August 31, 2010 at 7:37 pm
Hi Ileane,
That speaks volumes for Word Press. I’m glad I switched from blogger to Word Press. I’ll be sure to tune in to the podcasts and thanks for sharing this information!
Take care!
Evelyn recently posted..Detox Symptoms Are Normal
Twitter: Ileane
September 1, 2010 at 5:47 am
Hi Evelyn, are you using Thesis? Your site looks great now. Thanks for the feedback.
WordPress with its SEO benefits and easy usability, makes it a powerful blogging platform which everyone like to use. This articles tells Matt Cutts is no exception.
Sathish recently posted..How to Get your website approved By Buysellads BSA
Twitter: Ileane
September 2, 2010 at 5:32 am
Sathish, you’re so right. In the interview Matt discusses the SEO benefits of Wordpress 3.0.1 have made it possible for him to eliminate plugins like All in one SEO. Thanks for the comment.
Twitter: bbrian017
September 3, 2010 at 11:11 am
I think ti’s a great decision. I love self hosted blogs they have so many more feature as opposed to a free hosted solution. I would have to agree with everything Matt says regarding a self hosted wordpress website.
Even when people talk to me about it at blog engage I always recommend them getting off the free hosting and looking at something that is self hosted.
bbrian017 recently posted..Top articles at blog engage week of Aug 30 – Sept 03 2010
Twitter: Ileane
September 3, 2010 at 11:15 am
Hi Brian. See I finally listened to you’re advice
Thanks for visiting Basic Blog Tips!
Self hosted blogs are always good
i also shifted to self hosted WP blog.
Shabnam Sultan recently posted..Skyfire flash enabled browser submitted to App Store
Twitter: Ileane
September 3, 2010 at 7:12 pm
Hi Shabnam, were you on Blogger or Wordpress.com before now? I think I remember you being on Blogger. Well, either way your self-hosted blog is great and I’ll be visiting it again soon. Thanks.
Hi Ileane i have an astronomy blog in blogger and now i started a new blog in WP few months back.
Shabnam Sultan recently posted..Skyfire flash enabled browser submitted to App Store
Twitter: Ileane
September 4, 2010 at 6:53 am
Please share the link to the astronomy blog. I used to read my horoscope every day, maybe I’ll find time to start following my sign again – it’s Aquarius by the way. Thanks again.
Ileane, my blog is on astronomy not on astrology …sorry… no horoscope
.
Link of my blog is http://astronomyforeveryone.blogspot.com.
Thanks.
Shabnam Sultan recently posted..Free iPhone memory space with Free Memory app
Twitter: Ileane
September 4, 2010 at 10:55 am
LOL! I like astronomy too! Silly me. Thanks for the link.
Ileane, I can’t remember where I read it, but some prominent WordPress developer questioned whether or not Matt Cutts was aware of some of the admin features for WordPress on his blog–particularly for SEO were actually from him using Thesis.
Jarret recently posted..WordPress Plugins that power Hive Health Media
Twitter: Ileane
September 5, 2010 at 4:53 pm
Hi Jarret, nice to see you here.
I think many people can assumptions about Matt Cutts and his SEO knowledge and I’m sure that’s not his main priority. In the podcast, you’ll get your fill of SEO tips from Matt. One of the topics covered came as a surprised to me. It concerns meta descriptions. According to Matt the first two sentences of your blog post are more important than using meta descriptions. I guess the best way to check that out is to go a Google search for your keywords and see what kind of snippets appear beneath your links.
Thanks for your feedback.
Twitter: SahilKotak
September 5, 2010 at 3:31 am
WordPress is surely the best platform. And no wonder Matt Cutts uses it. And also the good thing is he uses Thesis SEO Theme which is great.
Sahil Kotak recently posted..How Does Twitter Effects Your Blogging
Twitter: Ileane
September 5, 2010 at 5:55 am
Hey Sahil, Yes Wordpress is top-notch most people agree. In the podcast Matt says he might get rid of Thesis. Take a listen and he talks about it in the beginning. Thanks!
Wordpress is a great tool for bloggers and it makes them powerful in terms of seo and flexibilty. There’s not much development in the blogger side as in wordpress.
Bishwajeet recently posted..Download any paid product-ebook from Google for free
Twitter: Ileane
September 5, 2010 at 12:46 pm
Bishwajeet, it would be nice to see more development aimed at Blogger. When it comes to Google you can never tell which way the tide is going to turn. Many people though they were going to slowly phase Blogger out. But instead they continue to add new features. We’ll see how it all turns out. Thanks for your feedback.
Ileane, Wordpress is number choice as platform for blogging. Added advantage is; Wordpress, its plugins and themes are free of cost which makes initial investment almost at minimum level. Developer from all over the world develop its plugins and themes. Plus when ever any bug is traced, code of WP is immediately updated by Automatic.
Beside all of this, it has incredible power in SEO, as you have noticed yourself. its much easy that even an non-tech person can also use it without any help. What do you say?
Imran Yousaf recently posted..Survival Strategy in First Six Months of Blogging
Twitter: Ileane
September 7, 2010 at 5:04 pm
Hi Imran – it’s great to see you here adding to the discussion. I enjoy all of the perks that come with having a self-hosted Wordpress blog. I appreciate your input.
Twitter: swamykant
September 8, 2010 at 9:48 am
I was also not aware of the power of Wordpress until I made the move.. However for beginners,Blogger is the best option.
Swamykant recently posted..List of Safest and Dangerous places in the world to use the Internet
Twitter: Ileane
September 8, 2010 at 4:47 pm
Hi Swamykant, I think Wordpress.com is a breeze also. I also think it easier to import a Wordpress.com blog into Wordpress than it is for Blogger. Thanks for your feedback.
no doubt wordpress is best blogging platform with many features and plugins that’s why i shifted from blogger to wordpress… btw blogger is also updating with new features…..
esoftload recently posted..Domain at 099 From Godaddy
Twitter: seommotips
September 13, 2010 at 5:48 am
Hi Ileane,
As we use both platform in recent past and found that blogger too is not that bad. after the recent update in Blogger, it evolved even better.
One most prominent problem I feel compared to Wordpress is that blogger is not providing self hosting script, this makes blogger platform loose most bloggers.
If WordPress did not distribute self hosting installation package, I’m afraid it would be harder for WordPress too!
Did Matt used WordPress for the same reasons?
Suresh Khanal recently posted..Do Ads Improve Your PageRank
Twitter: Ileane
September 13, 2010 at 8:59 am
Hi Suresh, he did mention self-hosting but he wasn’t really comparing Blogger to Wordpress in this interview. Matt compares Wordpress default theme called 2010 with Thesis theme and the SEO benefits of Thelonious. Since you have an SEO blog I really think you should listen to this interview because Matt gives huge doses of SEO advice and some of which might surprise you.
Even though you can’t self-host with Blogger, at least you can use your own domain name if you want. Thanks for your valuable feedback.
I haven’t had time to listen to the podcast but I’m curious about the Wordpress/Thesis controversy. What was the basic issue?
Tia recently posted..Bloggers- Does It Feel Like No One’s Listening
Hi Tia,
It was a licensing issue that has been resolved. This is the best post I’ve seen that explains the Thesis WordPress conflict resolution.
Gail Gardner recently posted..Join Bloggers Supporting Bloggers NOW
Twitter: Ileane
October 17, 2010 at 8:50 pm
Hi Gail, thanks for sharing. That’s a great article and it’s good to know that a compromise was reached concerning the GPL and Thesis PHP code. It seems pretty fair and Matt Mullenweg from Wordpress is happy about it too. Cheers!
Am quite surprise Matt is using wordpress, though wordpress is great and with lots of plugins to make a great blog.
A nice share
Biodun recently posted..hi just arrive
Twitter: Ileane
September 22, 2010 at 12:14 pm
Biodun, it came as a surprise to me the first time I heard about Matt Cutts using Wordpress instead of Blogger, but it seems to be old news to most of the commenters here. Thank you.
I would never choose Blogger. I’m using wordpress and it provides me better things (plugins, ideas).
It s exactly as you ask someone why do you use Linux insead of Windows.
It’a about using something made by people, not made by a company.
Do you know someone who contributed with something at the Blogger platform?
Jorjette recently posted..Diferenţa dintre make money şi câştigă bani- 5 lecţii
Twitter: Ileane
September 30, 2010 at 3:54 am
Hi Jorjette, welcome to Basic Blog Tips. I’ve heard some stories about Blogger, but in the long run I think users were violating the TOS which lead to the shut down. Here’s an excerpt of a post that Louis Gray wrote back in May called Siobhan Quinn Exits Blogger, Checks In at Foursquare that give insight into the personnel changes at Blogger.
Although they are not as visible in the mainstream like Matt Cutts, they do have real people working on Blogger.
Btw – I just visited your blog and the music you have playing is so alluring that I’m all ready to go out and buy the CD – who is the artist? Is that you? I’m listening now and I feel at peace. Thanks so much for sharing it.
Surprising enough he uses Wordpress, but he is doing the right thing
I have never tried blogger but i read too often they ban people who is already blogging there for years without warning, or blog backup.
Kimi recently posted..The Best WordPress Autoblog Plugin
Twitter: Ileane
April 18, 2011 at 5:14 am
Kimi, when I’m on the Website Babble webmaster forum, I often see horror stories of people being banned from Blogger. I have a lot of respect for WordPress and its pretty cool to see that Matt Cutts uses WordPress and Thesis too. Thanks for the comment Kimi!
Ileane recently posted..This Blog Runs On Thesis Awesome
Ileane,
Yes, I wanted to start with blogger but I am glad I did not, as I have read so many cases about the disabled blogs, I am happy with my selfhosted blog
Love your theme now~
Its so much cleaner!
Thanks.
Kimi recently posted..AdSense Best Placement or AdSense Best Position
Lol it’s funny that Matt is using wordpress… Btw have you heard that windows live space is closing down and all the bloggers using windows live space will be migrated to wordpress platform ?
Twitter: Ileane
April 18, 2011 at 5:09 am
Hey Nasif, I hear that many of the Windows Live bloggers are pleased with the transition over to Wordpress.com. The good thing is that they have a great support team and tons of new training materials on WordPress.com now. Thanks!
Ileane recently posted..GrowMap Anti-Spambot Plugin
I have read this information on many sites but never got information to develop question and answer with Matt Cutts
Twitter: Ileane
December 31, 2010 at 10:39 am
Basam, I’m glad you listened to the Q&A with Yoast and Matt Cutts. It’s very insightful. Thanks for your feedback.
its funny that matt use simple like wordpress
It’s funny if he uses wordpress…LOL
I think wordpress is the best CMS engine, beside it’s easy to use, it can be easy to update.
ery recently posted..WordPress Facebook Plugin To Support Internet Marketing Promotion Using Facebook
Twitter: Ileane
April 25, 2011 at 4:31 pm
Hi ery, thanks for stopping by and leaving the comment.
Ileane recently posted..This Blog Runs On Thesis Awesome
Twitter: michaelaulia
January 30, 2012 at 5:14 pm
Agree
I thought it’s kind of funny that he works for Google yet he’s using a “competitor”‘s product. Though I guess, they are free products so it may not really be a big deal somehow
Michael Aulia recently posted..How to backup and sync Google Docs with Insync
Twitter: Ileane
January 31, 2012 at 8:51 am
Hi Michael, Google knows that WordPress is better at SEO than Blogger, but I’m not sure why they don’t do anything about it. Did you know that you can get a Google website? I saw one the other day and it pretty much sucked in terms of SEO too.
Ileane recently posted..How To Embed YouTube Videos, Podcasts and other Multimedia on a WordPress Blog
From reading the comments looks like many knew of this. I did not. Wow this is interesting. Why don’t they make blogger better if they know why WP is better ?
zack recently posted..How to change IP address ?
Twitter: wpwebhost
September 8, 2011 at 5:11 am
WordPress is definitely one of the best CMS. Gives you the comprehensive tools and plugins to enhance your site
Ricardus recently posted..How to block traffic from autosurf sites using .htaccess
That says a lot about Matt Cutts, being smart and efficient enough to choose the better one. But it also says something about Google, allowing Matt to use WP or at least creating an environment wherein people like Matt Cutts don’t feel like they have to use everything Google.
Danny recently posted..Earthwise PS40008 8-inch Electric Pole Chain Saw
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