Danny Sullivan Moves On

by Donna O'Hanlon
of http://www.oyster-web.co.uk

Last updated: 20 Oct 2006

The creator of Search Engine Watch, Danny Sullivan, has announced that he will be handing in his resignation and leaving Incisive Media at the end of the year.

The decision to leave has sent shockwaves through the search engine community as Danny is the world’s leading authority on all search engine issues and one of the most respected search engine experts within the SEM industry. Matt Cutts, a well-known engineer for Google said "For the search industry, this is a nine on the Richter scale and has the potential to shake the whole industry for a few months."

Danny Sullivan set up Search Engine Watch in 1996 as a solution to the problems of search engine marketers and vendors by writing ‘A Webmasters Guide to Search Engines’, and writing articles regarding issues that are important to the search engine community.

His decision to leave came about after a discussion about his future at Incisive Media with the company CEO, Tim Weller. Sullivan and Weller could not reach an agreement on renewing his contract; therefore Sullivan decided that it was time to move on.

Search Engine Watch was previously owned by JupiterMedia who then sold the site in 2005 to Incisive Media. Sullivan was satisfied with the sale and agreed to extend his contract through to the end of 2006 as part of the sale. Sullivan was not offered a capital stake in the sale, leaving him unhappy as it was he who created the site and played a major role in its success. Sullivan made his feelings clear to Incisive that in order for him to cultivate and strengthen the site in the long term that some sort of incentive would be required. This did not come to fruition, resulting in his decision to resign.

All of these events have caused a lot of speculation as to what Danny Sullivan will do next. He has already admitted that a new version of Search Engine Watch may be on the cards. He is not short of job offers either. The search community will now wait to see what the next move of the search engine pioneer will be.