There are countless stories I can share about Matt. Heck, I've covered almost every public move he has made while he was at Google since I started writing about search in 2003. I covered almost every conference he spoke at, every tweet he sent off, every GoogleGuy post at WebmasterWorld, virtually every public step he took while he was at Google and then many after he left Google.

I had private meeting with Matt and his co-workers. I've taken walks with him in Las Vegas or at the GooglePlex or other areas (I believe his was of gently hinting I should be more physically active). We exchanged many private undisclosed emails over the years. In short, I think I've gotten to know Matt pretty well.

So I really do not want to share a single story. But rather, based on my countless interactions with Matt, and me literally stalking Matt for the past 15 years, explain my overall experience of the man as a whole.

One would ask themselves, how did Matt get most of the SEO community to love him and respect him. His team worked on spam and reducing manipulation of the Google search results. Many SEOs worked counter to that, working on manipulating his search results. But yet, the same people who he (well, Google but he was the face of Google to SEOs) may have dinged in the search results through algorithms or manual actions, is the same person who would also deeply respect the man. Of course, not everyone was a fan - but the vast majority of SEOs in this position were.

He had a way of talking to a group of people, while on stage, that would lighten up the room. He is super smart but able to communicate in a way that anyone could understand what he was talking about, be it super technical or overly high level concepts. He was able to write blog posts, do videos, live interviews, conferences, hangouts, podcasts, and so much more with such ease. Heck, he spoke in front of the US Congress and Senate, I believe, under testimony as well.

But at the same time, when he spoke with someone one-on-one - he would devote his attention fully to that individual. He had/has the habit of carrying around a little notebook to take notes in. Jotting down notes about what he was talking about with individuals so that he would be able to follow up. Or maybe in some cases, just to make the person feel that every comment they made was super valuable.

That is Matt, someone who can make a group of people feel he and Google cared deeply about them, while also being able to do that on an individual level. This was all while walking the line of someone trying to defend the search results that those same people were trying to turn in their favor.

By showing those who he interacted with respect, he was able in return get respect back. It is just his personality and deep down inside, Matt's soul is pure gold.

I know Matt was also super generous with charities, helping people in need through one-on-one conversation, and just being a good friend and mentor to so many within and outside of Google.

Matt - thanks for everything you have done, continue to do and more importantly, how you do it.