Duane Forrester, Bing’s Webmaster Outreach, Announces He Is Leaving Microsoft

Duane Forrester, Senior Product Manager at Microsoft, responsible for Webmaster Outreach at Bing, has announced on his personal blog that he is moving on from Bing to do how own small business venture.

His last day at Microsoft is November 13, 2015. He did say that Bing is in good hands and the Bing Webmaster Tools is not at risk, nor is their outreach. Since Duane Forrester has been the face of communication between Bing and webmasters, the big question many are asking is who will be that new face? Many considered Duane Forrester to Bing, as what Matt Cutts was to Google.

Matt Cutts is gone at least for now, and Google is keeping the new head of web spam a secret. The question is, will Bing come out with a new name for their webmaster outreach.

Duane Forrester has an interesting history with Microsoft. First being hired almost 8 years ago to lead up SEO for the MSN properties. Then moving into the role at Bing Search in webmaster outreach and Webmaster Tools. Then being fired in mass layoffs, only to be re-hired two months later. Now, less than 10 months after being rehired to work at Bing, Duane has decided to leave.

Why Is Duane Forrester Leaving Bing?

Duane Forrester said he is leaving Bing to get off the “freeway” and take a “scenic path” on his journey. He said his father “ran a small business for 16 years,” doing everything from “cleaning rooms, fixing the plumbing, mowing the grass, cleaning the pool, reroofing the building, moving furniture and so on” and trust me, at big companies like Microsoft, everyone has a job. He seems to want to get into running his own small business, he wants to do everything and take on the small business role once again.

One would assume he will start his own search marketing agency, like many Googlers who have left the company only to start their own agencies. But time will tell, for now, he is still at Microsoft until November 14th.

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