Danny Sullivan leaves Search Engine Watch and Search Engine Strategies due to disagreement with Incisive Media.

Now this was a headline we did not expect we had to write: “Danny Sullivan leaves Search Engine Watch”. After all, in some respects, Danny Sullivan is SEW.

Danny is, as many of our readers will know, probably the leading expert on search engines and search engine marketing in the World. He has been leading Search Engine Watch since before Pandia was born (and believe us, Pandia is old by Internet standards), making Search Engine Watch the most important search engine oriented site on the Globe.

Danny Sullivan sold SEW to Jupiter Media in 1997, continuing as Editor in Chief.

In his personal blog he explains his choice by referring to contractual difficulties with Incisive Media, who took over both Search Engine Watch and the Search Engine Strategies conference series (SES) over from Jupiter Media last year.

The present contracts are expiring, and the parties have not been able to agree on new ones. This means that Sullivan will no longer play a central role in the SES either.

“In terms of Search Engine Watch, I’ll be serving as editor-in-chief through November 30, 2006,” Sullivan says. “As of December 1, I’m gone, except for an extremely slim chance I might do some columns for them going forward. It’s so slim that no one should be expecting that it will happen.”

He will also be chairing the SES LA conference in October and the Chicago conference in December, and then it’s over.

Sullivan says he is contemplating several options for his future. He may be writing and doing conferences for other companies or he may start his own SEO business with a new search oriented sites.

He is probably getting a lot of phone calls these days. There will be search engine marketing companies out there willing to pay a lot of money to get Danny on board (aaah, we wish we could ).

His podcasts at WebmasterRadio.FM go on as usual. The site has moved to a new location, named DailySearchCast.com.

Other comments:

Matt Cutts: “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.”

SEO by the Sea: “Search Engine Watch (SEW) and the Search Engine Strategies Conferences (SES), which sprung from the site, are possibly the most authoritative site and conference series in the Search Marketing Industry today, and Danny Sullivan played a major role in developing both.”

Joe Morin: “Unfortunately for Incisive Media, they ultimately shot themselves in the foot, because the most logical thing that Danny could do if he were to compete head to head with Incisive - is to compete head to head with Incisive by coordinating a competing conference on the exact same dates that SES shows…”

Traffick: “Danny will chair the Chicago show in December, but has asked that his name be removed from the New York program. SES New York — no Danny!! My, but that’s hard core.”

USA Today on Sullivan: Got a search engine question? Ask Mr. Sullivan

Update:

Danny Sullivan in The Day After & Many Thanks!: “If my departure was only about making more money, staying with Incisive would have been the more ’sure thing’ move. ”

SE Roundtable: Reaction from the Search Community on Danny Sullivan’s Departure: “Danny, the Grandfather of Search Industry, will undoubtly remain a huge part of our every day lives. I, as does the whole community, wish Danny all the best and look forward to the future of our industry with Danny being a huge part of that.”

SE Watch Forum discussion on Danny Sullivan To Leave SEW & SES: “The writing was on the wall when Danny wrote on his 10 years in the industry piece a few months ago. Incisive obviously didn’t understand then and don’t now. Good for Danny however. His brand as a stand alone is very powerful. Few in any industry have the power he currently possess in this one.” (Webvisitor)