I'm sure that many of you out there in SEO land where as surprised as I was to see former Yahoo employee Jeremy Zawodny posting in Matt Cutts' blog on April 1st.

What made the post even more surprising was the fact that Zawodny was there to announce that he and Cutts had literally traded places. Zawodny(who is apparently a plane enthusiast)is now and employee of Google, while Cutts (who is known for his affinity for techno gadgets and Katamari) has joined Yahoo.

The move makes both companies seem curiously uncompetitive, because its not every day that you see to fierce competitors swapping employees like some sort of corporate student exchange. In any case, Cutts has developed quite a following in the SEO community, so his move to Yahoo could have some significant implications in terms of public relations for both companies. Meanwhile, Zawodny should have his hands full trying to fill the shoes of an SEO heavyweight such as Cutts.

Only time will tell if this move has any appreciable affect on the search engine fortunes of either company. Stay tuned...