Web analytics, web metrics, and how to use them to track and improve conversions

Not that anything really surprises me anymore - but it was only a couple of months ago that I took a photo of Vanessa Fox at a exclusive SES party in NYC - I met her once or twice and talked technical stuff with her - but the party atmosphere was more relaxed

Well.... Vanessa Fox Leaves Google, Heads To Zillow according to SearchEngineLand.  But rather than take second hand information, here's part of Vanessa Fox's blog post on the matter today:

"...Now I have an all-new opportunity to work on the unique challenges of the vertical and local search space at Zillow. I’m moving on from webmaster central knowing that there’s a great team who care as much about this audience as I do and they’ve got exciting plans in store for the coming year. I’ll really miss working with my team, but I’m happy they’ve been getting out and meeting more of you and I know they’ve had a great time drinking with you too. I mean talking. Did I say drinking?

I’ll still be around in search. My company name may change, but I still plan to see you all online and at the bar, talking search and Buffy and mobile devices.

So, why the change? Well, it was one thing for Dave to go on about me being nude all the time, but then he started paging me in the middle of the night, and I said enough of this. (Not really, Dave. I still love you! ) And honestly, working with webmasters has been absolutely one of the best parts of working on webmaster central. I’m really proud of what we’ve accomplished and happy that will keep moving forward to even better things. "

And Zillow has been an up an coming real estate site that gets rid of realtors (cut out the middleman - because there's less and less need of one as Web 2.0 tools get better and better).

But it also shows that people today on the the up and up are not so much loyal to a company, but their own self growth and happiness.

Good Fortune Vanessa...I'm sure you thought this one through and are making a smart decision.