Duane Forrester, the face, the connection, the personality for Bing and the webmaster community has been downsized. This week, Microsoft announced huge layoffs and part of those layoffs included letting Duane Forrester go. Duane announced it on his blog, sharing that it was one of the most “emotional days of” his life.

He is not bitter, he is thankful, he said:

But the big loss is not for Duane, I am sure he has offers lined up like crazy now. The big loss is for Bing, who needs Duane to give Bing a connection and purpose with Webmasters. Can someone else pick up in his place? Probably but that person would have to start from scratch.

Some are wondering if Google will try to snatch up Duane. John Mueller from Google wrote on Twitter “Sorry to hear about that! I’m sure we’ll see more of you regardless.” Some people are asking if that means Google wants him. Honestly, I am not sure, it is just John saying that Duane will keep his ties in the industry and not go into selling flowers on the street corner.

That being said, now with Matt Cutts still on leave, which Danny equates Duane of Bing to Matt of Google – the search community may feel at a loss. Matt Cutts did comment also:

That all being said – we all huge respect and best wishes to Duane for all his service to the community over the last decade or so. I am sure you will be fine, but I hope Bing will not suffer to bad from the poor decision.

Forum discussion at Twitter & WebmasterWorld.