All good things must come to an end, or in Google’s case, all good things must keep changing. Google announced on June 25 that all Google Authorship photos and Google+ view counts will be removed from user search results on both mobile and desktop searches.
Google Authorship, originally introduced in 2011, is a way to link content with a Google+ profile, which originally provided the benefit of having your mug shot appearing next to your article or blog post in Google’s search results. Google originally gifted the author icons, likely to increase usage of the Google+ platform. Until now, if the author was verified through Google+, and Google decided to display it, the author photo and the author’s Google+ circle count may have appeared in the Google search results. Results included both your author photo and your Google circle count.
Likely because Google+ wasn’t getting the traction or results Google wanted, Google added the author icon as a carrot to get more Google+ users. For many marketers, the icons were the only reason to setup a Google+ account. Mostly tech savvy marketers and businesses used the Google Authorship feature, however, most individuals and small businesses didn’t.
Why doesn’t Google want users to see my face?
According to a Google+ post from John Mueller, Google’s Webmaster Trends Analyst,
“We’ve been doing lots of work to clean up the visual design of our search results, in particular creating a better mobile experience and a more consistent design across devices. As a part of this, we’re simplifying the way authorship is shown in mobile and desktop search results, removing the profile photo and circle count. (Our experiments indicate that click-through behavior on this new less-cluttered design is similar to the previous one.)”
Google regularly reminds us during each change or upgrade that they are always looking for ways to enhance the user experience. This recent change can be tied to recent reports and web chatter about the increase of mobile search usage and its expected trump over desktop search in the near future. It’s safe to assume that Google is likely gearing its user search experience metrics and planning on the expected increase of mobile usage. The Google Authorship icon or photo took up a lot of screen and visual real estate on mobile devices.
How does this effect click through rates?
Since research has shown on many occasions that listings with author icons or images produce a greater CTR (Click Through Rate) than plain text listings, it is easy to assume and expect that CTR’s will decrease as a result of this change. Google has also provided research that the CTR was greater if a searcher recognized the author from within their Google+ circle, or they were a well-known author. Although John Mueller’s statement said the CTR behavior on the new design is similar to the previous design, only time and analysis will tell.
What does this change mean for the future of Google authorship?
With the author mug shots gone, it’s likely and can be assumed that fewer people will do the work to get verified. Although the mug shot was not the only reason to be verified, it was for many. Content creators and authors can continue to set up Authorship connections between their content and Google+ profiles anywhere on the web. Qualifying authors will continue to get a byline on search results for their content. Authorship still does not influence rankings for most search results. Although the mug shot is gone, it is still valuable to continue authoring content through Google Authorship because as we know, all things in Google can change and it’s better to be participate and be prepared for the next change.
