Is Google Authorship Dead?

A funny thing happened the other day and you probably missed it…

GOOGLE AUTHORSHIP IS DEAD!

Actually Google didn’t drop their highly touted “Google Authorship” but they heavily modified it. They are in the process of removing the pictures and circle counts.

Apparently they thought all those pretty pictures were cluttering up the mobile search results. Notice that once again it’s all about mobile.

I’m ok with the removal of circle counts (I’ve never been a numbers guy) but I really will miss the Author Pics.

https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/1408986

THERE IS STILL HOPE

My thought (or best guess), since John Mueller says…

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.

is that this may be a temporary change. I understand their wanting to clean up the SERPs on a mobile device and I hope, and think they’ll see that they don’t have to also make the design consistent on desktops or tablets too.

If they start seeing a mass pullback from Google Plus – maybe that might change their minds.

You may still see some Google Authorship, a much smaller version may appear in the Google News section. (maybe)

Remember: This is very different from being listed in the organic search engine results.

Once again, we are reminded that we are playing in someone else’s sandbox. They set the rules and we have no choice other than to accept it and move on.

My suggestion: Stay Calm and Carry On. Make sure your Google Authorship is working. At least you’ll still have your name in the SERPs and there’s still an SEO benefit. Personalized search results still draw from the +1s of your friends and your friends friends. There’s no reason to drop Google Plus as a network (yet).

Now I’m interested in what my Google Plus Fan Boys think about this…

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Mike Mueller

VP of Happiness at AreWeConnected.com

A former professional hand model, Mike builds Custom WordPress Websites that rock!

He's an avid hockey fan, rides a mountain bike, sometimes rides a road bike, has a few motorcycles (he had a really fast one, bought a cool orange one, rode a really slow one, and wants a really small one). If that isn't enough, he makes cheese and sourdough bread, loves strong beer and good red wine, and poorly plays the Mandolin.