Yesterday Google once again, rocked the SEO world with its announcement that all author images would be removed from search results. To those not in the SEO world this might seem like a minor aesthetic change, but, to anyone well versed in online marketing knows the value of the author image. This change can have a devastating effect on many sites cutting their CTR down exponentially leaving them with only a small fraction of their previous traffic.
If you had an author pic associated with your Google links, then you had a distinct advantage. Having a picture associated with an article automatically conveys a certain sense of authority. Not only did this get you a boost in search ranks, but it also got you more clicks than people who didn't have author pics for their links.
This is very possibly the case, as studies have shown that users prefer search results without the author images. This might be shocking, as it is also a fact that the addition of an author image can increase CTR by up to 150%. The removal of this feature will severly impact traffic for many sites, regardless of the studies.
Studies have shown that users are drawn to pictures and search results that contain pictures find that their CTR increases at an astounding rate. In some cases the change is over 150%, and even in the lowest range a change of 30% is very impressive. This means that ads, even if they occupy the top three search spots, would be far less valuable.
It remains to be seen what else changes in the coming weeks. This comes only a little bit after the announcement of a Google "Panda" SEO adjustment, including the exclusion of backlinks factoring into search ranks.
Of course, another pressing question is wether authorship is even worth it with the removal of the treasured photo. Some say that this might actually be a sign of Google expanding and growing the Authorship program to be more inclusive and involved. What exactly that might mean or the benefits it might have are yet to be seen, but a replacement option would definitely be appreciated! The recent announcement by Google about the removal of author pictures from search results landed a nasty blow to many sites. The official reason given is purely aestheic and user experience related, but many wonder what the real reasoning might be.
If you had an author pic associated with your Google links, then you had a distinct advantage. Having a picture associated with an article automatically conveys a certain sense of authority. Not only did this get you a boost in search ranks, but it also got you more clicks than people who didn't have author pics for their links.
This is very possibly the case, as studies have shown that users prefer search results without the author images. This might be shocking, as it is also a fact that the addition of an author image can increase CTR by up to 150%. The removal of this feature will severly impact traffic for many sites, regardless of the studies.
Studies have shown that users are drawn to pictures and search results that contain pictures find that their CTR increases at an astounding rate. In some cases the change is over 150%, and even in the lowest range a change of 30% is very impressive. This means that ads, even if they occupy the top three search spots, would be far less valuable.
It remains to be seen what else changes in the coming weeks. This comes only a little bit after the announcement of a Google "Panda" SEO adjustment, including the exclusion of backlinks factoring into search ranks.
Of course, another pressing question is wether authorship is even worth it with the removal of the treasured photo. Some say that this might actually be a sign of Google expanding and growing the Authorship program to be more inclusive and involved. What exactly that might mean or the benefits it might have are yet to be seen, but a replacement option would definitely be appreciated! The recent announcement by Google about the removal of author pictures from search results landed a nasty blow to many sites. The official reason given is purely aestheic and user experience related, but many wonder what the real reasoning might be.
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