The End of Google Authorship – What do I do now?
A week ago today on August 28th, 2014, the end of Google Authorship in search results was announced. To many of the people who had it, this came as an unwanted setback to their presence on the internet. For me personally it was not such a big deal and I will explain why in just a bit.
What was the purpose of Google Authorship?
I am not going to get into the technical aspects of Google Authorship as my goal for this post is to give a simple layman’s term as to what was the purpose and visual aspects of Google Authorship. If you want to know what those technical aspects are, there are plenty of resources available on Google.
The purpose was to provide a way for those who were searching in Google, to find results to their queries that were from qualified authors. It was a way to separate those who were the most knowledgeable in their respective niche from those that were not. For example, if you were searching for the best way to replace the oil filter on a BMW, would you trust the knowledge of a web page from a general mechanic or from a BMW mechanic?
In essence Google would analyze the content that you create and over time would determine whether you were an authority within you respective niche. If you were, you would receive an authorship snippet which would include your authorship photo and a byline with your name and Google+ circle count, similar to what you see in the below image. This was also done to make your website links further stand out within the search results and possibly lead to higher CTR (Click-through Rates).
Sounds great! So why did it end?
Google is notorious for always testing and analyzing any of its creations and if they do not return enough value to the end user while staying within budget, they will cancel those creations. In short Google Authorship was not performing up to the expectations that it was originally hoped for. There were more Google+ users not using it than there were those who had it. Plus of those users who did have it, the majority of them did not have it set up correctly.
Google Authorship was just too expensive to keep going in its present flawed state. The testing data showed that authors with a photo and byline snippet were not getting any real advantage over authors with no snippet. Google would have to spend more resources just to get the problems solved and then hope that more people would take advantage of it. That is obviously not a smart way to stay within your budget.
Another factor to consider was the mobile search market. As of January 2014 mobile search traffic eclipsed desktop computer search traffic. More and more people are searching and surfing the web on their mobile devices. Because of this new fact, design studies were showing that photo snippets were not going to work well with limited search real estate in the mobile market and Google Authorship had to look the same for both markets.
If you take a look at photo to the right you will see that there is very little room for an authorship photo to be displayed. A typical view of search results on a desktop computer with authorship images would display about 5 or 6 results. However as you can see on an iPhone only 3 results without images can be displayed. There is simply no room for an image to be used effectively for mobile search results. Being that mobile search results are utilized more than desktop computers, the logical result was to just end Google Authorship.
But I liked seeing my photo in search results!
Just because you liked seeing your photo does not mean it was of any benefit to you or those searching Google. One of the original benefits of Google Authorship other than promoting you as an authority in your niche was that if someone were to see your authorship photo they would feel more inclined to click on your link. However even that benefit was flawed.
Sure when authorship was new it was a cool novelty but as time went on that novelty wore off. Those who search Google are looking for information and answers to their questions. How is a photo of you going to accomplish that? Simple answer, it is not! Perhaps one of the reasons why the data was showing no real advantage to those with photos over those without was because their Meta Descriptions did not provide what the searcher was looking for.
It is your Meta Description that will get a Google searcher to click on your link, not your photo. I could care less if you have a photo snippet or not. When I do a search the first thing I look at is the Title of the post and the second thing I look at is what the Meta Description says. Those are the only two factors that are going to get me to click on a link because they answer the question I am searching for.
It has always been extremely important that your Meta Description Tag be filled out properly so that you can increase your CTR as well as your SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Now that Google Authorship has ended, making sure your description is up to par is even more important. You can check out my post, What is the Meta Description, for how to fill out this Meta Tag.
The end of Google Authorship is not a big deal to me.
So why is it not a big deal to me? Frankly because it has never helped me in getting a high CTR. I do have high Click-through Rates on many of my pages and some of those pages are either on Page 1 or 2 of Google and the other search engines but I accomplished that without a photo snippet. So I can concur with Google’s tests that having a photo snippet does not really help with a higher CTR.
Why didn’t I have a photo snippet in the first place? When I started with Google Authorship it was in late September 2013, about one month prior to Google cutting down the photo rich snippets. So you see, I never had a photo and it did not hurt my rankings or my CTR. How is that possible? I do extensive Keyword Research and combine that with a compelling and informative Meta Description. I also perform on-page SEO with the proper use of keywords and I write content that gets me on Pages 1 & 2 of Google.
A Google Authorship photo rich snippet is going to do you no good if your content is not good enough to be on Google Pages 1 or 2 because the majority of the search traffic will not see you. A little more than 90% of the search traffic on Google will not go past the first page of results before clicking on a link. So if your post is not on Page 1 or even Page 2, you could have a photo snippet with flashing lights and it would not help you much.
Should I just ignore setting up Google Authorship?
No! Google Authorship maybe dead and buried as far as search results go but Google is still interested in knowing who the author is of any of the content it indexes in its search database. There is even speculation that authorship data will be used and tracked again in the future but not in a visible way like what was Google Authorship.
That being said it is highly recommended that you continue to set up authorship and to not delete any of the authorship markup within your website. Like I said, Google still needs to know who the contributing author of your content is if you want to get faster indexing and ranking. The only way to do this is to connect your content with Google+ and you can only do that by setting up Google Authorship.
If you have any questions or comments on what you have just read, please leave them below and I will be happy to reply. For the best and most up-to-date training in how to get your content on Google Page 1 through proper SEO, check out The Wealthy Affiliate Review I have here on my website.
https://legitimatejobfromhome.com/the-end-of-google-authorship-what-do-i-do-now/The End of Google Authorship - What do I do now?https://legitimatejobfromhome.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Google-Authorship-Links-Setup.jpghttps://legitimatejobfromhome.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Google-Authorship-Links-Setup-300x300.jpg2014 & 2015Create a free websiteGoogle,SEO,what is the meta description
I liked Google Authorship because of the increased presence it gave good authors in search results, but as a website owner and as a Google search user, the axing of the program was not that big of a deal to me.
There are many ways to increase our presence online, with high quality, valuable content at the root of all of them. If we continue to deliver better content than most, we will be rewarded in the long run.
Love the site by the way. Very useful and interesting material. Keep up the good work!
Exactly John! It all comes down to creating good quality content and posting often. Yeah, Authorship was nice but it never really made that much of a difference for me. I was still able to rank well in the search engines and now that it is gone I am still doing well in the search engines.
Thank you, I am glad you like my website. Please come back and visit again soon.
Thanks Robert for this important update. It had a lot of people wondering about the worth of continuing with Authorship, and you have successfully clarified the issue! Great blog – as usual!
You are welcome Chaim. Google still needs to know who is the creator of the content you are writing so they can better index and rank it. Just because Google Authorship is not being shown in Google Search Results doesn’t meant that you shouldn’t still set up and connect your website content with Google+. So just keep doing what you have been doing and you will be fine.
Hi Robert,
I had been wondering if it was still a good idea or not to continue with Google authorship on my sites, so I’m glad you shared your knowledge here. One of my sites has had it set up for awhile now, but only had my photo show up in the search results for a short time before Google changed their minds about using photos.
I agree that the authorship photos don’t make too much of a difference when searching. I never go by the photo either, but instead look at whether it sounds like it has an answer to what I’m looking for in the title and description within the search results.
Keep up the good work, Robert. Thanks for sharing and best wishes!
You are welcome Sherry. Yes, if you have the Authorship set up on your website already then I wouldn’t recommend you stop using it. You still need to have the connection between your content and with Google+ so you can get indexed and ranked quicker in Google.
I’m not convinced that Google will still look at author data. In the same announcement where they said authorship is over, they also clarified that they will not look at the data anymore and the only use for you is that your users may want to look you up.
No, Google has said that they are going to ignore rel=author for now. Though Authorship has ended as far as search results its core connection value of linking your website with your Google+ account is still important. Google is still very much interested in Author Authority and will be working part of that authorship data into their Knowledge Vault at some point in the future. But for now they are ignoring authorship markup.
Thanks for clarifying the situation with Google authorship, Robert. As you say the author photos didn’t bring any extra value to the searchers, so why continue.
I suppose in the future Google might rank content from verified authors higher in the search results, hence the importance of continuing to set up Google authorship. Thanks again for the info Peter
You are welcome Peter. Yes you should continue to set up Authorship because Google is still interested in who the creators are of the content it indexes and ranks. However as far as search results go, author photos were not returning the results that it was hoped for and they are not suitable for the mobile market, so getting rid of Authorship in search results was the best cost-effective way with dealing with the whole problem.
Robert,
Great information, I had never heard of “Google Authorship” before I read your Blog post. You obviously know what you are talking about. Well done!
Greg
Well I guess you can consider yourself lucky Greg for not hearing about Google Authorship until now. You saved yourself much anguish from all of the recent changes that it has gone through in the past 10 months leading up to its cancellation.
Great post Robert. I often wondered how valuable Google authorship was anyway. When the rumors surfaced about it’s demise it wasn’t a big deal to me. I agree that keywords and content are what bring good CTR and I’m constantly working on that and I’m getting better. With people like you and others at Wealthy Affiliate to pattern myself after I expect to be on pages 1 and 2 of search results soon. Thanks again.
You are welcome Donald and I am always happy to help people who follow my website and guidance. Matter of fact, I am happy to help anyone who needs it. So if you know of anyone who can benefit from this information, please share it with them.
As for Google Authorship, yes, it wasn’t a big deal for me either. All anyone needs to do is what we have all known since starting our online careers…just write quality content with great keywords. If you do that then everything will turn out fine.
Thanks Robert,
Another great informative read, clarifies the whole Google Authorship thing.
Blessings
Bethamy.
You are welcome and thank you Bethamy. I am happy to have explained the Authorship situation with clarity.
Hello, Robert
Great explanation of Google authorship here and I found your article very interesting to read. To be honest, I didn’t really think much to our photos being displayed in the Google search engine rankings if I’m honest.
I’m glad the listings have reverted back to how they used to be because it gives all of us bloggers a level playing field and it’s great!
As long as we keep churning out great quality blog content, we can all have a huge amount of online success.
Thanks,
Neil
You are welcome Neil and I agree about giving bloggers a level playing field. To be honest I used to get upset when I would see someone with an Authorship image that had crappy content. Though I never had any problems with my content getting highly ranked I am glad to see that now it will “TRULY” be the construction of our content that will drive our rankings and CTR (Click-through Rates).
Very informative post Robert!
I heard a little about this earlier today and was wondering what was going on.
Your post explains it all perfectly.
Thanks, great post!
John
You are welcome John, I’m glad I was able to help you. I knew that there would be people who had Google Authorship that would be wondering if this was a temporary change or something more permanent. There have been many changes to Authorship by Google in the pat 10 months that it was becoming hard to figure out what was going on. So I wanted to get this easy to understand information out there so people would know what to do.
That explains a lot so will continue to do this and create good meaningful content, I did not have the picture either did not seem to make any difference my traffic is still building just the same many thanks for the insight
You are welcome Katie. You don’t need the picture to get more traffic. Just write meaningful content and you will do fine.
You make a powerful argument, which is as usual backed up by research and examples. I thank you for ‘keeping us in the loop’ and will follow your guidance. BTW, there is something about the process which appeals to my need to ‘do things properly or not at all’.
Life just gets better!
You are welcome John. Anytime Google makes a big change, especially to something like Google Authorship, people tend to freak out at the outcome. I just wanted to get this news out there so people wouldn’t think that they should no longer care and act on setting up their Google+ and Authorship accounts. Just because they are no longer showing up in search results doesn’t mean that Google doesn’t want to know who the Authors are of the content they index and rank.
Hello Robert,
Thanks for all information about Google Authorship. I admire your style of writing, which is always clear and so informative.
Jože
Thank you Jože, I always try to explain things in as simple a way as possible so that people who may be less technical in nature can understand how to navigate the information being presented to them.
Thank you Rober for in-depth review of this topic.It turns out Google experiments will never stop and we should use every opportunity to do things the right and most effective way to have more chances for success.
You are welcome and correct Rufat. We should always use every opportunity to do things the right way. This will be very beneficial for both the short and long term success of our website content.
I’m curious as to where I can sign up for Google Autorship. Looked it up and I couldn’t seem to find it. Any tips?
Yes Fabien! Google Authorship is easy to set up for a WordPress website. You will first need a Google+ account and then you will take your Google+ Profile URL and place it within your All in One SEO Pack or Yoast Settings. That will set up the connection from Google to your website. Then you list your website URL into the “Contributor to” section of your Google+ account. This will set up the connection from your website to Google.
If you are a member of Wealthy Affiliate there is step-by-step video and text training on how to do this. If you are not a member you can go up on Google and search for, “How to set up Google Authorship for WordPress” and that will give you many options.
Hi Robert! –
Thank you for sharing this wonderful post!
It would appear that Google Authorship is just – one more – of those ‘invisible’ pieces of this ‘jigsaw puzzle’ – that we need to understand – before we can call ourselves a ‘Webmaster’ – Affiliate Marketer – Internet Marketer – or anyone of those terms!
I think you for explaining this in such great detail – that even I understand the important part – it has to play!
I will now go and check out the other two links you – have in this post – ‘what is the meta description’ and ‘what are keywords for and why are they important’
Thank you so much Robert – for creating this treasure chest of GEMS!
Kindest reagards
David Knight
And remember Rome wasn’t built in a day…but they were laying bricks everyday!
You are welcome David! Though the end of Google Authorship in search results has happened does not mean that Google still doesn’t want to know the author of the content they index and rank. That is why it is still very important to set up authorship and connect your website with Google+.
Yes, Rome wasn’t built in a day and like you said, “but they were laying bricks everyday,” and this also holds true for your website creation. The more quality pages you add every week to your website the better your Google rankings will become over time.
Thanks for the information and the recommendation Robert. It makes sense to think that Google still wants to check the authors of the sites it ranks. I hope all of this will help me get ranked in the near future. Blessings!
Hilda
You are welcome Hilda. Yes Google is still very much interested in the authors of the websites they index and rank. Just continue to create quality content with the proper use of good low competition keywords and you will do fine. Just make sure to post your content on a consistent schedule so Google knows when you will be posting new fresh content. This greatly helps in your rankings among other things.
I set authorship up before they discontinued it. I just figured I would leave it as it is because I was assuming it wouldn’t hurt. Thanks for confirming that. I’m pretty sure I have it set up correctly.
You are welcome Wesley. Yes, just leaving it set up is the correct thing to do so that in the future when Google decides to use the Authorship data again, and they will, you will have everything already set up on your website.
Hi Robert,
Thanks for this valuable post. I understand that its’ still important that we get recognized by Google as the owner of our website.
Jen
You are welcome Jenny. – Yes, it is still very important to have Google recognize you as the owner of your content. By doing so your content will be indexed quicker and will be benefited when it comes to rankings.
Hi Robert,
Thank you for this excellent information!
I too was never one to be influenced by the authorship photos so I personally didn’t understand why so many seemed so upset at the news that Google was eliminating the authorship.
Now that your article has provided me with this excellent information I have an understanding of it’s intended purpose and why it is something I should yet pursue!
Thank you for providing me with this rich information.
God’s Blessings, Christa 🙂
The original intentions of Google Authorship were very beneficial for those of us that create content on the internet but because many people didn’t adopt the Authorship program and/or had it set up wrong, it didn’t become as beneficial as Google or all of us had hoped for. However Google is still seeking a more effective way to determine Author Authority so having Google Authorship set up and running on your website is still a good thing. This way when Google is ready to implement their next step in tracking authority you will be already set up. – Thank you for your comment Christa.
Thank you for your great information. I was in the process of verifying, at the same time they were doing away with it.
You are welcome Linda. Once you have it set up just leave it alone and eventually when Google gets around to using the data it will be all set up.
Thank you for the comprehensive and rational explanation. I have seen a lot of panic over this and you have assured me there is no need for it. I had previously set up Google authorship on both my sites and will simply leave it alone.
You are welcome Carla. That was the goal of this blog, to easy the panic and confusion people were having over this issue. If you have already set up Google Authorship then yes, just leave it alone and go on creating quality content for your website.
Thank you Robert. I am learning more and more from you and I really appreciate it. You’re a blessing to all of us.
Phyllis
Thank you so much for your kind words Phyllis. I want my website to educate and help people to build a better website for themselves as well as offer them other alternatives to start their own work at home business on the internet that are not scams. I do not like scams and it is my mission to only provide truthful information on this website, while sprinkling in some information to educate as well. – Thank you for your comment.
Very well said Robert. The pic is not that important. Content is
John
Thank you John. Content will always be the most important. That is why “Content is King!”
Hi Robert. Found this very interesting. I am fairly new to all this so your post has helped me understand another piece of the puzzle. I am heading over to read What is the Meta Description now.
Thanks again
Randy
You are welcome Randy, glad you found it interesting. There has always been much confusion over Google Authorship within the past 10 months as Google was slowly phasing it out. With each step of their phase out brought more confusion, mainly because Google isn’t always the most transparent about how they go about their business until it happens. I just wanted to shed some clarity in as simple as possible terms that ordinary non-technical people could understand.
Hi Again Robert,
As you are probably already aware of I follow along with the information that you put out on this site.
As you have said here in this article there is a lot of speculation of what Google is going to do next with it’s Authorship and if it has really been put to bed or not.
I gotta say I am with you when it comes to Google doing away with it because I haven’t really seen much of a difference in traffic.
Even though they meant well I personally believe it was just another way for them to try and favor the big names/name brands and just another back door attempt to try and cut down the amount of affiliate sites.
After all Matt Cutts and company has publicly said that they are not fans of affiliate sites but with as many folks bending the rules I can’t say I blame them.
Either way I’m glad to hear it from a trusted source regarding if we should keep the Authorship ties alive.
So thanks again for yet another valued piece of information.
From my site to yours Good Luck and we’ll see you on the front page,
Jason
You are welcome Jason. It makes no sense to just abandon authorship markup on our end, even if Google is ignoring the rel=author command for now. They are still very much interested in Author Authority and have publicly said so. In order to do that they will still need to know who is the author of what content, but that is for down the road. For the present if you want your content to get indexed and ranked faster in Google you need to set up authorship and make sure you make the connection to your Google+ account because as of now your Google+ account is the backbone driving force for telling Google proper what content is yours.
Woah! Interesting to see how Google handled this issue. Thanks for all the great information, I wasn’t up to date about the Google Authorship ending. Anyway, let’s keep creating quality content and doing a good use of keywords. Let’s create community around our blogs! That’s what backs up our pages at the moment of ranking. Thanks for this great information Robert.
You are welcome Andrea! You are correct when you state that we should continue creating quality content with good keywords because this is what ultimately builds authority in your respective niche. The more you become an authority the more people will follow you and all of that traffic will not only bring you more potential sales but it also tells Google that you are an authority in your niche and they will rank you higher in search results.