If you haven't heard, it was recently announced that Google will be removing some author photos from search. At first many web developers may not think much of this, but it's going to have some pretty serious implications. Part of the reason Google originally introduced author photos was to create authority for certain links.
There are many speculations about this sudden change and the reasoning behind it. One school of thought believes that the change might be centered around user experience, and ties in with the search engines new 'mobile first' management strategy. The idea is that, eventually, mobile users will surpass desktop users making it the most important market. Because of this, Google is aiming to unify the site into a single site that is mobile and desktop friendly.
As a free service Google makes money off ppc advertisements that it places strategically in on its search pages and on other sites via Adsense, if it's clicks drop due to the advantage of a free service, like Google Authorship, then eliminating the advantage would seem like a natural solution.
This whole thing demonstrates exactly how volatile the rules of Google are. Marketers have to always be on their toes if they want to get ahead in the search engine results, and this just throws another wrench into the works... kinda like how it did when Google originally introduced the pics to begin with a couple of years ago. It's not certain quite yet why Google is choosing to do this, but it ultimately doesn't matter. As people who rely on Google to bring us visitors and customers, we have to play by their rules or risk losing our entire business.
Regardless of the reasoning behind the change, the fact remains that one well kept SEO secret is now a thing of the past forcing marketers to find traffic elsewhere.
The official reason given me the internet giant was that the change was simply due to their new policy dubbed 'Mobile First'. The vision behind this new thought process comes from the belief that mobile users will surpass desktop users this year, and the companies aim is to create one unified site that caters to all platforms. That, coupled with a recent study that showed users preferred no images in their searches was the stated reason.
There are many speculations about this sudden change and the reasoning behind it. One school of thought believes that the change might be centered around user experience, and ties in with the search engines new 'mobile first' management strategy. The idea is that, eventually, mobile users will surpass desktop users making it the most important market. Because of this, Google is aiming to unify the site into a single site that is mobile and desktop friendly.
As a free service Google makes money off ppc advertisements that it places strategically in on its search pages and on other sites via Adsense, if it's clicks drop due to the advantage of a free service, like Google Authorship, then eliminating the advantage would seem like a natural solution.
This whole thing demonstrates exactly how volatile the rules of Google are. Marketers have to always be on their toes if they want to get ahead in the search engine results, and this just throws another wrench into the works... kinda like how it did when Google originally introduced the pics to begin with a couple of years ago. It's not certain quite yet why Google is choosing to do this, but it ultimately doesn't matter. As people who rely on Google to bring us visitors and customers, we have to play by their rules or risk losing our entire business.
Regardless of the reasoning behind the change, the fact remains that one well kept SEO secret is now a thing of the past forcing marketers to find traffic elsewhere.
The official reason given me the internet giant was that the change was simply due to their new policy dubbed 'Mobile First'. The vision behind this new thought process comes from the belief that mobile users will surpass desktop users this year, and the companies aim is to create one unified site that caters to all platforms. That, coupled with a recent study that showed users preferred no images in their searches was the stated reason.
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