Last week the SEO world was rocked when Google announced its plan to remove the author photos from search results. In the past adding authorship and the image in search results had proven to increase the number of clicks exponentially. The question remains, why did Google choose to implement this change that had only been in place a short while?
There are many possibilities surrounding this move by Google including the question as to whether it is a UX decision or a decision related to the AdWords ads that now occupy the top spots in Googles search. The reality is that Google is a company like any other, and the primary interest is the bottom line. The reality is that we might never know exactly what Google was thinking, leaving us only with the question as to where to go from here. For many sites recouping the traffic lost through this seemingly minor move will be a long process and require a lot of revenue and time.
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.
The recent announcement by Google regarding the end of author pictures in search results took the SEO world by storm. This seemingly insignificant feature was actually a gem for online marketers that could raise their CTR by up to 150%. The question on everyones mind has become why did google implement this sudden change, and where do we go from here.
There are many possibilities surrounding this move by Google including the question as to whether it is a UX decision or a decision related to the AdWords ads that now occupy the top spots in Googles search. The reality is that Google is a company like any other, and the primary interest is the bottom line. The reality is that we might never know exactly what Google was thinking, leaving us only with the question as to where to go from here. For many sites recouping the traffic lost through this seemingly minor move will be a long process and require a lot of revenue and time.
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.
The recent announcement by Google regarding the end of author pictures in search results took the SEO world by storm. This seemingly insignificant feature was actually a gem for online marketers that could raise their CTR by up to 150%. The question on everyones mind has become why did google implement this sudden change, and where do we go from here.
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