Google’s Authorship search results have always been a topic of conversation from how to create an authorship profile to how authorship articles are ranked in relation to site authority. In December 2013 there was an algorithm update for Authorship Rich Snippets which we proceeded to include in our reports by adding icons detailing specific result options in your Rank Track Dashboard. Now Google is changing the SERP’s look by removing the image showing who the author of the article is. 

Google’s John Meuller announced:

“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. (Our experiments indicate that click-through behavior on this new less-cluttered design is similar to the previous one.)”

This is what the old authorship result looks like:

The new results will remove the image as well as the number of Google+ circles the author is in. This means that only the author’s name will appear, but it will still be a clickable link to take you to a search for the author.

Are you using Google Authorship? Do you think this will drastically affect your click through rates?

*Update*

Google’s John Mueller announced that Google Authorship as a whole is no longer. Read the Google+ post here.

About The Author

Barry has been with Rank Ranger for 2 years and has added considerable talent to the team. He brings with him sales skills and a knack for knowing what clients are looking for – even before they know it!