How will Google's removal of authorship photos affect your site's click through rates? Find out in this presentation which explains the reasoning behind Google's decision, the impact on your website's authority, and the value it offers. Sources: Slide 3: Screenshots http://searchengineland.com/google-plays-authorship-search-results-dropping-profile-image-google-circle-count-195163 Slide 4: Picture “Why Google Why”: http://www.iacquire.com/blog John Mueller Screenshot: https://plus.google.com/+JohnMueller/posts Rand Fishkin screenshot: http://moz.com/blog/author-photos-are-gone-does-google-authorship-still-have-value-29334 Slide 6: Screenshot: http://moz.com/ugc/how-to-get-more-clicks-with-low-rankings Slide 7: Screenshot: https://plus.google.com/+MarkTraphagen/posts/C9C9G2GPWdj Slide 9: Content: Source: http://moz.com/blog/author-photos-are-gone-does-google-authorship-still-have-value-29334 Slide 10: Content partially from http://moz.com/blog/author-photos-are-gone-does-google-authorship-still-have-value-29334 Slide 11: Screenshot: http://moz.com/blog/bye-bye-author-pics

1. Google’s Removal of
Authorship Photos

2. Overview
1. Authorship: New Vs. Old
2. Reasoning
3. Impact
4. Value
5. Next Steps
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3. Authorship: New Vs. Old
Announcement: June 25, 2014
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Old Authorship Format:
New Authorship Format:
New Format for Google
News Results:

4. COPYRIGHT 2012 CATALYST. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. JULY 17, 2014 | PAGE 4
Reasoning

5. Impact
1. Click-Through Rates
2. Good News for Personalized Search
3. Focus on Authority
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6. Click-Through Rates
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• Eye tracking studies point to additional attention for the
enhanced results, since Google+ authorship and rich
snippets with photos in search results were implemented.
• Research supports the notion that results with authorship
photos have higher click-through rates than their plain text
counterparts.
This suggests that removing
Authorship photos might reduce
click-through rates.

7. Good News for Personalized
Search
• Author photos may still
show for Google+ posts
by people you have in
your Google+ circles
when logged in.
Move towards a more
personalized search
experience?
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8. A Theory by Mark Traphagen
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9. Increased Focus on Authority
Head of the Authorship project Othar Hannson states in the introductory
rel=author video:
The eventual goal of Authorship might be to identify the top authors in a
given topic to give them a boost in search.
• The beginning: Google Authorship is for everybody
• December 2013: Narrowing of Authorship rich snippets in search to
improve quality
• Author photos send wrong signal of implied quality and trustworthiness to
searchers
• After removal of Authorship photos: Google is trying to evaluate how to
display authority and trustworthiness
• Impact: Further changes to Authorship ahead
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10. Value
• Authors' names still appear in search results: Chance of receiving click-
throughs to Google+ page
• Rankings don't change: Changes to Authorship markup do not influence
rankings
• Author images still available in personalized search: Leads to a more
personalized search experience
• Authorship still builds your author rank database with Google: Good way
to let Google see what you create and how people respond
• Google remains committed to author authority as a search factor: Finding
out how to evaluate quality & trust within Authorship concept remains
strong goal at Google. (Matt Cutts)
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11. Next Steps
• For clients with Authorship enabled: Check Webmaster Tools to see if
click-through rates have decreased since Google has removed
Authorship photos in search.
• No Webmaster Tools access? Check page views for individual articles in
Google Analytics, Webtrends, etc.
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12. Questions?
Comments?
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13. Thank You!
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