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Google takes us for a ride with Google Authorship – how frustrating

18 September, 2014

After three years of the programme running, Google announced earlier this month that they have decided to drop Google Authorship from all search results and Webmaster tools. John Mueller took to Google+ to break the news that the search engine will no longer be using the authorship data. I for one, have been a massive advocate for Google Authorship since it was launched, believing that it was one of their best steps forward to helping combat spam and to providing small businesses with an even playing field within Google search results.  I, amongst many in the digital community, feel duped by Google after the decision came to get rid of what I felt was a fantastic programme. But why did they feel the need to axe Goole Authorship? Where does this leave us? What do we do next?

What was Google Authorship?

Authority 1Google Authorship was used by Google as a way of connecting content with its author. It was launched in 2011, following the launch of Google+ and was very much used by Google to power sign ups to Google+. Users were immediately encouraged to link their content to their Google+ profiles, to ensure that when their content was shown in search results, so too would their profile information. This included their profile name, photo and confirmation that they were the original source that created said content.  Google were giving websites and authors, through signing up to Google+, the ability to achieve enhanced listings and search results, ending in potentially better PageRanks. However, it couldn’t be clearer that Google are no longer using Google Authorship, as it has now disappeared from their rich snippet checker. But have we all wasted out time authorising our content, adding code to our own and even client websites in order to help Google understand more about us? Have we wasted our time in trying to help Google rank us better in search results.

How did Google Authorship work?

Authority 2

There were two very clear sides to Google Authorship; one side was the benefits felt by having your Google+ profile shown on search results pages and the other side was Google understanding who had written the content and ranking the person as an author.

The first side included information such as:

  • Having your name displayed
  • Having your profile photo or author photo displayed
  • Having the number of people in your Google+ circle shown
  • Potentially increasing PageRanks

The other side allowed Google to see who owned the content and put to rest any question over duplicate content. However, only a couple of months ago there was a drastic change in how this information was displayed in search results as the author photo was deleted, this sparked the end of Google Authorship.

Authority 3We are still able to show Google who has written content, by using sites such as Schema, which informs Google about:

  • Who the author is
  • What type of content it is

But what it doesn’t do – is tie it back to who that person actually is. Google has so much data on us if we have a Google+ profile or a Gmail account, and this is what Schema fails to do, link it back to a real person. It only ties the content back to a name. The real problem with this is, there is now nothing stopping users from copying content and placing their name at the end – Google has no way of checking if they are a reliable source.

So why did Google drop Google Authorship?

Google announced that they decided to drop Google Authorship so that they could carry out testing for other products. They have also stated that, as I presumed, Google Authorship wasn’t meeting its’ targets and was actually taking more resources to process the data than was being gained from collecting it. However, I amongst many, feel that they have axed a fantastic programme that provided both Google and Webmasters with amazing outcomes.

Have Google taken a huge step back?

Having spoken to a number of different peers in my community, I think we are all left with not really having a full understanding of why Google really decided to pull the plug on Google Authorship. Could this be a sign that potentially part of Google+ is folding? Do they need to find a different way of ranking authors and understanding content? Or is this an example of a corporate that has got far too big and doesn’t know its’ audience anymore? For the first time in a long time, I am not sure on the answer here.

So where are we know and how do we move forward?

Authority 4My short-term advice is do not remove authorship; it certainly will not do you any harm. The Google Authorship programme has definitely helped Google understand more about blog layouts and typically where author details would be, it has certainly got us adding author images to blogs, which can only be a positive thing! Also, do not start removing code but do perhaps begin to look into implementing Schema on contact addresses, product pages on e-commerce sites and blog content on blog sites. However, I am pretty confident that this will not solve the duplicate content issue, which was solved with Google Authorship, because with Schema, you do not have to prove anything. Google, therefore, cannot assume that what I say using Schema is true.

So overall, my advice is to not really do anything. For the first time in a long time I have been left feeling a little confused and let down by Google. The last time I felt this was when I was penalised by them in 2004 and ultimately this is yet just another learning curve. It leaves me wanting to test Google even further with some of the sites that I create, purely to try and fully understand how they rank websites.

There are a number of different respected bloggers out there that have discussed this same subject.

As always, but especially with this situation, I would really welcome your viewpoints on Google Authorship. Do you agree that Google have made a mistake with removing Goole Authorship? Are they making way for a bigger and better programme? Or are you feeling a little duped by the search engine giant over the whole thing? Leave your comments below or tweet me with your opinion.

Image courtesy of Master isolated images at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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