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Google Authorship is Slaughtering

by Justin Says
20 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Lately I've been seeing more and more people using Google Authorship and from my searching experience and others I have seen use Google lately, the first links I click on are those that have a Google Authorship tag attached.

It's kinda like a mix between social & search and since we are so used to Facebook.. faces, it just seems more natural.

What do you think? Should everyone be using Google Authorship?
#authorship #google #slaughtering
  • Profile picture of the author Icematikx
    I don't trust Google Authorship. It represents an individual. What if I don't like that individuals opinion? What if he is wrong? I would never choose a Google Authorship post over one from the BBC or any other authority site that I trust. In fact, I'd never click on an Authorship site at all, for any reason. That's just my two cents though.
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    • Profile picture of the author Justin Says
      Originally Posted by Icematikx View Post

      I don't trust Google Authorship. It represents an individual. What if I don't like that individuals opinion? What if he is wrong? I would never choose a Google Authorship post over one from the BBC or any other authority site that I trust. In fact, I'd never click on an Authorship site at all, for any reason. That's just my two cents though.
      Even large websites are using Google Authorship, if you are reading something it's written usually by an individual.. News posts, stories, etc. are recorded by an individual person.

      If anything maybe Google Authorship can help you weed out people by simply seeing a visual face that you don't like.
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      • Profile picture of the author Icematikx
        Originally Posted by Justin Lewis View Post

        Even large websites are using Google Authorship, if you are reading something it's written usually by an individual.. News posts, stories, etc. are recorded by an individual person.

        If anything maybe Google Authorship can help you weed out people by simply seeing a visual face that you don't like.
        Indeed, news posts are written by an individual, but they adhere to standards. For example, it would be unwise for the BBC to share their own opinion. Their job is to bring the news from both sides as it arises.

        With an individual, you're more likely to hear an opinion, which I dislike. I like to see the facts myself, and make my own judgement - not listen to somebody else ramble on why X and Z is wrong.
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    • Profile picture of the author ankitoberoi
      Originally Posted by Icematikx View Post

      I don't trust Google Authorship. It represents an individual. What if I don't like that individuals opinion? What if he is wrong? I would never choose a Google Authorship post over one from the BBC or any other authority site that I trust. In fact, I'd never click on an Authorship site at all, for any reason. That's just my two cents though.
      You're presenting your point of view, its healthy and debatable.

      However, the fact is, like the OP said, more people are clicking on the Authorship tagged websites, at least for now. Biggest reason being that - Most of the times its not spammy. Second, it stands out in the SERP. Third, it can be more personal (which some people like) and so on and on.

      It is also arguably a key factor of SE ranking in the future.
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      • Profile picture of the author Theeban
        Originally Posted by ankitoberoi View Post

        You're presenting your point of view, its healthy and debatable.

        However, the fact is, like the OP said, more people are clicking on the Authorship tagged websites, at least for now. Biggest reason being that - Most of the times its not spammy. Second, it stands out in the SERP. Third, it can be more personal (which some people like) and so on and on.

        It is also arguably a key factor of SE ranking in the future.
        I agree with you. Anyhow, I had noticed people are complaining about using Google Authorship. Here are few threads where people are discussing more on it. But, from my point of view, It helps.

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        • Profile picture of the author ankitoberoi
          Originally Posted by Theeban View Post

          I agree with you. Anyhow, I had noticed people are complaining about using Google Authorship. Here are few threads where people are discussing more on it. But, from my point of view, It helps.
          As you can see most of the comments on both the threads, it's not the authorship tag. This is what I think: In many cases, its just a co-incidence that you just place the authorship tag and do something (else) wrong and after a week or so, when rankings go down - Authorship - the biggest visible changes is what is blamed.

          But I've also heard that google is working on something like an Author reputation, extensively. Its much like PR, but this one is not tied to your site, it associated with the author. It totally makes sense too.
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          • Profile picture of the author Justin Says
            Originally Posted by ankitoberoi View Post

            As you can see most of the comments on both the threads, it's not the authorship tag. This is what I think: In many cases, its just a co-incidence that you just place the authorship tag and do something (else) wrong and after a week or so, when rankings go down - Authorship - the biggest visible changes is what is blamed.

            But I've also heard that google is working on something like an Author reputation, extensively. Its much like PR, but this one is not tied to your site, it associated with the author. It totally makes sense too.
            I'd also like to really point out that of course there are going to be multiple experiences.

            If someone is searching something very specific and want to find a website like BestBuy, Amazon, etc. then that's where they'll go no matter what.

            But after quite a few months of testing the authorship strategy I've seen increases in overall CTR and conversions for clients I've had.

            The last thing you really need to take into consideration as well is the picture of the person. I'm not saying an ugly person or a good looking person will win at CTR, but it's going to play a role. If someone looks untrustworthy.. then that's what people are going to think when they visit the site. If they look nice, they'll have a much better impression initially.

            Justin Lewis
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            My name is Justin Lewis. My digital marketing company has been in business for over 10 years with multiple six-figure years. We do provide a premium web design service.

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            • Profile picture of the author paulgl
              I got slammed when I said something like this before, but
              I'll give it another go:

              If I see Joe Blow Nobody's face, authorship, whatever you
              got, I aint clicking. Why would I?

              Now if the fact that they are a writer for NYT, reuters, PBS, etc.,
              perhaps I will click, if this is up front and center.

              Other than that, I aint going to some site I have no clue about,
              especially by some lame-looking author. No offense. I hate
              clicking to garbage, just to have to click back to the results.

              I can imagine people doing what they do on the WF. Putting
              some fake cute girl pic and fake name...

              Te'o Manti's of the world, BEWARE!

              Reminds me of why I have the sig.

              Paul
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              • Profile picture of the author Kevin Maguire
                Originally Posted by paulgl View Post

                I got slammed when I said something like this before, but
                I'll give it another go:

                If I see Joe Blow Nobody's face, authorship, whatever you
                got, I aint clicking. Why would I?

                Now if the fact that they are a writer for NYT, reuters, PBS, etc.,
                perhaps I will click, if this is up front and center.

                Other than that, I aint going to some site I have no clue about,
                especially by some lame-looking author. No offense. I hate
                clicking to garbage, just to have to click back to the results.

                I can imagine people doing what they do on the WF. Putting
                some fake cute girl pic and fake name...

                Te'o Manti's of the world, BEWARE!

                Reminds me of why I have the sig.

                Paul
                Finally I get the meaning of your signature. Ok thats funny. Probably coz its true.
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                • Profile picture of the author Justin Says
                  Originally Posted by Kevin Maguire View Post

                  Finally I get the meaning of your signature. Ok thats funny. Probably coz its true.
                  I'll confirm from the guys I have met that do "SEO" for companies.. it's depressing.

                  I've gone in and had to fix so many very basic screw ups... I just don't get how someone can call themselves and SEO when they are literally doing nothing.

                  And it's not just a few... there are a lot of jerkwads out there taking as much as they can and doing nothing..
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                  My name is Justin Lewis. My digital marketing company has been in business for over 10 years with multiple six-figure years. We do provide a premium web design service.

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              • Profile picture of the author Justin Says
                Originally Posted by paulgl View Post

                I got slammed when I said something like this before, but
                I'll give it another go:

                If I see Joe Blow Nobody's face, authorship, whatever you
                got, I aint clicking. Why would I?

                Now if the fact that they are a writer for NYT, reuters, PBS, etc.,
                perhaps I will click, if this is up front and center.

                Other than that, I aint going to some site I have no clue about,
                especially by some lame-looking author. No offense. I hate
                clicking to garbage, just to have to click back to the results.

                I can imagine people doing what they do on the WF. Putting
                some fake cute girl pic and fake name...

                Te'o Manti's of the world, BEWARE!

                Reminds me of why I have the sig.

                Paul
                Opinions opinions

                I'll give you another idea of why this works..

                Let's just say you don't know the face but you continue to see it while searching inside of the niche, it's going to grow on you. I'm not saying that you'll suddenly know this person, but you'll be more familiar with them. Just like brand awareness, when you see someones face you start to build a relationship with them even though you don't know it. Even if it's a bad relationship it's helping them gain more attention than others.

                And just to top it off.. it's the same concept as clicking on some random website, the big difference here though is that you know it's actually someone writing on it and not some BS (not to say people don't BS.. because they do all the time).

                XD

                Either way everyone has their opinions. But brand/face awareness plays a role in what we do.
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                My name is Justin Lewis. My digital marketing company has been in business for over 10 years with multiple six-figure years. We do provide a premium web design service.

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  • Profile picture of the author mhart0101
    I think that will be the trend moving forward. It demonstrates that real people are writing the content rather than a bunch of spammy sites, plus in many ways it lets people look at you and potential optin to whatever you're about on your Google Plus page.

    As Peter Drucker, the inventor of management theory stated, " The corporation is unlikely to survive the next 25 years."

    Originally Posted by Justin Lewis View Post

    Lately I've been seeing more and more people using Google Authorship and from my searching experience and others I have seen use Google lately, the first links I click on are those that have a Google Authorship tag attached.

    It's kinda like a mix between social & search and since we are so used to Facebook.. faces, it just seems more natural.

    What do you think? Should everyone be using Google Authorship?
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  • Profile picture of the author Kevin Maguire
    Originally Posted by Justin Lewis View Post

    Lately I've been seeing more and more people using Google Authorship and from my searching experience and others I have seen use Google lately, the first links I click on are those that have a Google Authorship tag attached.

    It's kinda like a mix between social & search and since we are so used to Facebook.. faces, it just seems more natural.

    What do you think? Should everyone be using Google Authorship?
    As soon as Google start sending me free gift vouchers to top plastic surgeons. Count me in.
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    If you think that small G+ thumbnail image gets good CTR's try getting self hosted video thumbnail images on the first page of Google SERPs, especially in a niche where very few webmasters target video.

    I'm ranking video thumbnail images in Google text search & I don't even create the videos (lol).

    Traffic flow:
    Google search video thumbnail image > my web page (not Youtube).
    BTW, I can use any image I want for the video thumbnail image that shows up in Google search, doesn't even have to be an image from the video. With G+ you can only use the G+ account/profile image.
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    Here's how I see it.

    Example keyword search: best vacation for guys

    Which thumbnail image would you click in Google SERPs, the video image of a vacation/location (large thumbnail image), or the image of a guy you most likely would never know (small thumbnail image)?

    My money is on the vacation/location image, not the mystery guy.

    Assumes both thumbnail images point to your own self hosted web page.




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    • Profile picture of the author chris_87
      @Yukon, In your above example you are using the vacation image as your preview thumbnail for a VIDEO on youtube correct? Because as far as I am aware, G+ authorship only lets you use faces.
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      • Profile picture of the author yukon
        Banned
        Originally Posted by chris_87 View Post

        @Yukon, In your above example you are using the vacation image as your preview thumbnail for a VIDEO on youtube correct? Because as far as I am aware, G+ authorship only lets you use faces.
        Correct, the vacation image is a video thumbnail & the thumbnail of the guy is a G+ profile image. That's my point, If I'm searching for the best vacation for guys keyword, I would never click that G+ profile image If a larger enticing video image was on the same Google search page.

        With the video thumbnail image I can have any image I want, with the G+ profile image, you can only rank an image of a person (what Google wants).

        Both thumbnail images can point to a self hosted web page (no Youtube or anything like that).

        IMO it's a nobrainer for higher traffic CTRs, an image of a pool & palm trees (larger video image) or an image of a mystery mans profile image (small canned profile image).

        BTW, If I wanted, I could stick the same G+ guys image in that video thumbnail image, only the video thumbnail image would be 5.5 times larger than the small G+ profile image (I did the pixel density math, lol).
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        • Profile picture of the author chris_87
          @Yukon thanks for the clarification.

          In regards to the youtube thumbnail, how do you specify what image shows up in the thumbnail, even if its not a spot in the actual video? Do you need a premium youtube account or something?

          Also how do you make so clicking the thumbnail takes you to a website and not the youtube video itself?

          Thanks again
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          • Profile picture of the author yukon
            Banned
            Originally Posted by chris_87 View Post

            @Yukon thanks for the clarification.

            In regards to the youtube thumbnail, how do you specify what image shows up in the thumbnail, even if its not a spot in the actual video? Do you need a premium youtube account or something?

            Also how do you make so clicking the thumbnail takes you to a website and not the youtube video itself?

            Thanks again
            That example isn't a YT (Youtube) video thumbnail image, it's a self hosted video thumbnail image.

            There's a huge difference because If traffic lands on my web page after clicking that video thumbnail image in Google SERPs then I have zero competition & 100% control over what my traffic is looking at on my own web page (sell product, capture lead, email optin, etc...). If traffic clicks a YT video thumbnail image in Google SERPs & lands on a YT video page, the competition is brutal. That right sidebar on the YT video page is full of competition & you have very little control over the YT page.

            If you don't know how to get your own self hosted video thumbnail images in Google SERPs, the only thing I can suggest is buying a plugin created by Yoast that will help you do this on Wordpress sites. I haven't used the plugin but I trust Yoast when it comes to SEO & WP plugins (I don't say that very often), I've read/researched a lot of his info./comments, he's a very smart guy.

            Also, I manually get my own video thumbnails into Google SERPs, it's complicated at first, after you know how to do it it's mostly copy/paste & changing info. (image URLs, descriptions, titles, etc...), that's why I recommended the Yoast video plugin. Plus, If I took a long time explaining every single step-by-step detail of ranking a video thumbnail image, there would multiple WSOs monetizing my free info. by tomorrow, where they get payed & I don't.

            The beauty of something like this (self hosted video thumbnails) is it's complicated (at first) which forces the masses to buy plugins (most won't do it), so it keeps the SERPs as easy traffic sources for a lot of niches.

            [edit]
            OP, I wasn't trying to hijack your thread, just pointing out you can use the same or better image with a much larger thumbnail image in Google SERPs to help boost SERP CTR.
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  • Profile picture of the author juiceflow
    I just added authorship to my consulting site a few days ago, I think it does add trust for the users to see a name and the face of the person creating the content.
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