The Internet has been a buzz since Wednesday’s announcement by Google over the removal of your image as an author from your content that is searched if you set-up a Google Authorship profile.
One of the benefits to having Google Authorship was that your photo that posted next to your byline. I have read numerous eye tracking studies that basically said that the eye is drawn toward an image before straight text. So in the competitive world of search online, having a photo appear was a distinct advantage of higher click through rates.
According to the information put out by Google, the reason for the change was to “clean up and simplify” search and with a trend to mobile, this makes search results appear identical on computers and mobile devices.
Barry Schwartz from http://searchengineland.com
What Does This Mean For Us Small Business Owners?
I would recommend sticking with Google authorship if you are a consistent content creator and if you have not set-up the link between your Google+ account I would do so because at this point no one knows the long term plan for Google Authorship. I believe you will still benefit from your name next to the bi-line of your article aiding in overall search rank authority which I will assume Google will continue to track.
I encourage small business owners to consider adding more content via You Tube Video’s. When I did a search today under my own name, I see the video image still appears next to the bi-line. So referring back to eye tracking, I would assume you may see in increase in your video views.
Always something new happening with Google, Google+ – stay tuned!
