Dear Google, please stop content skimmers.
Dear Google, thanks for trying to address content skimmers - but now we may have another problem...
How Google Authorship decreased our traffic by 90%
11–20 of 120 posts
Re: How Google Authorship decreased our traffic by 90%
#12The photo is a tell-tale to me. Each time I see one on the first search results, they get filtered out by my brain (they are either 'news' or 'youtube'). But this is just my reaction.
Yes, having a photo (or perhaps any image) that modifies the layout of a search result instantly makes that search result look like an ad and not a true search result for me. Particularly if it's the first in the list, then it gets categorized as an advertisement by my brain.
We have been trained by more than a decade of abusive internet ads to ignore them. Does Google have results that show that these abnormally layouts result in an improved number of clicks, I wonder? Is it just us?
Re: How Google Authorship decreased our traffic by 90%
#13I wonder if your Google+ Profile picture was your JitBit Name + Logo, you would have done better. I think it is your face that is the problem. Not because it's ugly, but because it's obviously a face, which is out of context when searching for "macro recorder". We naturally gloss over things that don't sync with what we expect.
i agree. i have even misread "Marco" instead of "Macro" in the title. with the face next to the content, and me looking for a technical tool and not a person, i'd have skipped to #2 as well.
Re: How Google Authorship decreased our traffic by 90%
#14I wonder if your Google+ Profile picture was your JitBit Name + Logo, you would have done better. I think it is your face that is the problem. Not because it's ugly, but because it's obviously a face, which is out of context when searching for "macro recorder". We naturally gloss over things that don't sync with what we expect.
I believe Google will only show a "recognizable headshot,"[1] not any image you give them. So you cannot use a logo. [1] https://plus.google.com/authorship
Use a logo that passes machine pareidolia.
Re: How Google Authorship decreased our traffic by 90%
#15I would love to hear more on this. Are others seeing this problem as well and what photo are they using ?
My first thought when seeing the photo was ok, this is a guy giving his opinion on the topic, I'm not interested in opinion, I want the facts. Can companies act like an author on G+ ?
Re: How Google Authorship decreased our traffic by 90%
#16Interesting...you think of all the A/B metrics that Google tests, this would be among one of the most obvious standouts. The percentage of users who click on lower-ranked results is reportedly a big factor in the decision of how results are laid out and paginated (e.g. if the 12th result in Google SERP had a relatively similar amount of "usefulness" as the 10th, it's likely that Google would have the search pages show 12 results)...you'd think a statistical drop in first-result clicks would trigger an analytics alarm.
Re: How Google Authorship decreased our traffic by 90%
#17For a lot of people the face gives credibility. It makes you think it's a more legit article because somehow google took the time to associate an image with the article which it would never with spam content.
And it's too bad they don't accept company logos, I think that would really help. It downplays company we pages versus articles.
Re: How Google Authorship decreased our traffic by 90%
#18I wonder if your Google+ Profile picture was your JitBit Name + Logo, you would have done better. I think it is your face that is the problem. Not because it's ugly, but because it's obviously a face, which is out of context when searching for "macro recorder". We naturally gloss over things that don't sync with what we expect.
i agree. i have even misread "Marco" instead of "Macro" in the title. with the face next to the content, and me looking for a technical tool and not a person, i'd have skipped to #2 as well.
Funny, I made the same misreading
Re: How Google Authorship decreased our traffic by 90%
#19Dear Google, please stop content skimmers. Dear Google, thanks for trying to address content skimmers - but now we may have another problem...
Firstly, google became a verb and now replacing Dear God... ;)
Re: How Google Authorship decreased our traffic by 90%
#20Interesting...you think of all the A/B metrics that Google tests, this would be among one of the most obvious standouts. The percentage of users who click on lower-ranked results is reportedly a big factor in the decision of how results are laid out and paginated (e.g. if the 12th result in Google SERP had a relatively similar amount of "usefulness" as the 10th, it's likely that Google would have the search pages sho…
+1. You have to think many sites besides the OP's experience a similar effect. This, combined with Google's collective UX wisdom and the not-at-all unintuitive nature of the result, makes it pretty shocking that they have not put a stop to this. Maybe they are getting some value from the uptick in people maintaining G+ accounts, so it's being swept under the rug?