Looks like our buddies at Google are changing things up again when it comes to search results. Google is set to remove authorship profile pictures and Google+ counts on both desktop and mobile. And just when we got it all set up for Dasheroo!
According to Google’s John Muller, it’s all about cleaning up the visual design of the search results and developing consistency across devices. He adds that this change should not impact click through rates. Or does it?!
First, here’s a before and after:
SERPs with Google Authorship
SERPs without Google Authorship
We read an article about a study that Justin Briggs from Getty Images published, using some eye-tracking technology. It showed that people tend to look at more results when social annotations are included, even going further below the fold and clicking:
See how Google Authorship and social annotations effect eye movement and clicks
The red areas are where more people focused on, the the purple boxes are what people clicked on! So, this was only one study but it appears Google Authorship and social annotations may in fact effect CTRs. There’s nothing we can do about it, but keep an eye out on your organic traffic dashboard as we see these changes already taking place.
