Google Removes Authorship Images and Circle Counts From Search Results

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Hi guys, today I’m here to make you aware of a major update carried out by Google. Google Finally removed authorship images and circle counts from search results.

 

Google Removes Authorship Images and Circle Counts From Search Results
Google’s  John Mueller already announced it on 26th June that they will be dropping this feature from the search results. Here is the post by John.

 

How does it look Now ?

New look of Google Search Results showing only author name.

Google Removes Authorship Images and Circle Counts From Search Results
So what do you guys feel about it ?Google Structured Data Testing Tool have also been updated now, and it now shows only the Author name linked with Google+ Profile.

 

Google Removes Authorship Images and Circle Counts From Search Results

 

Now what’s next

Well this is the question that will be arising in the minds of many authors who had their aurthorship images and Circle counts in Searh results. While the others who still weren’t able to get authorship seems to be quite satisfied with it.

What now !!!

It was seen that user’s preffered to click more of those links that had author pics on it as it looked quite genuine and trust worthy. But what now!! The answer will be quite clear after doing a good study of our analytic reports.

It’s clear that this will affect search traffic dramatically, Ranking may not be affected but yes user behaiviour towards search and their clicks will change.

Also Read: Simple Google Tweak to Reduce Bounce Rate by over 50%

Changes I need to do

Well I’ve seen many WordPress users having authorship plugins installed into their blogs, so Since the authorship chapter is now over I recommend you to remove those plugins as they are useless now and are just increasing your page size and load.
A search extract from WP. It cleary shows that there are 100s of such plugins and if you do some research every 5 blogger on WP is using one such plugin
Google Removes Authorship Images and Circle Counts From Search Results

Authoship Chapter is Not Completely Closed

Yes its True!!!
Yes, according to this article from Google Support, your name will be still shown in Google results  and there will a small image of your’s shown if you are featured in Google News. 
 
Here is a snap showing Author Image in Google News
Google Removes Authorship Images and Circle Counts From Search Results

 

What Are your Views ?

Minutes after Google announced it, Webmasters from all over the globe are sharing their views on different forums. Some find it as a great step by google and agree to John Mueller words that it may improve mobile experience while many top bloggers are arguing against it.
I feel that this is a great step by Google which will help all the authors equally in search results.
What are your views on it? Reply to our tweet below.

Join the discussion, share your views in comments and let other’s know about it.

About The Author
Iftekhar Ahmed
Iftekhar Ahmed is the owner of iftiSEO.com and writes on various topics like Online Earning, SEO, Blogging etc. He has worked on many blogs and also works as an SEO Analyst.