Google Authorship Disappeared? Find Out Why.

Many website and business owners have been enjoying increased visibility in organic search rankings due to Google Authorship. When implemented properly, Authorship allows website owners to display their photograph next to their organic search results. See mine at the top of this post.

Over the last month or so, many people have complained that their Authorship photo has disappeared from the search results. It turns out Google is intentionally restricting the use of Authorship.

Before this restriction, your Authorship photo was eligible to appear in the search results as long as you had the proper code implemented on your website. Now, Google is limiting the amount of Authorship photos shown in search results.

So how does Google decide who makes the cut? It’s still unclear at this point. Initial research indicates that Authorship is being shown on a site-by-site basis, not on an author-by-author basis. This means that it’s likely less about the quality of the author, and more about the quality of the website.

Until more research is done on this issue, the best thing to do is make sure your website and blog are updated regularly with high-quality content that your users find relevant, engaging, and worthy of sharing. This will give you a better chance of Google deeming you and your website worthy of Google Authorship.

Check back to the Clarity Quest Marketing blog for updates on the Google Authorship issue and for posts on other marketing topics.