Google decide to drop Authorship from search results

Seemingly as is always the way when I buy into something that google punts out Wave, Buzz, Latitude and now authorship – they have now decided to no longer display Authorship information in the search results..

Earlier today John Mueller posted on Google+ that they don’t feel the authorship information contributes to the usefulness of search results.

I can understand the logic behind the decision, however I for one will be sad to see it go. It took me a while to craft my author details on the search results.. An was the flood gate opening for all of my rich snippets work! I also like to see who’s responsible for the posts at a glance, an feel if they’ve gone to the effort of sorting out the snippets then the sites worth visiting.

I hope John is right when he says

removing authorship generally does not seem to reduce traffic to sites.

Authorship was born around the same time as the Google+ network, and believed to be a way of promoting the Google+ network. Webmaster required G+ profiles in order to have their details along side there sites in the search results. Ultimately meaning the network gained more users overnight as people flocked to fulfil the rich snippets requirement.

I can cope with loosing Authorship, and all the other products i grew to know and love… However I seriously hope they leave Waze alone…

RIP Authorship