Google released a set of Webmaster Guidelines updates this week that are aimed at reining in rich snippet abuse.
The update is a mix of Panda and Penguin concepts but the underlying message is undeniable: spammy links and content are not part of Google’s big plan for the Web.
While we definitely recommend any webmaster or SEO take a look at the full guideline update, here’s what you really need to know:
If the rich snippets markup on a page is spammy, misleading, or otherwise abusive, our algorithms are much more likely to ignore the markup and render a text-only snippet.
The Google overlords also mentioned that they’re more than willing to disable rich snippets for sites that continue the abusive practices.
Rise of Rich Snippets
Expect to see Google keeping a closer eye on rich snippets and links in the months ahead as the search giant begins a push to get webmasters on board with their Author Rank features.
Author rank adds content creator info (and their rankings) to both the displayed search results, as well a the page rank algorithm.
It’s all part of Google’s very large effort to increase the quality of content on search results based on more organic factors.
Have you been abusing rich snippets? Come, be honest and share your confession in the comments section below.