Not surprised at all. Any time I ever see a social photo next to a search result, I automatically assume it's a social media post or page and won't even bother to look at it, if I'm looking for anything else.
Why on earth would anyone want a face associated with a program, website, or anything that's not a social media account?
I'm in the same boat. If I'm looking for actual information, products, etc., I'll skip the posts with the headshots. It strangely reduces my trust level of the content.
Having said that, we're all in the tech field and this guy's product seems to be geared towards the tech field. Perhaps the result for the population-at-large is different?
>Why on earth would anyone want a face associated with a program, website, or anything that's not a social media account?
A coworker runs one of those aggregate-amazon-affiliate-link sites (think http://www.thisiswhyimbroke.com/) for camping and outdoorsy things. He saw a noticeable increase in traffic by associating his wife's picture in his search results. He's of the opinion that a pretty face helps sell things.
I've watched that website launch and develop with some interest. Without disclosing any particulars, does the site do well for him? I imagined he was raking in the dough, but if he's still your co-worker I guess that's not the case?
To be clear, my coworker doesn't run thisiswhyimbroke, but a site with a similar layout.
It's a little extra money in his pocket, but not something profitable or rewarding enough to do full time. (He also has a few other attempts that don't do as well as the camping one, and with the camping one the income is pretty seasonal).
I unconsciously ignore anything that isn't in the standard format that the normal results are presented in, a side-effect of so many "sponsored" links always being shoved to the top.
There's the "crap at the top" that is almost never what I'm looking for, and then there's the real results, which is what I scan for.
It makes the search result look like it's to a personal site or a blog - not a business. It would be good of Google if they allowed you to associated authorship with your site but opt out of the head shot in search results.
I would want a face associated with a program, website etc.
If I search for "digital camera" and see results from friends that are heavily into digital cameras I will likely consider that result.
If I search for "video editing software" or "ramen recipes" or "pizza in sf" I would love to see which things my friends are recommending more than I would like to see what is highest ranked by some algorithm.
Just as an counter example: I search a lot of Java questions, and there is a guy who has a lot of useful answers. When I see his face in the SERP I often click it without reading the text.
Why on earth would anyone want a face associated with a program, website, or anything that's not a social media account?
But, very good to know the statistical result.