Let's Put a Stop to Google Page Annotations
We're Calling on Google to Protect Publishers and Creators
It’s our mantra here at Cypress North to do the right thing. To do right by our clients, do right by our employees, and to challenge respectfully when needed.
Unfortunately, the time has come for the latter of those things.
Last month, Google announced Page Annotations for the Google iOS app. According to Google, the tool will, "extract interesting entities from the webpage and highlight them in line."
What this translates to: Google will add links to your site for anyone using the iOS app, and whisk them away, back to Google.
What This Means for Publishers
Technically, the publisher’s site will live somewhere under the Google results that your traffic is teleported to. But for all intents and purposes, Barry Schwartz hit the nail on the head in the article, saying:
“Like Google hasn't taken enough away from you… Now Google is taking users who are on your website and taking them to search. They will likely never find their way back to your website again.”
Not only was there a lack of buzz from the Google camp on this (it seemed to be announced in a Google forum) but this traffic-snatching tactic is opt-out only and requires a content creator to find a Google Form to manually request out.
Upon this rollout in the wild, we are seeing links injected onto sites (all driving users back to Google) for a variety of terms, many of which could be argued aren’t “interesting entities.”
For example, here is a Google-injected link for the generic term “copy” on Search Engine Land:
They can show up for products too. This example highlights “Peppermint Oil” in the middle of a tutorial.
This is a step too far for Google and we are asking for change.
What We Want From Google & How You Can Help
Our digital marketing podcast team over at Marketing O’Clock has created a petition to put an end to Page Annotations for the following reasons:
- Decline in Website Traffic: Page Annotations disrupt user engagement by redirecting visitors away from content, leading to decreased website traffic while directly increasing Google Traffic.
- Undermining Web Integrity: By embedding links that redirect users, Google imposes its own agenda on independent websites, compromising their autonomy and the authenticity of the web.
- Impact on Small Businesses and Creators: For small businesses and content creators, website traffic is essential. Redirecting visitors through these links disproportionately harms those who depend on their sites to drive leads, sales, and other revenue.
- Conflict of Interest: While Google presents itself as a steward of the internet, Page Annotations reveal a troubling shift toward prioritizing its own interests, consolidating its dominance at the expense of webmasters.
If you would like to help us put a stop to Google Page Annotations, please consider signing our petition over on Change.org.
Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.
- Helen Keller
Additionally, any other support including social posts, word of mouth, emails, telegrams, or midnight horseback warnings would be appreciated. This is a step too far, and Google needs to know before it becomes normalized.
Meet the Author
Greg Finn
Greg is the Head of Performance and Innovation for Cypress North's digital marketing team and one of the founders of our agency. In 2010, he and Matt Mombrea started Cypress North in Buffalo. Greg oversaw the opening of our second office in 2022, located in his hometown of Rochester.
As Head of Performance and Innovation, Greg co-manages our digital marketing department and works closely with our team to ensure all our clients achieve the best possible results. He is always looking for ways to test new digital marketing techniques and technology, and oversees all teaching and training efforts to ensure our agency stays ahead of the curve.
Greg is also a co-host of our weekly Marketing O'Clock podcast, where he and the team provide updates, insights, and hot takes on the latest SEO, PPC, and social media marketing news. In addition to weekly news shows, Greg hosts our Marketing O'Torial digital marketing tutorials and often co-hosts bonus Marketing O'Talk episodes that bring together panels of digital marketing experts.
With nearly two decades of experience, Greg is a known and trusted voice in the digital marketing community. He’s a contributor for Search Engine Land, a member of the Search Marketing Expo (SMX) programming team, and has been a featured speaker at some of the largest search engine conferences, including SMX, eSummit, and Pubcon.
When he’s not working or staying updated on the latest trends, Greg enjoys watching his kids play sports and coaching their soccer team. He’s been named the runner-up “Greg of the Year” on Marketing O’Clock’s annual Clockscars Awards four years in a row. While the coveted award has evaded him for many years, Keanu Reeves has not. Greg once saw him at Gabriel's Gate tavern in Buffalo (and noted he was very tall.)
Related Resources
13 Digital Marketing Predictions for 2025
Top Industry Voices Share Their 2025 Digital Marketing Trend Predictions As digital marketers, we know a new year brings new goals, new opportunities for growth, and new challenges. But a new year also brings plenty of change. Whether it’s advancements […]
Choosing the Right Digital Marketing Career Path as a New Marketer
Learn more about the different career opportunities in digital marketing by exploring the roles of SEO and PPC specialists. Gain insights into key skills, tools, and strategies to help you determine the best path for your professional career.
6 SEO Tips & Tricks We Learned at WTSFest 2024 in Philadelphia
Three of our digital marketers recently picked up some new tips, tricks, and best practices at the 2024 Women in Tech SEO Festival. Learn more about what we learned and how we’re applying it to our work.
How to Create a Looker Studio SEO Report Without Paid Connectors or Expensive Subscriptions
Effectively Measure Organic Traffic Performance With an Easy-To-Create Dashboard Measuring organic traffic performance is a key part of SEO. But with so many different metrics available to track, it can be challenging to know what data to look at when […]
Empowering Marketers: How CypresSEO Streamlines SEO Tasks
Discover how CypresSEO revolutionizes SEO for marketers, streamlining tasks and empowering your strategies. Enhance your SEO efficiency with our AI-powered tool.
Testing Website Accessibility: Five Testing Tools & Methods To Identify Accessibility Issues
Is your site compatible with website accessibility guidelines? Use these tools to benchmark and identify improvement opportunities. Website accessibility is often overlooked, but it shouldn’t be. According to CDC estimates, 61 million adults in the United States alone live with […]
23 Of The Best Resources For Starting A Digital Marketing Career
The best social media communities, podcasts, newsletters, and certifications for new digital marketers I didn’t know anything about digital marketing when I started as an intern at Cypress North earlier this year. Acronyms like SEO, CPA, and ROAS meant nothing […]
A Marketer’s Website Launch Checklist
SEO, Google Tag Manager Tracking, & Content Planning for a New Website There’s nothing quite like launching a beautiful, brand new website, but it is something that can have ugly consequences if not performed correctly. While marketers aren’t typically responsible […]
SEO for PDFs - How To Optimize PDFs For The Web
Let’s face it, for some companies Portable Document Formats (PDFs) are an unfortunate necessity. From sell sheets and downloadable product flyers, to manuals and tutorials - PDFs have secured a spot in our lives, and there are some tips and […]
Updated: How To Exclude Mobile Apps From Google Ads Display Campaigns
If you’ve been following us for a while, you’ll know we generally don’t like running ads on mobile apps. Don’t get us wrong, we love apps! They’ve made it easier than ever before to get information and connect with each […]
Digital Marketing in 2019: What to Watch For
The Pros Rampant Responsive One of the biggest boons for advertisers in 2018 was the ability to optimize campaigns by moving away from standard banner sizes and utilizing responsive display ad formats. The proliferation of flexible ads such as Facebook […]
Firing Up Bing Ads? Crucial Differences Between Bing & AdWords To Consider When Setting Up Your Campaigns
Does Anyone Even Use Bing? As digital marketers we tend to hear this question on a weekly basis, if not more often. And while the mere idea that Bing exists is enough to shatter the worldview of many Google nerds/religious Chrome users, the […]
Getting Started With Google Tag Manager
What is Google Tag Manager? Google Tag Manager (GTM) is a tool that gives users a way to add code to a website without having to log in to the backend and manually add to the source code every time. […]
The Retargeting Playbook: The Ultimate Guide To Setting Up Successful Retargeted Ads
As an internet user, you’ve likely become accustomed to those ads that seem to follow you during all your digital travels. These ads are known as “retargeted” ads (or “remarketed” ads if you're using Google) and help to keep your […]
How to Connect Your Google+ Business Page to Your Local Places Listing
The time has come -- Google is finally allowing users with Google+ Business Pages to connect the page with the Google+ local listing (also known as Google Places) on Google Maps. Confused already? Yeah, us, too. But we'll save that […]
How To Link (Many) AdWords Accounts with Google Analytics Using The New Bulk Account Linking Option
All of you pro AdWords users who routinely take on clients with many AdWords accounts for different promotions can breathe a collective sigh of relief. This week Google came out with a simple way to connect AdWords and Analytics in bulk! […]
Keyword Research Tips: How To Use Bing Ads Editor To Estimate Positional Volume & Pricing
If you are a search pro using Bing, you'll likely spend a good chunk of time living in the Bing Ads Editor. Much like Google's AdWords Editor, this standalone desktop program saves advertisers time and energy by allowing for bulk […]
How To View Geographic & Location Data Directly Within Google AdWords
When it comes to AdWords, all locations are not created equal. It's important to track which locations are converting -- and which aren't. With AdWords, you can increase or decrease bids based on the location you're targeting, and diving into […]
Not Sold on Paid Search Advertising? Consider a Professional Test Drive
I understand if you're weary about paid search advertising. Google makes it all too easy to spend money without really knowing what you're doing. So you try AdWords on your own, but quickly become frustrated when ad dollars run dry and […]
How To Properly Perform Statistically Relevant Split PPC Ad Testing
The crux of a solid paid search campaign indubitably is the ad copy that drives the user to make the click. When auditing paid search campaigns from other companies, it is always a shock to see the (lack of) ad […]
0 Comments