Dark Patterns and the Demise of Google Authorship

I won’t waste your time with yet-another-recap of the rise and fall of Google Authorship when it has already been done so nicely by the good folks at Stone Temple Consulting. Moreover, in a promise I made to myself, I will try and remain civil and polite in my brief analysis. I will begin with an open question to John Mueller, Matt Cutts and Google in general. Why should we believe this was a failed experiment and not planned obsolescence? Early in my career as an seo during the days of reciprocal link schemes, the black-hat thing to do was pretty simple. The formula is below: Create a link directory on your site Attract users of link directory, require reciprocal links Wait a few months Hide your outbound links from Google (Nofollowing “contribute...