Google’s John Mueller offered a tip about a long-standing problem with missing images in search results for recipe sites, but recipe bloggers don’t seem convinced or satisfied.
Images are missing from search results
Several recipe bloggers have raised the issue of image thumbnails no longer appearing on their websites’ search engine results pages (SERPs) over the past few months. They used to enjoy the thumbnail images being displayed, but at some point it seems Google stopped showing them.
Recipe bloggers feel this is a problem that needs to be fixed and brought it to the attention of SearchLiaison and John Mueller, but the problem continues.
One of the first posts in the discussion that Mueller responded to dates back to January 29, when a recipe blogger noticed that a thumbnail image was no longer showing on her sites when ranking in search results.
They he tweeted:
“@searchliaison
Hello. Today I saw that Google is not showing any of my featured images, not one. From the most popular recipes to any other random ones I checked.
Although the image appears in the Carousel (below the first), it does not appear in the list (second link). Help!”
Google SearchLiaison replied that they had passed it.
Casey Markee, founder of Media Wyse, provided an overview of the problem, explaining that the problem may be widespread.
he he tweeted:
“FYI Danny, this is not a unique issue. We’re seeing it on dozens of recipe sites.
Also, the second issue, the sites are reporting that they can’t add any new recipes to the carousel in over a month!
I’ll have sites tag you with specific examples whenever possible.”
Google SearchLiaison responded that it has passed the report on to the search team and assured that it would also discuss Casey’s comments internally.
Missing images are not an isolated problem
Tweets about missing images continued in February and March, when someone in the home improvement space tweeted that the missing images in SERPs issue was affecting them as well.
@Sleblanc921 he tweeted:
“It’s not just food bloggers, I’m into home improvement/DIY and mine is gone too.”
Reports of missing images in search results even affected travel bloggers.
The answer that probably no one wanted
Mueller responded to the latest tweet by assuring everyone that he too had passed the comments on to the search team.
he he tweeted:
“We passed it on and people have been looking at the report. . . .”
But his tweet also contained a warning about the image thumbnails, saying that the images are not displayed on all sites.
His tweet continued:
“…but in general, we don’t guarantee that images will show up with search results, so sometimes things show up without them.”
Travel blogger, @flyingwithbaby, he tweeted:
“Hi @JohnMu, seems to be affecting my site (family travel) for every post – everyone else’s has a picture next to theirs but mine is gone. Very helpful content according to readers, own photos, etc. and harms what little is left :-(“
In response to the travel blogger, John Mueller reiterated his previous response with a possible explanation for why the images no longer appear.
he he tweeted:
“As I mentioned, not every post / search result is expected to have an image next to it. I imagine things would look pretty messy if that were the case.”
@flyingwithbaby replied:
“I understand, but in my experience, everything was showing before and I’m not sure why my whole site is being selected. It seems like others are having the exact same problem. It was always showing before. … I’m not sure how can this be more useful with personal experience, unique photos and content (copied by others) and now even the deleted image next to the search results.
It’s paralyzing John and very frustrating”
Indirect statements perpetuate confusion
John Mueller’s answer implies that Google search results work the way they’re supposed to.
But the problem with implying is that it doesn’t explicitly say that there’s no error, it doesn’t explicitly say that there’s no interruption.
It may not be Mueller’s fault that his language isn’t more explicit, there may be a ban on mentioning specifics. Or it may not even realize that a more explicit statement that there is no interruption is what users should hear.
Regardless, Mueller’s statement implies that there is no disruption and that shrinking image thumbnails is the new normal.
Recipe bloggers raised their concerns with Google SearchLiaison and John Mueller about the image thumbnails that used to appear next to search results, reporting that their images stopped showing up entirely and that it was affecting its visibility. Rich result images draw attention to a search result and help attract clicks.
Food and recipe sites invest time and money in food photography equipment to accompany their articles, as well as researching and testing recipes. This explains how disheartening it must feel to see these thumbnails disappear.
The problem with missing image thumbnails in Google search results extends beyond recipe blogs and also affects home improvement and travel sites, which may indicate that the problem is widespread.
Featured image by Shutterstock/Roman Samborskyi
