Recent news from Google’s Head of Search Spam Matt Cutts, indicates infographics could soon become devalued in Google rankings resulting in what could potentially be a huge loss of traffic and links for marketers. This could affect both B2C and B2B marketers using infographics  as part of their marketing strategy.

Infographics present a visually appealing way to convey information or a theory to an online audience, creating a unique channel for marketers. From a Mashable post, “Infographics also have an inherent viral potential. If they’re genuinely relevant and engaging, infographics will be shared across the web, through social media, email and via online publications.” However, according to recent news, this could all change for those mishandling this hot marketing channel.

Matt Cutts finds that often infographics are misleading and outright wrong, which is one of his main concerns in marketers’ usage. From a Search Engine Land article, “Matt said, “They get far off topic, or the fact checking is really poor. “The infographic may be neat, but if the information it’s based on is simply wrong, then it’s misleading people,” Cutts added.” The latest updates seen in the Google Penguin could be a motivating factor behind this, as Cutts and Google are looking to penalize spammers while providing value to marketers with integrity.

Any marketers looking to use infographics or currently use them as part of their marketing strategy should be aware misleading, irrelevant, or simply incorrect content on an infographic will not go unpunished. Infographics could become completely devalued in the near future, eliminating one of the most share-friendly marketing tactics available to marketers.

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