Should I use featured image or not?

[deepanshubaisoy]

I have always had featured images on my blog but recently I got to know that it can be the cause of above the fold penalty and a lot of people including Shaun Marrs recommends not using them.
So should I be using a featured image on my blog or not? a lot of my articles don't have images so is it okay to remove the featured image too?

 

[Ryuzaki]

but recently I got to know that it can be the cause of above the fold penalty

I think this use to be the case and Google tried to change everyone's publishing patterns but so few people caved in that images now count as "content" above the fold. I feel very confident that this is true.

a lot of my articles don't have images so is it okay to remove the featured image too?

This is like saying something similar to "I already have 5 diseases, should I just go ahead and get the 6th one too?"

You need images in your articles. For the users, for Google, for on-page SEO, for quality signals, etc.

 

[freshpeppermint]

I have always had featured images on my blog but recently I got to know that it can be the cause of above the fold penalty and a lot of people including Shaun Marrs recommends not using them.
So should I be using a featured image on my blog or not? a lot of my articles don't have images so is it okay to remove the featured image too?

I had this same question. Keep the featured image, most big blogs like forbes and stuff have it. This is why I enabled featured image on my blog again.

 

[Hanuman]

Recently, Google has been showcasing an image alongside search results for some keywords. I have come across some studies in the past that say using images increase click throughs, and that is perhaps what Google is testing here.

And in case, this hypothesis is true, and Google uses an image for results that have a featured image, you could lose on clicks if you didn't have an image in your content.

 

[Darth]

Just make it slightly below the fold on mobile, like under the first paragraph. There is Wordpress functions.php code that can achieve this.

 

[nicemkay]

+1 for featured image below the fold on mobile.

In case it's useful to anyone, a great free WordPress theme, in my opinion, is Blocksy that has the option to hide the featured image on mobile. (I'm not affiliated with them in any way)

 

[WinMore]

Just make it slightly below the fold on mobile, like under the first paragraph. There is Wordpress functions.php code that can achieve this.

I did that by just writing a slightly longer intro. Never thought of using code for it.
Doesn't it end up looking weird?

 

[MrMedia]

Featured image on the post as it appears in category sections etc but I always hide it in the actual post.

The job of the featured image is to get the click. Once clicked it becomes redundant to the function of the text / content of the post.

 

[fstopeight]

Featured image on the post as it appears in category sections etc but I always hide it in the actual post.

The job of the featured image is to get the click. Once clicked it becomes redundant to the function of the text / content of the post.

Yeah and it also gets the click from Google Images if you optimize properly. I see it as the blog version of Youtube thumbnails.