Some SEOs are noticing that Google has brought back the social media icons in the knowledge panels for both personalities and local businesses. I personally didn't notice they ever were gone but I guess they were.
Joy Hawkins posted examples in the Local Search Forums and Ari Roth posted examples on Twitter.
About 6 months ago, I had a Twitter icon on my profile but now it shows LinkedIn.
6 Months Ago:
Today:
Here are more examples:
Hey @rustybrick, my @5blocks colleagues noticed a clear uptick in the # of social buttons appearing in Knowledge Graphs for individuals beginning yesterday. See one example below, but big trends are lots more LinkedIn & Instagram buttons, especially LinkedIn for prominent CEOs. pic.twitter.com/l9MPZKUVWy
— Ari Roth (@aroth26) January 30, 2019
And local examples:
Not sure how big of a deal this is and why they went missing in the first place - but they are now back - kinda.
Forum discussion at Local Search Forums and Twitter.
Update: Some are saying the social media icons never went away but new ones have been added.
