Google announced that social extensions, which showed Google+ follower counts, will no longer be displayed with ads on Google search and search partners as of December 10.

Well, December 10 is here, and Google+ has been going through some major changes. Google dropping this feature is no surprise, but it was quietly announced in a help forum (via Search Engine Land).

“We encourage you to explore all relevant ad extensions to highlight important aspects of your business,” Google says in the announcement. “If social presence remains important to your business, you can continue highlighting this information using sitelinks or callout extensions.”

The extensions appeared next to ads and search results. Google used to say they could potentially lead to higher click-through rates.

Google launched a big overhaul of Google+ last month to put Collections and Communities front and center. Meanwhile, it continues to detach the service from many of its other offerings.

The company used to say, “Google+ is Google.” That is far from the case these days.

Image via Google