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We are at a crossroads in the evolution of internet content authorship and anonymity. Google CEO Eric Schmidt has pointed out in his new book, The New Digital Age, about how vital it is to be a verified author while being indexed by Google’s algorithm so that your content can be listed among top results on the search results page. This is through Google’s next-big step in weeding out low-quality content authored by anonymous writers, and is called Google Author Rank. It will have huge implications when it comes to search engine optimization (SEO).
As of now, Google Author Rank has not been implemented, but Google presently provides Authorship markup which is a means to display information regarding the author in search results for content that was created by you. Google’s authorship markup function is to let Google search engine indexers to understand that the content has been created by a living, breathing and verified human author as opposed to anonymous spammers.
Top 3 reasons to implement Google Authorship
1. Google Authorship makes you a content king
When it comes to online publications, content has always been king but now we enter an era where kingship is handed over to the creator of the content instead. Through Google Authorship, authentic, original and captivating content has been directly linked to it’s verified author. This verified authorship builds authority which propels your content to be catapulted over competition among search engine results.
2. Google Authorship motivates
All these years of anonymous authorship had effectively placed content above their creators, pushing the creators into shadowed existence. Now when hiring prospective authors, you are able to establish Google Authorship for these miscellaneous or blog content contributors, which is extremely motivating for them. The author’s personal branding will get that much needed boost and visibility instilling the drive to contribute regularly.
3. Google Authorship improves your click-through-rate
When you have your Google Authorship set up, content that was created by you instantly shows up in search engine results with enhanced snippets of data. These enhanced snippets are provided along with the author’s image, as well as links to several other posts authored by the same person. The author’s profile in Google+, Google’s social media platform, makes content created by authors with Google Authorship stand apart from other results. CTR is assured to improve many folds when content is displayed alongside such verified authors.
How to setup Google Authorship markup
In recent times, more and more images of writers are appearing alongside their content snippets as it appears on the search engine results page. Even though Google Author Rank has not been implemented, Google Authorship markup tool is functional and a revolutionary tool allowing authors to associate themselves to their content. This is accomplished by linking the fruits of their labor, i.e content that has been created by them, to their Google+ profiles.
Option #1
Get your content linked to Google+ profile via verified email address
This is applicable for authors creating content for their own domain (e.g mydomain.com). Ensure that you have an email address with the same domain (e.g email@mydomain.com). Next step is to ensure that every article or post that is authored and put up on that domain has a byline clearly identifying you as the author (e.g “By Sam Witwicky”).
Follow this up with a visit to the Google+ Authorship page and submit your email address to Google. This email address will appear in the ‘Contributor to’ tab of your Google+ profile. This has to be done only once and from this point onwards you will be able to publish any number of content articles on your domain with your authorship being automatically associated with each of these posts.
Option#2
Get your content linked to Google+ profile via hyperlink
In order to accomplish this, you need to create a link to your Google+ profile from the website page hosting your content, like this:
Change [profile_url] to your Google+ profile URL as shown below:
Note: ?rel=author parameter must absolutely be included in the URL or else Google will not associate your content with your Google+ profile.
We have only a few more steps remaining in order to get your content linked. We need to set up a reciprocal link from your Google+ profile page to your updated site. In order to accomplish this, edit the ‘Contributer To’ section on your profile. When the dialog appears, click on Add custom link, proceed to enter website URL and click Save. Now your content has been linked to your authorship via the hyperlink
Content will be associated with your Google+ profile and when appearing on search engine results page, your Google+ profile photo will shown alongside it as your Google Author image. Needless to say, your photo will bring relevancy to your content and attract users, thereby increasing the Click-Through-Rate (CTR). For added relevance, always upload a photo of your face, since Google scans your uploaded images, with logos, products, or group shots being discouraged.
Google’s much touted Author Rank will be implemented sooner or later and it will create a huge dent in SEO practices, if and when it is introduced. Till that time comes, Google Authorship is your window to credibility in the online medium. Getting your content verified through Google Authorship markup will be definitely advantageous over competition at the time when ranks are awarded through Author Rank.
It is important to be a verified author while being indexed by Google’s algorithm especially when it comes to website rankings. GetYourSiteRanked does this the best. Contact us and learn how Google authorship can help your website rank at the top.
