Google Authorship Workshop
My friend Chris Lang hosted a Google Hangouts on Air on the topic of Google Authorship. This is a panel discussion. The following panelists were on hand for the discussion:
and of course your's truly Ileane Smith
Google authorship is the process where by Google will assign authorship and Author rank to your content in Google's index. Your image will appear next to your content when it shows up in Google's search results page. In theory this will make your article stand out in the search results and people will tend to click on your link instead of the other links that show up on the search results page.
The process of claiming Google Authorship can be done through a link in your Google Webmaster Tools account or by going directly to this link for Author Information in Search Results.
SIGN UP FOR GOOGLE AUTHORSHIP
You can also sign up for Google Authorship here. On this page you will notice Google states clearly that you need to have a profile photo with a recognizable headshot.
Once Google confirms your authorship, you will receive an email like the one in the image above.
What does Google Authorship Look Like?
Here's a search for "blogging tips" and an example of my authorship in the results page. Note that this also includes the number of people who have me in circles on Google Plus.
How To Test Your Google Authorship
You can enter your url into Google's Structured Data Testing Tool to see how your listing will appear in Google search. This is also referred to as the Rich Snippets Testing tool.
In Google Webmaster Tools you can find all of the content that you currently have Google Authorship for (this feature is in beta). Click on any blog in your Webmaster dashboard and on the left hand side look for LABS and Author Stats. You'll see the following data:
- URL of the article
- Number of Impressions in search
- Number of clicks
- CTR (click through rate)
- Average position in SERP
Sort these results by clicking on the column heading. I like to sort by "Number of Clicks" to find out which post showing my authorship is getting the most traffic. You will find that this is not always the post with the highest position in SERP. This can be a clear indication that people are ignoring those listings that have a higher position and clicking your link instead simply because they see your Google Authorship. Of course there is no guarantee that this will happen every time someone sees your picture, but at least this gives you an idea about the importance of having Google Authorship.
Other Topic of Google Authorship Discussed on the Hang Out
- You can install a theme or plugin on WordPress to help with authorship
- Verify Google Authorship by email
- Blogger users can easily link their Google+ profile in the dashboard
- YouTube Authorship
- Adding Guest posts and Interviews to Contributors Section
- Help with removing scraped content
- Google + Badges
Additional Resources:
What questions do you have about Author Rank? Are you getting more traffic as a result of having Google Authorship?
