Those of us who provide search engine optimization services to small business websites pay close attention to changes in Google’s search algorithm. Google Authorship is an opportunity that is not going unnoticed. This most recent change in Google’s algorithm is significant, because it marks the introduction of a new ranking factor.
Google Authorship New Search Ranking Factor
Page Rank, which has been the mainstay of Google search rankings since their inception, is Google’s mathematical algorithm that ranks a web page based on keywords and key-phrases, coupled with how many other sites refer to the page, how many inbound links the page has, and many other factors. Overall, web pages are ranked by hundreds, if not thousands, of variables. Google is now attempting to further improve their search results by introducing Google Authorship, a system that takes into account the author of the web page content.
Because of Google+ and Google Authorship, authors of high-quality web content can boost the visibility of their work, while at the same time improving the ranking of web pages they write. Google Authorship is causing this boost of recognition. Google Authorship, which is drawing a great deal of media attention, ranks content authors based on their reputation, credibility and quality of their work.
Google Authorship requires structured markup is web pages that connects web pages to the author of the page. Google Authorship relies on Google+ to work. There are several steps required to verify a Google Author and connect the various parts for Google Authorship to work. While it isn’t mandatory, it is imperative that small businesses take these steps for their websites to be recognized and ranked well by Google for Google Authorship markup. To more fully explain Google Authorship, let’s begin with the many things Google Authorship does.
Benefits of Google Authorship for the Author
The Author of a webpage gets official attribution for having authored the page. In general, attribution is a good thing. More specifically, that attribution, which is displayed publicly in Google search results because of Google Authorship, exposes searchers to more of the author’s work which is all connected to the author’s Google+ profile. People who perform Google searches are able to identify the author and connect to more of the author’s work.
Benefits of Google Authorship for Google
Google benefits from Google Authorship because all of the written work of a verified Google Author becomes interconnected. This is important to Google because Google is in the business of serving relevant results in Google search. Google Authorship connects all webpages written by an author to that author’s Google+ page. This gives Google the opportunity to serve much more relevant content to their search customers.
Benefits for Google Search Customers
People who use Google search will more easily identify search results snippets for web pages written by Google verified authors. Presumably, users will find higher quality content because of Google Authorship.
Benefits of Google Authorship for Websites
The biggest beneficiaries of Google Authorship will be websites that have Google Authorship markup because search results that lead to their website are enhanced in search results. You’ve probably started seeing search results with Google Authorship enhancements. They are easy to identify because the author’s picture is displayed in the search snippets. Snippets for web pages with Google Authorship markup are also larger than the other search snippets on the page. Thus even more attention is called to that website. More visitors will likely find their way to those websites because of the connectivity to all webpages authored by that author.
Perhaps the biggest benefit of all, although hidden, inures to the webpage itself, because search results for pages with Google Authorship markup rank higher than web pages without. This part is key, so I’ll repeat it in a different way. Google Authorship has officially become a ranking factor in Google’s powerful search algorithm, so web pages written by a verified Google Author enjoy higher page rank and, consequently, more highly placed search results.
Using Google Authorship Rank On Your Website
If the content in your website does not have a reputable author, it may be a good idea to ask a reputable author to create some content for your website. Their credibility will likely boost your site reputation. Although it isn’t mandatory, Google Authorship is something business owners should take very seriously. We are offering a Google Authorship Markup Package for small business starting at only $299. Press the big red button.
