Is Google using your Author Rank to improve your Search Engine rank? Even if not, there are several good reasons to know your Author Rank and Improve it.
Over the last several days, Google Author Rank is one of the things I have been spending much of my time researching. Not because it is something brand new, Google Authorship (rel=author) is a program that was released in 2011.
The reason for doing more research now? Simply because of the amount of chatter online about Google Author Rank from other Online Marketers.
The majority of the chat is whether a higher Author Rank helps you on the Search Engines or if Google is even using it at all in their plethora of Algorithms.
Depending on where you look, you are going to get a variety of answers that range from "No" to "Yes" to "I Don’t Give a Rip, On or Off".
…but here is the rest of the story on Google Author Rank.
My Skinny on Google's Author Rank
Whether Google uses Author Rank or not in SEO Rankings, is not my immediate concern. The fact is Google has it. In their patent filing circa from 2005, here is what Google's intentions of Author Rank are;
“The name of the writer can be used to influence the ranking of web search results by indicating the writer responsible for a particular content piece … Assuming that a given writer has a high reputational score, representing an established reputation for authoring valuable content, then additional content authored and signed by that writer will be promoted relative to unsigned content or content from less reputable writers in search results.”
I have said for a long time now "If Google told me to mix asparagus in my cereal for breakfast, I would. Why fight it? If Google later said asparagus didn't work out, so be it".
I signed up for Google+ within days it was available and remember what a disaster that was? Though look at it now. Being an earlier adapter can either be a waste of time or bring reward.
However, Don't Loose Sleep Over Author Rank.
"Ultimately, authorship mark-up is a nice-to-have, but don't bet the farm on it. Google+ is only 2-1/2 years old, and Google is just beginning to understand how to measure authorship and individual authority (what some people call "AuthorRank", although that implies a specific metric that may or may not exist yet). Improving your individual authority and building your social profiles makes sense for many reasons, but getting hung up on the micro-details of authorship mark-up and watching it appear and disappear day-by-day is probably only going to drive you crazy." [An excerpt from MOZ.com posted January 9th, 2014]
Whether you believe in Google rank or not, that's totally up to you, but if you are an internet marketer in any niche online and are wanting to locate and/or improve your Google Author Rank, below are a few steps you can take.
Improving Your Google Author Rank
There are of course several ways to improve your Author rank from the diversity of sites to which your contribute, the link value of sites to which you contribute to and even how often you post.
From what I have seen though, you do not even need to have personal blog or website that you post to regularly to get a Google Author Rank. As Google even says, "You can link content you publish on a specific domain (such as www.wired.com) to your Google+ profile."
Simply put, if you have other sites and/or websites that you contribute post or comments to, bookmark to or even share other posts, it appears that Google sees that and considers your contributions and calculates that towards your Author rank.
As seen on the image on the right, look a little closer and you will see some are even groups as well as bookmarking sites. So, as you can see, you can link to a groups page and Google gives you Author Credit.
So why is this important? The higher quality places you are sharing content will help your Author Score.
1) Getting Started with Google Author Rank
Before you can get a Author Rank, you have to have a Google+ profile and then link your Google+ profile to the content you create.
The secret here is, hopefully you are using an email that you don't mind adding to your Google+ profile and hopefully that is the same email for all of your different accounts you use.
FAQ's:
- Can you add more that one email you use? Yes, but things are so much simpler when you just use 1 or 2.
- I don't have myownname@mydomain.com. No problem. If you have an account with slideshare.net, verify the email you used to set up that account by using the link above.
2) Claim Authorship
- From your Google+ profile, go to your "About" page. Slide down the page until you see the "Links" section.
- From there click the 'edit' link on the bottom of that section
- Locate the "Contributor to" section and add the name and the link to your profile, not the main domain. (i.e. If you were linking to your Scoop.it account use https://www.scoop.it/u/profilename not just https://www.scoop.it.)
3) How to Find Your Google Author Rank.
To find out what your Author Rank score is, goto beta.authorrank.org
4) For Guest Bloggers on the SEO-Alien
For any Guest Author on the SEO Alien, I have sent you the link you would need to claim Google Authorship, but in case you missed it, here is how you can find it and what to do with it.
- In order to claim Google Authorship for profile on your Guest Post, do a search for one of your articles by searching your name from here.
- Click on any one of your articles and scroll to the bottom of your article until you see your profile underneath the article.
- Locate the image on the far left under your profile and click it.
- Copy the URL, it will look something like
- Go to your Google+ About profile page and paste that link into the "Contributor to" part of your profile.
