So I found an interesting video that you may or may not have seen, but doing research for DuctTapeSEO.net has opened my eyes to a few things Google is trying to do.
I’ve included the video (like the skin? Traffic Player, baby) and you may want to fast-forward to about 55 seconds in.
Um…did you catch that? You might need to re-start the video so it plays at the right spot – but the key line was when Matt Cutts asked Othar Hansson if the ‘rel=author’ tag would be used for ranking purposes, the answer was:
Yes, REL = Author Will Be Used as a Ranking Signal
To quote them properly,
Matt: “Will people get a higher rankings, is there a rankings boost for ‘rel=author’?”
Othar: “…we hope to use this information and any information as a ranking signal at Google…in this case we’d want to get information on the credibility of authors, from all kinds of sources, and eventually we’ll use that in ranking. We’re only experimenting with that now, who knows where it will go?”
This is around the beginning of the video around 0:50-1:22. And here you may have thought it was simply ‘cool’ to get your author profile pic in the SERPs…well…it is when it works…
If you’re not familiar, the rel=author is an HTML tag you’d put to signal to Google that you’re the author of said piece. The way it works is pretty simple. In your Google Plus account, or Google Profile, you’d link to the website in question.
Check the ‘This Page is … about me’ option (I forget if it says, ‘especially’ or ‘specifically’).
On the page you’ve authored, you’d link back to your G+ profile with something like this:
<a href=”http://gplus.to/JamestheJust” rel=”author” target=”blank”>This is James</a>
Notice it’s a reciprocal link, but a good reciprocal link. Make sure it’s right by taking a peek at what Google thinks of your markup, at Google’s Rich Snippets tool (so named because Richard G. Snippets liked HTML markup like nobody’s bidness).
If things checked out, then you should hope to see your profile picture next to your listings…
But of course it’s not a guarantee. Like for me. For some reason. Not that I haven’t tried and tested just peachy keen…no hard feelin’s, Google. It’s all good.
Why rel=author Markup Matters
Any benefit in rankings is something to consider – and if you can rank for a term or not rank for a term due to credibility or lack thereof, then I think you can easily surmise where the web spam team is headed or hopes to head in the not-so-distant future.
Links you can spam.
Social media you can spam (uh – so long as Google didn’t control the social media platform, that is…).
But credibility? Not so fast…well…OK…maybe not so fast.
But you see where this is headed, at least – and I think the writing’s on the wall for gaming the system (and not because of my new book).
At the very least, you can see that Google is now interested in tying your authorship and identity to your websites – now let me ask you something. Do you think that down the road, all things being equal, you’re climbing in rankings…
And it’s just you and the top 10 sites in Google. You’ve got up to spot #11 maybe with software or whatnot, mashing out links – but the top 10 spots all have these fancy pants author profile pictures next to their listing…
First off, if all things were equal – you might not actually crack the top 10. Granted, there are a lot of ranking signals – this is just one of them – but for the sake of argument, if all things were equal, then you might not penetrate the sacred first page.
Let’s say you do manage to storm the top 10. You make it to page 1…but you’re the only website without a profile picture next to it.
From a human perspective – 9 out of 10 sites have an eye-grabbing picture of a real human next to their listing. But your site? It has something lacking. No author profile pic…
I’m guessing that you won’t see as much click through as your savvy competitors. Just a thought. What do you think? Does this impact your marketing any?
Let me know, I’ll be out pushing my new WordPress SEO book so I might be quiet here for a while.
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Well I think this little video answers It all I am sure you have seen it……. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJwgWwgicMg
The problem with Google is that they could say it’s to protect you from scrapers or whatever but it could also be to figure out “brand value” Nobody that is running a blog or site by themself has same brand value as almost any company. In therory they could have but not so much in Google eyes especially aff sites….
What is better than having a html tag that gives them the exact figures… Personally I am as always skeptical to Google Intentions also with this one. And what about sites that has a lot of authors Like Wikipedia…. Must be hard to get some usable data from that… I think this is a brand value tag but they promote it as something else….
Yeah, saw that one, totally funny of Aaron Wall to put that out! Hilarious…sad but true.
James,
I was just looking at this again. Actually, I was trying to set it up a few weeks ago, but I think they were tweaking the whole system because none of the examples were showing up for me with photos.
I just did a search for some of your post titles and your photo doesn’t show up in the results. :( I wonder how long it will take to start populating through.
I just fixed my business page and that Rich Snippets tools says that it is identifying my authorship, so we’ll see.
As for ranking, here are my thoughts. I think part of this is to address the fact that so many people have been complaining that scrapers outrank their original posts. I think this would help them get a little better handle on who the original writer actually was.
Second, I think this is part of their attempt to compete with Facebook and push Google Plus.
And third, aside from all that, the cool thing to me is that this can do what the indented double listings used to do for your site. It gives you an edge to pull more traffic even if you aren’t in the #1 spot.
Carla recently posted..What is Google Authorship?
I’ve had no luck, not sure why my mug won’t show next to the listings, but Booble has decided not to for whatever reason. It checks out in the Rich Snippets checker just fine. Google are Q(*&$(*@&(*!@& sometimes.
(I think it has to do with the types of products I sell here…hmmm….maybe.)
You’re right on the authorship deal insofar as reasons Google has given for the change, but I think it also has to do with taking another swipe at scammers and maybe aff marketers (sometimes the same thing). It’s easy to game links, but hard to fake your identity if Google is forcing it via G+ reciprocal linking this way.
Though it’s not a necessity, it sure is a big plus like you say, and adds some trust to an otherwise anonymous website. Especially if you’re eye-candy…which reminds me I need to hire some young stud to photograph for my profile pic.
Mwahahahahaaa! THIS IS SPARTA!
LOL . . . This could be a whole new niche for photographers.
Carla recently posted..Build Automatic Backlinks with Announcer Blogs
I am SOO bummed. My author image still isn’t being displayed on my articles :(
It does show up on my Google profile. I guess it’s only been not quite a week since I fixed it. I looked for yours and it hasn’t tied with your picture yet either.
Carla recently posted..What is Google Authorship?
I’m going to try what Daniel just said – add the “+” to your name: +Carla, etc. See if that helps. If so, then I’m uber stoked. If not, Google is a big hairy wart hog.
No, you shouldn’t have to add any operator to it.
If you do a search for google authorship, there are a bunch of results that come up that display the author image.
Carla recently posted..Organization Strategies for Niche Marketing
JAMES!
Your author image is showing up by your SERP’s now!
Whoo Hoo!
I just checked, but mine isn’t showing :(
Carla recently posted..Profiles are for People
Ah! Nice! I’ve been checking just about every day, was tired of messing with it – that sure took long enough…
Don’t know why they decided A) On my site links, and B) that now they’d show my mug, but happy with it! Thanks for lookin’ out. I’m sure you’re next on the list, it just took like a month! (I did add a + before my name, other than that nothing really.)
It disappeared shortly after I celebrated. :(
I don’t understand those people.
Hi, I have an observation about your issue with authorship. I’m certainly not an expert, but don’t you have to have a + sign somewhere in the anchor text for it to work?
In fact, here’s a snippet from Google’s article on the subject:
Your link must contain the ?rel=author parameter, and your anchor text must start or end with a + character. (You don’t need to be a Google+ user to do this, and you can use any anchor text you want.) If either of these is missing, Google won’t be able to associate your content with your Google Profile.
Daniel recently posted..Examples of Elliptical Workout Routines
Ha! I’ll try that, Daniel, and see if it works. If it does, I owe you, thanks!
Hi James, I did some more snooping into this. From what I’m reading, it looks like you might also have to do one of two things:
1. Put a link on every page of your site to your profile (with the + operator in it). So for instance the image in your footer that links to your profile can be modified to include the + sign.
Or
2. Put the link on your “author profile page” (which can probably be your “My story” page and link from every pag on your site to that page. You already have it in your header so you would just need to make sure that link has a “rel=author” attribute attached to it.
so it would like something like this My Story
Hopfully the html doesn’t get stripped out of that.
Also, I don’t know if you did this already, but there is also some web form Google makes you fill out in addition to all this linking so they can review your stuff first, or something.
I haven’t implemented this yet on my site, so I’ll have to give it a go and see if things work out.
Daniel recently posted..I’m Joining the 1MDBP!?
Thanks, Daniel -
I used Google’s “Rich Snippet Checker” or whatever it was, they show my markup is fine and checks out. But adding the “rel=author” to the “My Story” link would mean editing the theme template, not sure how to do that or what to look for.
Sorry, I keep messing up the comment thread.
Anyway, I do have the author tag in the link, and when I test it, it says it is configured correctly. The articles are showing up on my Google profile, so I think it is ID’ing them correctly.
I’ve read here and there that sometimes it takes time, so hopefully it will start showing up before too long.
Carla recently posted..The Truth About Duplicate Content
No worries, it’s frustrating. I just added the “+” just in case. Other than Google saying there’s “no guarantee,” I don’t get it.
So if I just have the Google PROFILE is that enough? or does my “profile” (me) have to get invited to G+ first? I just tried to signup for G+ and it said they are intermittently turning off and on the ability to join G+
I’d see the tutorial that Google has on it since my picture still isn’t showing up in the SERPs – they don’t guarantee this will happen…
But what I do know from their tutorial is you need G+ (as my understanding – maybe it works with Google profiles, I don’ t know for sure), and reciprocal links. If you need an invite then I can send you one.
I’m still waiting to actually get my author pic to show up in the serps.
For the G+ it now seems to be open for everyone to join up.
Trevor Jones recently posted..POST Request Htaccess Index Redirect Canonical Issues
Yeah, it’s open now for all to see – I’ve done everything right according to Google, they just don’t put my pic up. I think it has to do with my link-building tools, just a guess.