Putting a picture to your words Google continue their dominance in the search engine market with the recent creation of their code referred to as ‘Google Authorship’, this nifty application allows Google to certify content created by the user. It connects the content created on the Google + account to the search engine results pages (SERPS) allowing the user to create a profile picture and show searchers how many people have followed this piece of content. Although there are many hundreds of social platforms to utilise online, Google + is ranked as number 2 behind the powerhouse of Facebook. Crediting content from Google Authorship on this platform leads to several benefits. Why do we want Google to certify my content? Firstly, Google is the highest ranked search engine used for 91{06e29518e582b1cc2da09f8f2ea316dadc41c520023bcca83a4deb5e6ad0a3c6} of searches across the web today, so it is likely that anyone searching for a piece of information will do so via this search engine. As this is the case then allowing Google to certify your content and acknowledging you are the owner of the content allows Google to penalize anyone who copies your content. A high click through rate is a clear advantage as searchers appreciate a visual profile picture rather than simply a link, also searchers tend to click link to profile picture – it goes without saying that you would only want to put your face to your own content. Authority Trust, users who start to see your face prop up in searches will start to acknowledge your content and further more start finding your articles rather than others – this is obviously dependent on how engaging and useful the content may be to your readers. If you write more content for reputable websites then your presence will increase leading to a higher rate of trust from your users for your content, so start partnering with trust worthy and user friendly websites that have relevance to your customers. Increased social reach as your content is amplified through the right and relevant circle, and as your Google + profile is linked from the search result page it gives you additional reach for people to understand you better by looking at your profile and at similar articles to read. “Fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way” Well, the hours will not be wasted as there are three easy and simple ways to do this. This process utilises both your Google + profile and the website. Adding the link to your Google + profile
Open up your Google + account and click on the About tab, and then the Contributor to section will be visible. Click on Add custom link and add the link of the home page of the website where you want to claim your authority.Adding the link to your webpage As this is a two-way process, when implementing Google Authorship you also need to add the Google + link to your website. First Method If you want to claim authorship then you can do this by adding the link in the header of the website. You will need an HTML editor to do this and have a deep understanding of the technical aspect of websites. Just add and replace your actual profile URL in part and make sure the ref= ‘author’ part as it is the most important aspect here. Second Method If you are a guest author and are contributing a guest blog to a particular website, then you are not going to have access to their HTML Editor and header section of the site, therefore what you need to is put a URL link to your Google + profile with “?rel=author” as the query string amended at the end of your Google+ URL. Third Method This is important for WordPress as it has some very useful applications you can install onto this software. For instance plugIns can include: All in one SEO pack, WP Google Authorship and Author Sure. What picture of yourself is recommended? No application is perfect and nor is Google Authorship! Google Authorship does not happen overnight and your content may not be authorised until Google approves it which could take some time! This is a touchy subject, many people argue that their Google Authorship is not running smoothly and it could be to do with the picture you have uploaded. It is important that you follow Google picture guidelines: show your whole face in the picture, do not pull a pose – (we are not on Facebook), make sure that your mug is central to the picture, do not wear anything on your face or head too. Google Authorship has been known to be removed if they do not like your picture…simply put, if it is not taken correctly it will be removed (see pointers above). It is important that you follow the guidelines as this could affect your click through rate. Will it affect my SEO department like other recent updates Google have rolled out? Google will continue to give the best quality search results to you, it is a simple method to allow further reach of your content. The concept is quintessential, if your content is user friendly, useful and well written to the required audience – humanistic and professional, then it will only affect your users search in a friendly manner, just ensure that your content is linked to relevant circles to boost your social media presence.Post navigation
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