UPDATE: Author Rank as it is described in this post – adding a rel=”author” to a link to your Google+ profile from a page you write at, or linking to pages you contribute to from your Google+ profile – is no longer used by Google; mostly because the adoption rate was too low.
However, I don’t believe for a second Google abandoned their plans to pursue something similar to Author Rank as in ‘the concept of author authority in search results’ – possibly referred to as Authoritative Rank, as reflected in a patent filed by Google in 2015.
For further reading on the subject, let me suggest Mark Traphagen’s post at Moz.com.
The Hoffmans are a typical family leaving large in our age of instant gratification, which means my 6 year-old daughter Emma has a very slim chance of ever benefitting financially after my husband and I are gone.
Luckily, not all is lost for Emma.
Her internet-savvy mom discovered a brilliant way to pave Emma’s way to her own future internet stardom.
Sounds laughable, but think about it. By the time she’s ready to start a blog of her own, whether it’s a couple of years from now or after she graduates from college just to find out that she can’t get a “normal” job, if I start working on her Author Rank NOW, she’ll be hard to beat.
Instead of giving her a fish, I’ll be teaching her how to fish, right?
Allow me to delight in my own brilliancy for a moment… and then get down to business: Author Rank.
It’s not like it’s the first post written on the topic, so why am I writing one here at Traffic Generation Café?
TL;DR You should definitely read this post because:
- This post is the place to get the skinny on Author Rank: what it is, why we need it, etc – without having to read dozens of articles to get the gist.
- We’ll also talk about Google Authorship vs Author Rank, plus where PageRank fits in – something many bloggers (including me until I wrote this post) are still a bit fuzzy about.
- I’ll do my best to give you a kick in the rear to start building your Author Rank today and explain how to do it.
- If you stick around, I’ll tell you what my new favorite abbreviation TL;DR stands for.
What Is Google Authorship?
Google Authorship makes you eligible to get the Authorship Rich Snippet in search results:
- your profile photo next to the result;
- the number of Google+ circles you are in;
- and a link to more search results for your related content.
Here’s how to set up your content to be eligible for Google Authorship.
Why You HAVE TO Set Up Google Authorship
The immediate advantages of claiming Google Authorship:
- Higher visibility – stand out in the search results with your profile photo.
- Higher click-through rates (CTR) – people are more likely to click on your result if you have your photo attached, even if your result is more toward the bottom of the page. In some cases, your CTR can increase as much as 150% per marketing research company Catalyst.
The future advantage of claiming Google Authorship:
- Start building your Author Rank NOW.
Matt Cutts on Authorship
Google’s Matt Cutts put out a new Webmaster Help video discussing Authorship.
Specifically, he responds to the user-submitted question:
Will Google be evaluating the use of rel=”author” moving forward as more sites use the feature on generic, non-article/news pages, such as the home page or an about page?
Google Authorship vs Author Rank?
What’s the difference between Google Authorship and Author Rank?
Google Authorship ties a Google+ profile to pieces of content.
Author Rank is a numeric score, similar to PageRank, assigned to authors based on their content on a particular topic.
What Is Author Rank?
Author Rank doesn’t actually exist (yet); it’s a user-generated term.
The idea behind Author Rank is that your reputation as a content creator will influence search engine rankings.
Author Rank Background
The concept of Author Rank as it pertains to Google comes from a series of patents Google published.
These patents go back as far as 2005 and the original set of patents is known as the “agent rank patents“. They all focus on identifying agents online.
“Agents” could be a lot of different things, like an author, or a brand, or different bits of data. Once those agents are identified, Google then can measure their trustworthiness, authority, and determine their influence on search engine rankings accordingly.
Algorithms can’t measure trustworthiness, authority, and relevancy, but they can follow the way people measure them.
So the core idea behind this ranking system is identifying individual agents, watching their interactions with each other and information, and ranking that information according to the interaction observed.
How would Google go about identifying those authority agents?
For a few years after the original filing in 2005, Agent Rank patents remained just an idea.
In 2011, Eric Schmidt stated that it was still Google’s goal to identify agents in order to improve search quality, stating “it would be useful if we had strong identity so we could weed (spammers) out.”
The following month (September 2011), Google filed a continuation patent referencing a “portable identity platform”, which sounds a whole lot like Google+ – profiles that form a digital signature system of sorts.
Google+ allows Google to do what they set out to do in 2005: attribute content to specific “agents” and rank them.
Additional Reading on Author Rank
Author Rank – AJ Kohn, BlindFiveYearOld.com
Google Authorship, Author Rank and Social SEO with Mark Traphagen – Martin Shervington at martinshervington.com
How to Prepare for Author Rank and Get the Jump on Google – Mike Arnesen at Moz.com
When Is Author Rank Coming?
It doesn’t matter when it’s coming because once it does, it’ll be too late.
Sites that have been carefully crafting their influence as powerful content creators, building their future Author Rank will undoubtedly have an upper hand and will float to the top of search engine rankings as a result.
If you’ve done nothing, you’ll be left behind. That simple.
It won’t be a penalty like Panda or Penguin, but it might as well feel like one.
As AJ Kohn said:
“Author Rank could be more disruptive than all of the Panda updates combined…
Panda will feel like a speedbump if Google can implement a fully realized version of AuthorRank.”
Update: Google Author Rank might be here now.
Author Rank and PageRank
Google+ profiles are web pages, and as such, they can be ranked on Google just like any other web page AND they have/pass PageRank like any other web page.
Yes, your Google+ profile can be (and should be) optimized just like any other site.
Yes, it can gain authority and pass that authority in the form of PageRank to other sites you link out to from your Google+ profile – your main site, for instance.
Yes, it can be a powerful tool in your SEO toolbox.
Yes, it will help you to increase your future Author Rank.
What’s Your Google+ Profile PR?
You used to be able to easily see your Google+ profile PageRank in the Google toolbar, but it’s not the case any longer.
Now, in order for you to check your PR, you’ll need to copy your Google+ profile URL (it would look something like this: https://plus.google.com/115854344437995415484/), and check it through a site like prchecker.net.
Just to give you a point of reference, my current Google+ profile PR is 3. Most SEOs will tell you that pages with PR between 3 and 6 are generally doing pretty well and show a lot of authority.
What’s your Google+ PR? Let me know in comments.
How to Increase Your Google+ Profile PR
It stands to reason that there are two main ways that Google+ profiles and pages gain their PageRank:
- through links from authority pages around the web – the “old fashioned” way.
- other Google+ profiles – Google can obviously easily track any interaction between Google+ profiles and any mention would be considered a “link”.
Here are some practical ways to increase your Google+ profile PR and visibility:
1. Make it your only social media connection on your main site.
As I said in my post on how to get more Facebook fans, DON’T do this:
Too many choices lead to making NO choice.
Instead, choose ONE social media network you want to build and stick with it.
Do you want to get more Twitter followers? Then make it all about Twitter.
Are you working on getting more Facebook fans? Then Facebook it is.
Do you want to build Google+ presence? Yep, you got it.
2. Link to your Google+ profile from other social media accounts.
Most social media platforms allow you to interlink your social media accounts. Make sure your interlink your Google+ profile with as many as you can.
3. Link to your Google+ profile from guest posts
Most bloggers allow their guest bloggers to use 2 links in their author bio.
I’d recommend that one of them should go to your optin landing page (like this one for Traffic Generation Café) and the second one – to your Google+ profile.
4. Ask bloggers currently linking to you
If you are writing killer content, other bloggers are bound to link to it. Why not ask them to add a link to your Google+ profile in their mentions?
As a matter of fact, that’s what I am planning on doing from now on. It takes a bit of leg work, but might be well-worth it at the end.
5. Install Google+ comments
Now that it’s possible to add Google+ comments to many blogging platforms, including WordPress, I highly recommend you do it.
You don’t have to sacrifice the native WordPress comment system; you can simply add Google+ comment system as an alternative, like you see in my comment section below.
For instructions on how to add Google+ comments, check out Kim Castleberry’s How To Add Google+ Comments To WordPress Easily.
I use Google+ Comments by Alex Moss here at Traffic Generation Café.
6. Publish mini blog posts to your Google+ profile
This is one thing that I love about Google+ – no one is looking for 140-character long updates.
It’s OK to publish more. It’s OK to express your thoughts. It’s OK to rant. It’s OK to use Google+ as a mini blogging platform.
It’s not only OK, but it’s good for engagement, brand visibility, Author Rank, etc.
People will link to those updates just like they would link to a blog post.
Additional Reading
Google Plus SEO: Everybody’s Talks About It – How Do You DO It? – Mark Traphagen at windmillnetworking.com
10 Dead Simple Tips to Take Advantage of Google+ for SEO – Cyrus Shepard at Moz.com
Where Google+ Fits in
Why You Need Google+ Rant
Google+ is not yet another feeble attempt for Google to break into social media market.
According to Google’s Senior Vice President of Social Vic Gundotra:
“You have to understand what Google+ is. It’s really the unification of all of Google’s services, with a common social layer.”
Why Google+ is so important to Google?
Data mining.
- the more people create Google+ accounts, the more of them surf internet logged into Google.
- this allows Google to track their interests very closely.
- the data collected allows Google to better tailor and personalized both organic and paid search results.
- the more on-target the search results are, the more responsive the search engine users will be.
- as a result, the user satisfaction is up, causing those users to come back to Google again and again.
In Guy Kawasaki’s book, “What the Plus“, he writes:
“…Google+ is to Facebook and Twitter what Macintosh is to Windows: better, but fewer people use it…”
I also love how +Mike Elgan described the difference between Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ in his How I view Twitter, Facebook and Google+ post on Google+ (great example of mini blogging on Google+):
“Twitter is Penn Station.
…Yes, there is some content on Twitter, just as there is “content” at Penn Station (restaurants, Madison Square Garden, etc.), but it’s lightweight content designed for people in a hurry.
Like Penn Station, Twitter is useful, valuable and necessary, but mostly as a conveyer of minds from one place that isn’t Twitter to another place that isn’t Twitter.
Facebook is Long Island.
Like Long Island, Facebook is a great place to live if you want to spend your time with family and friends.
And like Long Island, Facebook is an island.
Google+ is New York City.
Like New York City, Google+ is a huge, beautiful, vibrant, multi-cultural engine of ideas.
Like New York City, Google+ is a great destination and a great place to live for people who want to meet interesting new people all the time, create and publish content and be intellectually stimulated…”
Google+ has also outgrown Twitter as the second largest social media platform.
Google+ and Author Rank
Now that we (hopefully) understand the difference and correlation between Google Authorship, Author Rank, and PageRank, it’s impossible to ignore Google+ and its role in the future of SEO.
As I mentioned above, Google+ became the perfect platform for Google to develop their digital signature system that they can use to track authors (“agents”) and their content, watch the interaction between authors and content, and rank those authors accordingly (i.e. assign Author Rank).
If Author Rank is the brain, then Google+ is the muscle that will transform SEO in the (near) future.
TL;DR You need to be there. You need to be on Google+.
The State of My Google+ Profile
Just to level the playing field here, I have, for all intents and purposes, abandoned my Google+ profile.
I created it back when Google+ first started, but haven’t given it much attention since then.
I’ve been using all the familiar excuses of…
- I don’t have enough time for yet another social media platform;
- not as many people are using Google+;
- etc, etc, etc.
However, as a big fan of search engine traffic and after doing extensive research on Author Rank and what it means for the future of SEO, I see no choice, but to do what I should’ve done a long time ago – start actively building my Google+ presence.
Here are my starting stats:
- I haven’t customized my profile to keep up with any Google+ changes;
- I haven’t done much SEO for my profile (yes, you can optimize your Google+ profile to show up on Google for your desired search terms);
- roughly 12,000 have me in their circles;
- I post randomly and mostly links to my own posts;
- I don’t track engagement in any way, although I’ve become better since installing Google+ comments at Traffic Generation Café;
- my referral traffic from Google+ is abysmal – most other social media networks are way ahead of it.
I can definitely do better than that.
As +Bruce Bates said this morning:
Too bad “deserving” doesn’t automatically translate to “getting it”…
Oh well, I guess I’ll have to do it the old-fashioned way – by giving it all I’ve got.
Today, I am starting to follow my own advice and dive into Google+.
YOU?
Here’s some additional reading to help you.
How to Start Using Google+
… or kick it up a notch.
Google Plus Bite-Sized Tutorial for the Busy Marketer – Ana Hoffman at Traffic Generation Café
The Ultimate Google+ Quickstarter Guide (VIDEO) – Martin Shervington at martinshervington.com
The Ultimate Guide to Google Plus Posts – Martin Shervington at martinshervington.com
The Ultimate List of Google+ Tips – Amy Lynn Andrews at bloggingwithamy.com
The Official Google Plus Translation Guide – Rand Wilson on Google+
How to Build Your Author Rank: Checklist
Let’s get back to Author Rank before I let you go and take a look at some things you can do today to increase your Author Rank.
1. Establish Google Authorship
Make sure you create that tie between your online identity and your content.
Once again, here’s how to set up your content to be eligible for Google Authorship.
2. Write Killer Content
Create memorable content in your niche – the kind of stuff you want to be known for.
You won’t be recognized as an authority in something you are actually not an authority in. Makes perfect sense, yet somehow it hasn’t sunk in for many online business owners.
Actually becoming an expert in your field is the first huge leap to being recognized as such by others.
TL;DR Don’t write anything that’s not worth reading.
3. Specialize
Author Rank is a very topic-centered concept.
As an author, you can earn different Author Rank in different topic areas.
Define your area of expertise and stick with it.
If you try to develop your Author Rank in one too many areas, it might end up being fairly weak in a lot of different topics instead of strong in one.
That’s how Google relevancy works: the more specific to a topic you are, the better chances are that Google (and your readers) will recognize you as one as well.
4. Promote your Google+ Profile
Once again, your Google+ profile is your author hub and Google uses it to tie your content together.
It only makes sense to promote it like you would your website itself.
Optimize it.
Mention it.
Build links to it.
5. Find/connect with Google+ influencers in your niche
To make this step easier, here’s your first influencer to add to your circles:
Author Rank: Marketing Takeaway
Is Author Rank a reality today?
No. But it’s no longer about if it happens, but when.
And when it happens, you want to be there; no question about it.
TL;DR Start working on your Author Rank today or you could be too late tomorrow.
PS TL;DR stands for “too long; didn’t read” 😉
Hi Ana,
I found your article very interesting, you have written this post beautifully. Is Author rank is effective in 2016?
Hi, Vijay – I definitely need to update this post.
Author Rank as it is described in this post – adding a rel=”author” to a link to your Google+ profile from a page you write at, or linking to pages you contribute to from your Google+ profile – is no longer used by Google; mostly because the adoption rate was too low.
However, I don’t believe for a second Google abandoned their plans to pursue something similar to Author Rank as in ‘the concept of author authority in search results’ – possibly referred to as Authoritative Rank, as reflected in a patent filed by Google in 2015 (http://tgcafe.it/2brdnTv).
For further reading on the subject, let me suggest Mark Traphagen’s post at Moz.com http://bit.ly/2bWYCt8.
Thanks for your reply!
Pleasure, Vijay.
Looks like you just can’t simply ignore Google+. In recent days, I have been circled by many, would you suggest I reciprocate and circle them too?
It really would not be wise to ignore it, Shalu.
I think Google+ relationships are similar to those on Twitter – sure you can circle everyone who’s circled you and then some, but you really want to circle people for a reason.
Thanks for this excellent post. Authorship is about writing, right? “Write Killer Content”. Now let’s imagine I am the best aesthetic surgeon in LA but I am totally useless at writing. Why Google would penalize my ranking regardless my author rank? The author rank does not reflect the technical skill people may look for when they click the search button…
Good point, Arun.
However, when that plastic surgeon creates his website, he needs to add a lot of information about his services, what he does, how he does it, etc. That’s content, right? Granted it’s not exactly what Google looks for for Author Rank, but then again, I don’t think that Author Rank is the sole ranking criteria of the future; far from it.
I never cared much about my social media presence on Google plus, I actually thought including my google plus profile in my guest posts would be a waste of PR link juice.
I think you should reconsider that, Gautham.
I must admit Ana, that I’m very much like you were. While I’ve created my profile quite some time ago, I’ve not really done anything with it. You’ve inspired me to go back and revisit my G+ account, however I’m going to have to re-read this a few times to let everything sink in. Your posts are always jam packed with incredible information. Thank you!
Just read a SMX Advanced recap here http://www.bruceclay.com/blog/2013/06/smx-advanced-2013-recap/ and here’s an excerpt:
Definitely would make the effort to get back into it, Annemarie.
Hi Ana, Thanks for sharing this comprehensive explanation citing the difference of Google Authorship and Google Authorank. Somehow I understand each of their significance.
Nice article, I am also thinking of using Google Plus comments on my blog. BTW I had found a great plugin named Social Comment that allows us to use Facebook + Google + Disqus + WordPress comments all in one go. This one is highly customizable too. 🙂
Yes, I saw that one as well.
However, in my experience, the more choice you give to readers, the less likely they are to make a choice.
Yeah, I think you are right.
Can I get some more help from you.
I run a Tech blog and getting nearly 1000 visits daily, any way to boost up traffic.
And secondly any other way of monetization apart from Adsense ? I guess affiliate marketing doesn’t work well in Tech Blogs.
Looking forward to hear from you soon. 🙂
There are always ways to boost traffic, and nothing I can help with in a comment. 😉 You can start here: https://trafficgenerationcafe.com/increase-website-traffic-guide/
Paid advertising would be another way. Have you tried Amazon tech products?
I was not aware that you can measure your page rank from G+. Mine is at the moment PR1. Until recently I was not so active in G+ but after reading your post I will definitely doing more there.
Yes, G+ can definitely pass PageRank to your site, Bruno.
I must confess I am overwhelmed…
I have been trying to understand this post, but so far I have not managed (but that’s most definitely me 😀 )
In any case I have opened a G+ business account which I didn’t have before and am trying to understand how to get my logo (rather than my unflattering picture) next to my posts.
However said that, the big question, is G+ worth my while? I get about half of my traffic form FB and I remain to be convinced that G+ can match that (there could be a geographical problem here… I know very few people who actually use G+ in my niche and in general in my language). And even if it could, where could I find the time to follow yet another social? FB (which, BTW, I hate) is EXTREMELY time consuming and there are so many tasks to carry out already that even thinking of adding another commitment, like yet another social, scares me off.
Last, but not least, not so long ago you yourself Ana were posting about Twitter and how key that was, and you were trying to make inroads on FB as well, but now G+ seems to be the latest fad. Why should this be any different than a passing fad?
If you want to tap into search engine traffic, Andrea, then G+ is very important, if not for immediate traffic, then for potential SEO benefits.
You can’t get a logo shown in search engine results; authors are people, not brands. For instance, Forbes is a brand, but when something from Forbes comes up in search results, their brand can’t show up next to that result; it will be a picture of the author who actually wrote that piece.
I understand about the lack of time, trust me; we all have to deal with prioritizing our engagement. In the end, only you will know which social media platform works best for YOUR business (one size never fits all). You have to test them.
Anna,
Once again a superb article.
Being quite new to SEO and blogging in general I am not sure how I can benefit from having my Google+ infos showing next to the search result. In one hand I fear it will put people away in another hand if I do not do it ASAP it is a lost in a long run.
Any thoughts about this?
Carla
Every site in any niche will benefit from the markup, Carla; it’ll make you stand out in the search results = bring in more people, and yes, I think it’s very important for your business in the long run.
Oh… here is the non-G+ comment section. I’ve never seen a G+ comment section on a blog before. I only know the clickable icon. What inspired you to create a G+ comment section and not a FB comment section, for instance; and why give that prominence? Because most of your readers are on it? Or is it because of the author rank? I’m curious…
Hey, Ari; pleasure to see you in my neck of the woods.
I’ve tested an FB commenting system a while ago, but haven’t gotten much benefit from it. My readers didn’t really use it much, it was never syncing properly with FB, etc.
As soon as G+ comments became available for WP, I installed it just to see how it does at Traffic Generation Café – before I ever did my research on Author Rank.
Now that I’ve done my research on Author Rank, plus saw a 25% increase in G+ traffic, I am sold.
The comments sync seamlessly with G+, I get a lot more comments, and see new faces, including you.
Hi Ana,
First let me kiss ass a bit and admit that you’re my Number 1 source of SEO content online; more like my one-stop shop for everything. But moving on swiftly, am trying to get back in the game after a long lay-off and was interested in shifting my main social media presence to Google+.
I managed to verify my account but noticed that Google+ added my website to my profile instead of my blog seeing as l added the prefix ‘blog’ to my domain. In order to go around this, l added my blog directly to the ‘Contributor To’ section.
So will Google still verify authorship of posts on my blog?
Your help is highly appreciated.
Thank you, Mugalavai. 😉
Your blog extension is simply a subdomain and Google Authorship will encompass all sub-pages of your domain, including your subdomain.
So far, it looks like your Authorship hasn’t shown up for either your domain or sub-domain; if, for some reason, it’ll show up for one, but not the other, then you can see what’s going on.
Truer words have never been spoken. Google is about to make a major play for social media and search, like you said, it’s better to be riding that train before they complete this task.
There’s also a lot of plugins that can help someone with their Google Authorship if they’re like me and not that tech smart.
Great informative post!
Very true, Wade – it used to be a challenge to properly claim your Authorship, but it’s a piece of cake these days.
Another goody from Ana! My Google+ engagement/activity is what it could be either. I have to be honest. I would just rather write content and post videos to YouTube without having to deal with all the tools, add-ons, etc. Sometimes I miss the old days! LOL But I do agree that AuthorRank is coming and will be here to stay!
The analogy with Penn Station, Long Island, etc. was clever!
I am the same, Lisa – I just want to write. Too bad the rules of promotion still apply whatever the blog. lol
I’m recently using the Google+ comments as well and find it really great for engagement. I’m also digging into some old comments and interactions at Google+ that now appear on my own blog and restart the conversations 🙂
As to Author Rank thanks for the exceptional information as usual Ana 🙂 Setting up the authorship markup properly is what every blogger should do at the very minimum. Having a professional Google+ profile page is very important too! I have to work on mine – still haven’t even updated the cover 🙁
Now that I am using the G+ comments, I keep thinking why didn’t I do this sooner. Loving it.
And yes, I’ve been hanging out on G+ a lot more these days and my traffic stats already reflect that. I must say I enjoy it much more than Twitter or Facebook.
Thanks for coming by, Jane!
Apparently, someone is using Reddit too now.
Apart from that, great post.
I’ve been using G+ since Day one (or rather day 12 or 13) and not only it’s the best social network around, but also… everything else you said about it. 🙂
Great post.
Thank you, David.
Not sure what the Reddit comment was about though.
I always assumed “TL;DR” came from Reddit, but maybe not.
I don’t really know; I “borrowed” it from AJ Kohn’s blog BlindFiveYearOld.com.
Hi Ana,
Thanks for sharing all the awesome info and for the shout out of course!
I just found another brilliant use of Google+ comments. It was super simple for me to just hover over the profiles of everyone who shared and commented on Google + and just add them to circles. I felt like a butterfly floating over the page and stopping for a little nectar on my way down.
It was effortless.
Speaking of that, I’m not sure you saw my video about the two extensions you can use to uncircle people who haven’t circled you back as well as those who haven’t been active.
Let me know if you need the link!
It’s those little discoveries that make our day! Thanks for letting me know, Ileane, and yes, I’d love the link to the video.
Ana,
The video is Google Plus Tip: How to CLEAN UP Your Circles on Google +
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mqnmndz_ATU
Enjoy!
Great tip, Ileane – cleaned up my circles!
Ana, detailed but useful guide about author rank. Author rank is key factor these days which is considered to be important according to blog or website traffic.
I never knew that G+ pages could pass link juice..That is great.I wonder whether the links placed will be do follow..Going to give it a try…Thanks for the info Ana.
That is something that is pretty interesting to me too. I would have never thought about that although it makes sense that it would.
Most of the links in your about page don’t seem to be juice passing, but it “seems” that the link section is juice passing. I think it is just my plugin playing games.
I really like the idea of just promoting one social network, and in terms of SEO Google+ is definitely the way to go on this one.
By using the G+ comments it seems as if people are more likely to engage as well, or at least it’s easier to tell.
Random addition that came to mind.
How will author rank be affected when you have two Google accounts.
That is something that I have been thinking about because I have two accounts with different identities. Do I abandon one and focus on the other even though they focus on different things?
Sorry. bit ranty today it seems
No at all, Iain.
It comes down to the niche – if the two accounts are in different niches, you can establish yourself as an author and authority in both and have two different Author Ranks.
Of course, it only makes sense if the accounts focus on different subjects; otherwise, why would you even have two?
What do you mean by “it seems” to be juice passing – do you mean it’s dofollow? As far as I can see and know, all links at the moment are dofollow and fully indexable and rankable.
Here’s my thinking about G+ comments: it definitely has a much broader rich and now that they seem “to be in” (more and more bloggers are installing them), more and more people are willing to use them over the native WP system. It’s good for the readers (not only do they get their face in front of my other readers, but in front of my G+ audience as well, since the comments are synced with G+); it’s definitely good for the bloggers (a lot more exposure as well).
I think the reason why so many people are installing them is because the SEO value that G+ can provide to the website itself.
In terms of my two Google accounts. I have one that is farming related and one that is more geared towards English. The problem I run into is that my main account is the English one, so I am logged in as that one when I circle or share :S
Yes, I was talking about do follow. It was early in the morning, so I made a mistake. Sorry about that.
A couple of things, Iain:
1. There’s no direct SEO benefit from having G+ embedded on your blog. The benefit comes from increasing your engagement on G+, which in turn might have a favorable effect on your site SEO. Just wanted to make sure you are on the same page.
2. When you are in G+ and you see your pic in the top right corner next to your email, do you see that little drop-down arrow to the right of your pic? If you click on it, it allows you to switch between G+ accounts. Have you tried that?
We are on the same page. I was referring to social search by Google. By getting more interaction with people on G+ it would increase the likelihood of you showing up in their searches. It may not be all of the time, but it will increase by some amount.
I know about switching I just often forget to, which is the annoying part.
I know what you mean; I’ve got the same problem with two YouTube accounts.
They are dofollow as of right now.
Great information, and yes, I myself love the tl;dr abbreviation too lolol 😀
Hi and thanks Ana for pointing out your latest article on G+.
I’ve had little time lately, so it’s good to catch up fresh news.
Like how you’re paving the way to Emma, a future blogger too? 😉
I’m trying to “move” more my Google + and this article fits perfect 🙂
It’s evident that G+ is linked more than never to SEO, like it or not.
How was your experience adding Google+ comments until now? Have you seen concrete benefits?
Cheers,
Gera
Pleasure to see you in my neck of the woods, Gera; it’s been a while indeed.
Just check my G+ stats in Google Analytics and my traffic from there went up by 26% since I started using comments a couple of weeks ago. I also see new people popping up at Traffic Generation Café – can’t be bad.
Yep, a while. I was reading your articles often, but no time to comment 😉
Good to hear concrete results with Google+ comments. I’m seeing them everywhere, but I wondered how effective they are, it seems they worth installing…
Thanks for the reply and fresh data – plus have a great weekend ahead Ana!
Ana, a very comprehensive article with lots of value. Thanks very much.
I wasn’t aware that author rank will potentially be so key to an overall online strategy. I need to get focussed on this! 🙂
You are so very welcome, Jamie; thanks for the comment.
I don’t buy that it is not relevant today. I have a relatively young authority site in a somewhat competitive niche.
I noticed a significant bump in indexed pages/organic traffic after I linked it to my Google + profile. I also have a site page on Google and I am not sure how much that is helping.
However, ever since the search results started showing my picture on them, rankings and traffic have increased drastically.
Can’t think of any other initiative I engaged in that may have caused this.
Not sure what I said that sounded like it was irrelevant today, Sunil, but my point was just the opposite: it’s extremely relevant TODAY and the sooner we start working on our Author Rank, the better.
This, is an amazing article about authorship and about the importance of Google+. I don’t agree with the opening part about building the authorship of your child, but thats more a personal parenting choice than anything else. This post is AMAZING, as are all your posts.
I really do look forward to more interactions with you!
I was only half serious about Emma’s Author Rank, although she is thinking of starting a blog. 😉
And thanks for the thumbs up!