Value of Establishing Authorship

A lot of people wonder, how do I get my picture to appear beside the search results for articles, content and websites with which I'm associated? The answer is establishing authorship and publisher credentials for your website and for the content you create.

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It's easy to see the value in having a picture beside a search result, as more people are likely to click on content with images and videos, but what beyond that?

Last week, at the SMX West conference, Search Engine Land founder Danny Sullivan asked the head of Google search, Amit Singhal, "You say you are not using anything like an AuthorRank now. Why not use "AuthorRank" in the future? Would it not add value?" Amit replied, "Possible it could."

That vague response reaffirms what many already believe-not only is AuthorRank in the works, but it will definitely help your SEO efforts and assist you in establishing yourself as an authority in certain areas.

Google's head of spam, Matt Cutts, has hinted that establishing authorship is being picked up and used by the crawler, albeit in small doses. "To be fair, it does come into play in some ways. For example, in-depth articles use that data, I'm pretty sure," Cutts said.

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In December of last year, Google said that they were cutting back on some author photos to make sure they appeared at relevant times. From Google: "We rolled out new algorithms designed to show author photos when they're more likely to be relevant and interesting."

The future of Google Authorship Rank to help SEO is still being perfected. But one thing we do know is that putting your face next to your words certainly doesn't hurt, especially if you want more traffic, exposure and authority.

 

Sources: Google.com, SMX West

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