If you maintain your own blog or contribute articles to outside websites (i.e. your employer), our latest online marketing how to is for you. Today we share a way to take credit for your hard work, build your personal brand, and increase your following. Furthermore, if you are the employer and run content marketing for your organization, today’s tip will make you stand out in search results and improve SERP clickthroughs.
What is Google Authorship?
Google is “piloting” a program that allows content creators to take credit for their articles in the form of a link to their Google+ profile and a thumbnail of their profile photo that appears in Google search results. I use the term “piloting” loosely because Google is still referencing their authorship markup this way as of January 17. The truth is, this functionality has been around for several months, but much like Google+, it has been almost constantly evolving. There are a couple of ways to achieve Google Authorship, but this is how we do it at the Online Sports Marketing Guy blog….
How do I add Google Authorship to my own articles?
1. Sign all of your articles with your full name, followed immediately (no space) with a +
2. Add the following link to your signature, replacing the string of numbers with your (personal) Google+ profile number: https://plus.google.com/110517689843443562034?rel=author
3. In your (personal) Google+ profile, add the website you are writing for in the “Contributor to” section
4. Tell Google you want authorship credit by filling out the authorship request form
5. Sit back and bask in your newfound online fame.
Why would I want to go through the trouble of adding Google Authorship to my articles?
Granted, giving Google+ a free shoutout on all of your articles is a bit of an annoyance, but if you scratch Google’s back, they will scratch yours. Here is a prime example from my personal experience (and the only example you need) as to why you should add the Google Authorship markup to your signature. Here are the current search results for the term “NFL Cost Per Win”:
That’s little ol’ me, twice, above Forbes, ESPN, and the NFL. The best part is, these results show up like this regardless of whether or not you are signed into Google+ and even if you haven’t added me to your circles.
How long does Google Authorship take to show up in search results?
Google makes no guarantee that your Google Authorship will ever show up. I was wary of this fact, especially because I am in less than 100 Google+ circles, so I only retroactively added Google Authorship to my previous 10 articles. My authorship credit began showing up within about three weeks. I recommend giving it a try with a handful of articles; you can always remove the Google+ reference if you never see results.
Signed,
Ryan Sleeper+, Online Sports Marketing Guy