Do Just One Thing to Start Getting More Blog Traffic

Do You Know That Google Authorship Can Get More Traffic for Your Website’s Blog?

Maybe you noticed the name and photo of a page’s author showing up on some search results in Google. Have you ever wondered why people’s profile pictures are showing up there?

Here is a screen shot showing Google Authorship with the Google search: "Joomla upgrades WI"

If Google determines that a blog article or a page is owned by someone who has a Google+ profile, the author name and profile is shown next to the website’s search result.

How do they get this to show up?

There is a way to get your Google+ picture/profile to show up in search results. You can do this by adding a piece of Google Authorship code along with a link to the website content you own.

So what is Google Authorship and why are people interested in it?

Author Rich Snippets or Google Authorship gives your website content a robust, first impression. Adding an author code snippet to your website allows people to see who the owner is behind a website’s content.

With the advent of Google Authorship data, we see hundreds of authors link their content with their Google+ profile. Doing this will attract more attention to YOUR website on search results. This will definitely make a huge difference by generating more users clicking on links to get to your pages.

Requirements to set up Google Authorship on a Website

There are just 2 steps required to set up Google Authorship on your website:

1. Set up a personal Google+ profile
   You can add general information on this profile. A recognizable profile name along with a good quality photo is required for this page.
2. Create the link to your website
   You then have to verify authorship using an email address on the same domain as your content.

What if you don't have an email set up with your domain name?

If you don’t have an email address with your domain address, you can follow the steps below to verify Authorship for your website:

1. Link your content to your Google profile
2. Link to your content from your profile

Let us see how to get these things implemented on your website:

Link your content to your Google profile

A small piece of code needs to be added to the website to link it to the author’s Google+ profile.

Create a link to your Google profile from your webpage, like this:

  <a href="[profile_url]?rel=author">Google</a>

Here you have to replace the [profile_url] with your Google+ profile URL - like this:

  <a href="https://plus.google.com/109412257237874861202?    rel=author">Google</a>

Link to your content from your profile

The second step of the verification process is to link both your profile and the website.

Follow the steps below to link your Google profile:

1. Sign in to your Google profile page.
2. Under “Edit Profile” click the “Contributor To” section on the right and then click "Add custom link." This section should contain the list of websites you own along with the list of websites where you provide regular content.
3. If you want, you can change the visibility of your link by clicking the drop-down list. Once you save it, this information gets updated on your Google+ profile.

Benefits of Google Authorship

There are several benefits of implementing authorship snippets on your website. The benefits are huge in terms of influence, visibility, conversion and clicks:

Higher click-through rates and hence, higher conversion

Pages that have authorship markup implemented will show additional information about your website on the search results. Consider the example below:

You can see additional information about the author here. This will create more interest and helps to make your website more compelling and this helps to generate clicks.

Greater impact on search

A website that has Google Authorship implemented grabs more attention when comparing with the other websites on the organic search listing. This naturally increases user engagement on your website.

Higher visibility on search

If there is a photo placed in the front of your website’s listing, it makes people look at it more. This makes your website stand out from normal search results.

Searchenginewatch.com has added an article about Eye Tracking for Authorship websites on organic search results. Please find the article below which talks more about it:

https://www.searchenginejournal.com/eye-tracking-study-importance-using-google-authorship-search-results/71207/

The article says that Authorship implemented websites has received almost the majority of the attention which is greater than the paid ads and other normal websites. Even people don’t consider watching the very first organic result.

Better display quality

Google ranks websites with verified Google+ profiles higher than ordinary websites without Authorship. It increases the visualization of your business listing and the likelihood that someone will click on that result.

Adding relationship with owner of content

You can build brand awareness when people find your website by looking at your profile picture. People will be able to recognize you when you add more and more content to your website. A good website with a valuable content will surely bring in more +1 on your Google+ profile. People might also wish to share your content on other social networks. This will naturally increase the reputation of your website.

Avoid being copied and deter plagiarism

With Authorship spam (when people copy your content), original authors will be given more importance and spam content websites will be pushed to the back on search results.

Ownership recognition and building trust

When your website shows up with a recognized Google+ page with a clear headshot, it will separate you from the list of other faceless content creators. This will gain more reputation for your website. As a matter of time this will bring more trust and get you good recognition among your competitors.

Conclusion

To sum up, Google Authorship takes the impact of a personal Google Plus account a step further. When you set up Authorship, Google can relate the content you publish across the Web with your Google Plus profile; this helps to establish authority and credibility. Also, when your content shows in organic search, Google will include a link as part of the listing that allows searchers to see the other content you have created.

So the first and foremost thing required is a good looking Google+ profile. Don't have a Google+ profile? Contact Webstix today and we would love to help you set this up.

The benefit for anyone building a personal brand is obvious: your content can achieve greater exposure by setting up Google Authorship. Start taking advantage of this great tool.