by Mary Klest
If you or someone in your company is a subject matter expert (SME) with an ability to write for an audience, Google Authorship content can bring you one step closer to building trust and authority outside of your current professional network. This is a good reason to join Google+ if you have not already. By displaying author information in search results Google’s intent is to decipher and make available high quality content for search users. They also want to build the Google+ network.
Personalize Search Results
A Google Authorship annotation looks and functions better than regular Google search results. It includes a photo. This tells the searcher it was written by a person, not an organization. The photo shows the person’s gender and approximate age. It personalizes your content before it is even clicked on. The annotation also includes two author links that serve different purposes. Here is what such an annotation looks like for my search term “SEO Training Classes”:
Increase Your Following
Before clicking on the title link hover your cursor over the “by (author name)” link. You are invited to add the author to your Google+ circles. As an author, you can increase your following dramatically this way. If the author is already in one of your circles it will show that. Note the number of circles the author is listed on as well. This indicates how connected the person may be.
Click on “by (author name)” and the content created for the title link appears. Click on the “More by (author name)” link and you see a listing of annotations by that author as in the example below.
I like Google Authorship’s ability to give users a snapshot view of an author’s published work on the Web. It also gives authors the ability to add and share their work as they see fit.
Find Journalists & Share Information
Articles written by journalists with a Google+ profile appear in Google News with their profile added. Lots of reporters writing for Forbes appear in Google News search lists. By clicking on Eric Savitz’s name I learn he is the San Francisco Bureau chief for Forbes magazine. I see his email address and add him to one of my circles.
Look for journalists who cover your topics. Build a relationship by sharing information on your area of expertise. You may be quoted in influential media and generate good publicity for yourself.
Weigh Your Influence With Google Social Reports
Authors need to create high quality content and be mindful of what audience they want to reach. Google recently bought PostRank and is rolling out social reports in Google Analytics. You can analyze traffic, optimize engagement, and make data-driven decisions. In Google+ you can also see what impact the content has had by using Google Ripples. It shows you who shared the content publicly, how it’s doing over time and other statistics.
If you want to get started here’s how to link your content to your Google + profile and get your content annotated in search results. Two different methods can be used depending on whether or not your Google + email address holds the same domain name as the site where your content appears.
These are just a few ways Google Authorship content can magnify your subject matter expertise. Are you ready to share it?
