How to use Google Authorship to lift your search ranking

Google Authorship was created to increase transparency and credibility of the content on the web. It enables writers to “claim” their own content, meaning they get credited for their original work and the host site gains credibility from the content it publishes.

In time, it will hopefully limit plagiarism on the web, improve the quality of high ranking content and boost search rankings for authors using it correctly.

What is Google Authorship?

Google Authorship links original content to the Google+ profile of the writer of that content. Google has suggested that in time, verified content will be rewarded, while anonymous content will get pushed down in the search results. In other words, Google Authorship is likely to become a powerful SEO tool.

It will help to increase transparency on the web and sharply increase the adoption and use of Google+.

How to make it work for you

For now, the best thing you can do is verify the writers for your site (see below) and keep producing quality, original content.

Ultimately, Google’s algorithm will fish out the top content by the theoretical “Author Rank”, (the term used to describe the search results from Authorship). For example, in the same way back-links from higher traffic sites can improve your SEO, shares from higher-ranking authors can boost your own rank and subsequently, your site’s rank in search results.

How to get verified

The process of getting verified means refreshing or setting up your Google+ profile, including the sites you and your writers contribute to (external and your own), then creating a web of links between your profile and those sites.

It’s easier than it sounds! Bloomtools ‘Blog Manager’ allows you to add Authors to your blog posts. When authors are added, a picture of the author will display in Google’s search results.

As with all things digital and social media, the best thing you can do is aim for high quality, authentic content that will intrigue and engage your community. Be “real” and the rankings will come.