3 top tips for Google Authorship

This little article is not about how to install and set-up Google Authorship but a quick overview of what it is, what the benefits are, and 3 tips to make sure you get maximum benefit out of it.

What is Google Authorship

Google Authorship is essentially an internet identification that links your Google Plus profile with websites and webpages on the internet. You can link the sites you own and your publications on other sites to your Google Plus profile.

What’s the point in Google Authorship?

The real benefit of Google Authorship is having your face appear next to your website listed on Google’s SERPs (search engine results pages). It is proven that this added media on the search listings increases the CTR (click through rate) of that listing. Higher CTR, more website visits.

3 top tips for Google Authorship

1. Grow your Circles. From my experience of the latest changes to Google Authorship to decrease abuse of the system is to increase the number of people following you on Google Plus, i.e. grow your Circles. A ballpark figure at the moment seems to be around 50+ followers (based on 2014 experiences) to ensure that the Google Plus profile starts showing.

2. Use Google Plus seriously. Don’t just use Google Plus for the added CTR. As Google pushes to increase the usage of Google Plus it has already pushed the bar higher on the requirements of getting your photo shown on Google SERPs. I assume this will be the case for the foreseeable future. So use Google Plus properly as a business/social network.

3. A Good Photo. A bad quality photo can inadvertently reduce your CTR. People are sociable creatures so having a friendly looking high-resolution photo will help. Just remember that the photo that shows up in Google SERPs is the same photo you uploaded as your Google Plus profile photo. A bright vivid background is a great idea to draw searchers eyes to your listing.