Google Authorship has undergone some major changes over the last few months. Originally, it was seen as a way for bloggers and Web writers to get their content ranked highly on search engines. While this is still the case, the effectiveness of Authorship was cut by Google’s algorithms, which put of an emphasis on quality and authority rather than tie-ins to Google+. Regardless, getting your content read by Google has never been easier.
Why SEO is Dangerous
A lot of bloggers and businesses will implement SEO, or search engine optimization, into their websites and publications. In essence, this is when a writer uses keywords that may or may not match up with searches. Over time, of course, Google has put less emphasis on SEO and actually punishes sites and blogs that over-utilize the system.
WordPress and other platforms, however, still allow bloggers to implement keywords with minimal effort and risk. While this is surely helpful, authors need to put more effort into producing quality content over SEO and keywords.
What Authorship Means
Due to Google’s recent push to return search results that are informative, high in quality, and match queries, Authorship was a way to do just this. Through Google+, writers and businesses were able to create accounts that tied their pictures and Google+ accounts to articles. These links, of course, were thrown higher up on search results and were a way for Google to position its dwindling social media platform.
Authorship articles tie in the writer’s photo, Google+ account, and links to other articles. It also allows readers to grant a “+1” to articles in order to add credibility. To put things simply, Authorship links are based on a writer’s previous publishing history rather than his or her websites and blogs.
Early on, Authorship was capable of boosting a person’s links by 30 to 150 percent. It was incredibly useful for SEO, too, and getting your content read by Google was never easier. Authorship also allowed writers to take advantage of guest posting, or when they write and host articles on other websites to enhance searchability.
Authorship Changes
In December, though, Google cut out a large number of photo-assigned articles and blogs. A new update requires authors to assign links that are associated with images and linked content. The search engine also put more emphasis on an author’s social activity, Google+ circles, and how many +1s and readers the author had in order to strengthen the likelihood of worthy articles showing up on results.
These changes reduced Authorship blogs by 20 to 40 percent — not a major cut, but noticeable by most. With new updates coming all of the time, Authorship is still a great tool for getting your content read by Google as long as you approach it the right way.
Authoring Quality Content
It all boils down to the quality that these authors produce. Google implemented many of these changes due to the fact that authors were abusing the system and getting ranked when they did not deserve it. Now, however, only the best articles have a chance to attract readers on organic searches.
Here are a few tips Authorship writers can use to bolster their rankings and to get their business-related content read:
- Utilize minimal SEO strategies and keywords through platforms like WordPress. Shy away from “trending tactics” and risky practices to avoid punishments.
- Maximize Google+ accounts and social activity to stay positioned high on Authorship results.
- Write articles with integrity and authority. Readers are more likely to share and grant +1s to blogs that are informative, entertaining, and unique.
- Publish content that is timely and trending as well as evergreen, or lasting. This increases an author’s overall results and active links to other content.
- Shoot for quality every time when writing for business or personal reasons.
At the end of the day, a Google author is only as effective as his or her content. Getting your content read by Google means that you write for a wide audience and publish only high-quality materials.
Photo by: DJ Thistle
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