Rel=author?? google auth?
-
Hi everyone, i need some help with this rel=author and google auth which has come into place. Some questions:
1., I write a blog on our e-commerce site, do i need rel=authort?
2., i write on other sites do i need rel=author
If so is there an easy way to implement this, i know it links in with the Google+ profile but i am confussed as i keep seeing different ways to do it.
I've also been told to do good auth, what is this? ive been given a piece of code to use in my site to auth it? is this worth it?
Any help really appreciated
-
Hi Guys,
I just wanted to add to what I have previously said as when I have dug a bit deeper into this, I have found some info that could go against what I have previously said.
You can use the rel=publisher tag alongside the rel=author tag on a webpage. With this in mind it would be a good idea to have the rel=publisher present on every page in your website to enable you to be eligible for Google's Direct Connect feature.
I found this out when looking through a Google forum and one of the Google Trend Analysts confirmed this by saying:
Hi guys
_just a few short comments: it's fine to have both a link rel=publisher and author-markup on the same page. The rel=publisher confirms that your website is the publisher of that Google+ Page; the authorship markup confirms that you (your personal profile) is the author of the content on that page. This markup can be used independently, since the meanings are slightly different. The issue with the Rich Snippets testing tool flagging this as an error is a bug on our side and should be resolved soon (sorry about the confusion caused by that!). _Cheers__John
Just thought I would share this with you all as it might help.
Matt.
-
It certainly makes sense. We are all in the dark at the moment to exactly how it will work, however, there have been a few tests that have been done to show that page authors have a direct effect upon SEO.
I would imagine that this will be the case for business pages too, however, for the likes of blog posts, etc, (i.e. content that is made by a specific individual within the business) it is best practise to author them to the page. Google is having a big push at linking who actually created the content on websites (and rightly so!), therefore they like it when this is done. Not only this, but it can help with click-through rates within the SERPs to have this.
Matt.
-
Say i auth with an individual employee on google+ and get gains from it when the algo takes it into consideration - what happens if they start letting company profiles auth with content? will i have messed the pages up, or do you think i could have reverted?
Surely Google will let you eventually auth a company google+ profile with content it has written, it makes sense as a company should write trusted and quality content.
-
Yes, but it is important to understand the power of authorship toward SEO. Google is placing more and more importance around actual authors of content when they decide up search engine rankings.
My advice would be to have the content of the business authored to a relevant employee (i.e. the CEO, the blogger, etc) and ensure that they are active on Google+.
This way, you can get a headstart on your competitors and have a powerful author rank.
Matt.
-
I want to tell users that our business wrote the content, doesn't seem to be a way to do that yet which is disappointing.
-
Yes, the rel=publisher tag is used for pages that would be displayed giving information about your business. For example, when you search 'SEOmoz', the company profile appears on the left side. This is because they have used the rel=publisher to link to their Google+ business page.
Use the rel=author for pages that have content on that was done by someone specific, i.e. a blog post, or in your case: holiday guides. This is when you link to your actual personal profile page.
Hope this clears things up a bit.
Matt.
-
Hi Matthew thanks for the advice so far. I am a little confused now. we have rel=publisher and rel=author.
I understand schema, so far on our business site we have verified our google+ page with our website by adding some code.
I have no rel=publisher and no rel=author on any pages. I have some fantastic holiday guides however. Can i benefit from using this rel=author feature or rel-publisher?
Publisher i am assuming is used for business pages?
-
Hi Paul,
Yes you are able to do this via the rel=publisher code. This is used the same way in which rel=author is used, however, you link it to your Google+ business page.
To verify it on Google+, all you have to do is place the link to your website within the about section of your Goole+ business page under the 'website:' section.
Hope this helps.
Matt.
-
Hi Angela,
Sorry, I meant the Google+ page for your business (i.e. not your personal Google+ profile).
I would probably avoid using this on individual products pages. Use schema.org markup on those pages to show product images, price, etc within the SERPs.
For your about us page, home, etc, I would use the rel=publisher to link your Google+ business page.
Hope this helps.
Matt.
-
As far as im aware you cannot link up with your business profile on g+ - just the personal one to auth a page content?
-
Thanks Matt. I have an ecommerce site. When you say "business page" do you mean product pages or content pages like FAQ, About Us, Terms and Conditions, etc? Just want to make sure I'm understand correctly.
Thanks!
Angela
-
Hi,
Yes I would do this for your website's main inside pages. Make sure that when you use rel='publisher' that it goes to a business page and not to a user page or it won't work.
For example, the one I use on the Wow Internet website is:
Hope this helps.
Matt.
-
I've set up Google authorship but is it a good idea to set up publisher markup too?
-
Hi Paul,
My advice would be that you don't want to have rel=author on your e-commerce pages, i.e. for product pages. You should have different schema data for those pages to let Google know that it is about a product, the price, etc. You can check most of this info out at http://www.schema.org
With regard to how you actually go about setting up the rel=author to your Google+ profile, you can check out this blog that I wrote on the wow internet blog.
I would stick to using this on blog posts and information pages on your website, i.e the homepage, about us, etc.
Hope this helps,
Matt.
-
Apologies for the delayed reply - I've just spotted your question.
Rel=author is really easy to implement on your own site or on guest posts.
1. You have to make sure you are a contributor to the website you're writing for and that you have a link to that site on your Google+ profile.
2. Then, you have two options - the meta tag or a rel="me" part of a link which credits you for the post.
There are good number of guides on the web - two good ones are here
http://www.blindfiveyearold.com/how-to-implement-rel-author
http://www.pr2020.com/blog/claim-your-content-how-to-set-up-rel-author-tags
I'm afraid I can't advice on 'Good Auth' but if you have a decent blogging platform you should be able to get a good plugin to help you with implementing rel=author.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
I understand Authorship is Dead, but here's a question on the Google+ Profile
I guest write for some blogs, as well as several blogs I manage myself. What is the correct usage of the "Contributor to" field and the "Links" field? Contributor to: The overall blog itself and; Links: To individual blog posts themselves? Or the reverse? Thank you!
Social Media | | booboo220 -
Google + and SEO
Hello, A couple of competitors that I keep an eye on over the last couple of months have been really going for the Google + links and according to Opensite explorer they have over 200 social page metrics for Google +. I was just wondering if there has been an update that I have missed that gives follow links for Google + or does Google + affect Domain authority? And if so can I just use my own Google + account to create these social page metrics or does it depend on someone else sharing my posts? Many thanks
Social Media | | mblsolutions0 -
Google+
Hello everyone, just a quick question about Google+; I had already a Google+ business page and I tried to link it with Google Places but instead of doing so, it created another page. So now I have two Google+ pages, one all set up with all the circles, images and everything else, plus another one (the new one) with nothing but the link to Google Places. Is there any chance to merge them both? Cheers
Social Media | | PremioOscar0 -
Google+, Link from My Site to Author's Google+ Page or to Company Google+
Recently I verified authorship for my Website. So the image from my personal Google+ account appears in search results. My website has a Google+ social media button. Should the link point to my corporate Google+ account or to my personal Google+ account? What is more credible from Google's point of view? What are best practices for this issue? Look forward to hearing from the MOZ community. THANKS!!!
Social Media | | Kingalan1
Alan Rosinsky0 -
Doctors in a Hospital - Setup Google Local or Google+ Profiles?
Hello - I've been running this over for awhile - so I'm curious to see what the community says about it. I'm working with a client who would like to brand the doctors in their hospitals. Many of them do have recognition already - and their associated locations have profiles. Google Local semi-recently said it's OK to brand Dr's names - even if they exist within a single location. So, my question is - is it better to go the Google Local route and create the Local/+ page for them, or to go through the Google+/Google Brand Pages route and create them that way? If each doctor were to decide, individually, to post on their page - would that be possible with the Places route (I don't think so, based on what I've seen)? Also, if a doctor already has a personal Google+ page - would it make sense to just create the additional brand page as well through this interface? Well either of these methods achieve optimal visibility as well as the option to post should they decide to go that route? What it boils down to - is this is a task we can perform from the outside, or is it best handled by giving the doctors best practice for setting up their personal Google+ pages and associated Brand Pages themselves? Thanks for any insight you can provide!
Social Media | | WebTalent0 -
Leverage other peoples author rank for your site?
Hi quick question, lets say you find writers in your niche and get them to do a guest post for your site and they have also built up alot of author rank (active google+ account, tones of social media followers). From my understanding you cannot leverage their author rank for your site since their google+ profile needs to be connected to your site? Unless it connected, you will not get any author rank benefit? Cheers, Mark
Social Media | | monster990 -
How much of an impact does Google+ page age have?
Do Google+ pages gain authority with age? Does it matter very much if I wait a few months to make a Google+ page as opposed to establishing it now, even if I won't be doing much work on it for a while?
Social Media | | HCGDiet0 -
What is Google Ngram Viewer?
Today, I read very useful blog post on SEOmoz regarding social media search and trends for better keyword research. I come to know about Google Ngram Viewer. What is this? I don't get it. Can it help me in my eCommerce website marketing?
Social Media | | CommercePundit0