Google+ Authorship for Multi-Author Company Blogs

[AnthonyMangia]

• Can a company's Google+ page be designated as the author of web content (as can be done with individuals) so that the COMPANY comes up as the author in the web results?
• Is it preferable for company bloggers to create individual Google+ profiles and be listed as the author of the posts that they write?
• Or rather is it a smarter move to create a company persona (under the guise of a real person) and have all authorship be attributed to that personal Google+ profile.
• AuthorRank is going to become more and more important to Google's algorithm.  As bloggers write for a company, if they are listed as the author of the work, they create trust for their own personal brand.  If and when this employee leaves, this equity is presumably taken with them instead of remaining with the company.  Is this assumption correct?  How are companies dealing with this potential issue?

[1000Bulbs]

I've run into the same problem. As best as I can tell, it can't be done.

To link your personal Google+ profile to your content, you have to use the "Contributor to" section under the "About" page of your profile. Google+ Pages have no such section.

The only work-around I can think of is the "company persona" option you mention, but like you said, that defeats the point of authorship.

[EGOL]

Anyone who is an author should want their personal Google+ page to be credited with their writing.  Then if they leave Employer A they can carry any prestige that they have earned to Employer B.

Although I am an employer and would like to see the company hold credit for work that they have funded, I think that employers who try to block employees from getting personal credit for their work are operating in low form.

Employers who allow employees to receive this type of credit may gain enormously in the future if that former employee does outstanding work and wins honors.

Also employers who hire authors of stature can benefit from the past work and fans of those individuals.

If you have excellent authors on your staff, treat them well, pay them fairly, allow them to be honored for their work and you have a good chance of retaining them.  For many authors the opportunity to earn recognition for their work is nearly as important to them as their rate of pay. So, if you cut that off, how do you think they will feel... and what will they think about you?

[wattssw]

I think Google wants authors only. Based on the first of the two ways of implementing author information in search:

1. Check that you have a email address (for example, levy@wired.com) on the same domain as your content (wired.com).
2. Make sure that each article or post you publish on that domain has a clear byline identifying you as the author (for example, "By Steven Levy" or "Author: Steven Levy").

This suggests that Google wants authors, not brands. Google doesn't appear to scan for a company name in a by-line, but I guess it might be possible.

[AnthonyMangia]

The white hat in me knows that the answer to this question is most likely that the company bloggers should write under their own names, else the very concept of AuthorRank is undermined.  Yet, I've had these questions for a while now and I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts on the issue.  Hoping this sparks some good discussion.