The Writer’s Author Rank Cheat Sheet

The Writer’s Author Rank Cheat Sheet

Reader Comments (66)

  1. I think it’ll be a new concept for awhile, but any half decent SEO will use it. As well as major publishers, media outlets, reporters, etc.

    • Thanks for the update , This copyblogger site give usefull informatiom on your content , The original, and ultra-specific? When readers find you, They do they stick around.
      Best Regard, Harold Pollard

  2. I’ve been trying to wrap my brain around Author Rank for weeks (I’m admittedly technologically challenged). This piece helps me not only understand how it works and why it’s important, but also how, through my online presence, I can enhance its function – and you managed to accomplish all this in a way that doesn’t totally overwhelm me. Thank you very much for this cheat sheet.

  3. Lots of information, your right Dermian for getting more visibility in google author rank is must need for a blog.I have implements gogole plus author code in my blog & waiting for google to crawl it.Is there any minimum circles for getting on to google & gain author rank.

  4. The whole Author Rank concept is cool and I really don’t mind. It’s going to force content creators to step their games up a few notches, which is never bad thing. Let the cream rise to the top 🙂

  5. “Get in a habit of re-sharing content from your friends and thought leaders. “+1″ their posts and make intelligent comments. Write interesting posts on Google+ and quote these influencers by name. ”

    No man is an island, especially when it comes to social networking. Give credit where credit is due–include other thought leaders in your content and let them know about it! Have conversations, debates, dialogues!

  6. I was talking to my mom on the phone last night about Google+. She’s a friendly Facebook user and had no idea what Google+ was until last night. She’s also a nurse and president of the Pittsburgh chapter for Association of Perioperative Registered Nurses (AORN).

    I mentioned Google+ to her because I really thought it could help her and the organization in a unique way. When she published content online – she would get credit for it. Both she and the AORN chapter wold benefit from it. She would establish herself as an authority in her field and AORN would benefit from the exposure. The organization would grow and become even more reputable, thanks to the power Google and Google+ give to those who are professionals in their field.

    Not to mention Google Hangouts and Communities. I honestly believe that Google+ could give my mom the recognition she deserves and build the AORN Pittsburgh chapter into something greater than it already is.

    It goes without saying that I’m going to use Google+, along with Twitter and LinkedIn, as my social media sidekicks for my writing endeavors.

  7. Don’t forget to use the power of Google+ communities. Share valuable content, but don’t spam. Participate in Google+ community discussions or create discussions of controversial topics. Help others. if needed ask for help. Create your own community and bring people in your friends, colleagues, like-minded people.

  8. In an earlier post in this series, you mentioned how PageRank got gamed. It seems like AuthorRank is a great improvement, but I wonder how it will be gamed….

  9. Great info here, Demian. I absolutely think increasing your participation on G+ is going to help, because it gives insight into the author. Share content besides your own, add your thoughts to a discussion, and post questions in communities, and you’ll likely see your authority in certain subject areas increase.

  10. Your suggestion to check out the “rich snippet tool” alerted me to the fact that I hadn’t linked my website’s Google+ page to my website. I had connected my personal Google+ account to my website, but not my Google+ page. I wonder if this will allow my photo to show up next to my website pages in search results. As of right now, I believe my picture only shows up next to my blogposts in search results.

    • If you’ve associated your personal G+ page with your personal website (via authorship markup), then you should get your personal G+ head shot next to search results. When did you implement? It takes a few days. And isn’t always consistent.

  11. I have been blogging for a few months now and these suggestions are very useful. After posting about 20 posts, dear to my heart, and having no one see/read them I started looking into how to get read. It is still very esoteric to me but these communities are helping make things clearer. The help I got from the g+ community was amazing.
    My big question now is “how to get followers?” Is there a ‘follow’ button to include in a request email, or is that inappropriate? Thanks for this page.

  12. It’s true, just as Steve Martin said, “Be so good they can’t ignore you”. I really appreciate Copyblogger! It is proving to be too good to ignore for me as I work to become “too good to ignore” myself.

  13. Thanks for this.

    I’m wondering about YouTube and Author rank, and what happens when you have more than one Google account. Can we connect those to our main account?

    I’m off to research this.

    • I’ve linked my YouTube and Google+ accounts and can report that it has resulted in a modest uptick in my views and subs, enough that it made it worth doing.

  14. Thanks Demian, this is great advice.

    I still haven’t totally got my head around Google+; I just started using the keyboard shortcuts to navigate, for example. However, when I get impatient with it, I tell myself that it took me just as long to become familiar with Twitter.

  15. I still haven’t totally got my head around Google+ & Keywords; I just started using the keywords & shortcuts to navigate, However, when I get impatient with google adwords, I Switch with my own keywords with help from
    twitter & facebook

  16. The idea of author rank is something I’ve played with since the authorship tool came forth. my view is that right now AR has no impact on rankings however it can help “optimise” your results by ensuring your content is rich formatted with your image and name and a link to your Google+

    It is very much worth implementing but don’t hold out on it being a free for all high ranker.

    There are 2 things to think about 1) optimise your picture (http://www.seomoz.org/blog/google-author-photos) and 2) remember signing up isn’t enough you must use google+ and more than this you must write great stuff on your blog.

    • It may not be affecting ranking yet, but there’s been plenty of evidence that it’s where they intend to go. Not just in their public announcements, but in the caliber of people they’re putting on “the authorship project.” I see no reason to think it will stop with the current benefits of authorship markup. (Although those are well worth implementing.)

      Of course it’s Google, so they’re gonna throw a couple of curve balls. But SEO strategy that’s focused on quality content has consistently managed to stay on the good side of those curve balls.

      • I think it will one day have some flux in ranking, but only in rankings of a current-ish trend … i suspect much as with how if you use G+ alot your results have flux caused by friends on there authorship will do much the same but for everyone?

  17. I think the actions outlined here by Demian are quite good even though there is no such thing as Author Rank right now. There might be in the future but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t still conduct yourself in the same way.

    Because what we’re talking about now is building your authority by producing valuable and memorable content, and interacting and engaging with peers in your community – both on your and other people’s content.

    Those things will, over time, make you an authority which has is extremely powerful and beneficial for any business. Participate in the Authorship program but know that your goal is not to acquire Author Rank but to become an authority.

    http://www.blindfiveyearold.com/build-your-authority-not-your-author-rank

  18. This is excellent! Author rank might not be crucial now. It never hurts to do little things to start building yours, just in case it does get more crucial as expected.

  19. Great article. Question: How can we find our author rank?

    I noticed that you are superb in content writing but very poor in walking idiots, like me, through some of the things you are sharing with us.

  20. I’m a bit confused. Do you mean you should build up your Google+ personal page more and not your Google + business page? I have completely neglected my personal page and just try to post good content and build up my business page. I haven’t used my real name in posts but instead use my website to keep that in the spot light. From what I read here is this wrong?

    • If your personal brand is important, then yeah, you should be using your personal G+ page. But if the business is what you want to focus on, then you are on the right track. Brands have been using G+ business pages with great success, but in these articles we’ve been focused mainly on the individual content producer.

  21. Excellent Post. I never imagined that Google+ has these much importance. Im Going to spend much more time in it from now on

  22. Good article. I would like to know what the best practice for my G+ is at the following scenarios:

    1. If I write blogs in Sweden as well as in the US.
    2. If i write about completely different blog topics (relationship and birds for example)

    I worry that combining both swedish and english on my G+ profile as well as writing about completely different topics will affect my author rank.

    • Alex, it’s okay to build authority in two or three topics. But I wouldn’t go beyond that. I would recommend separate web properties for each topic (one for birds, one for relationships). You can associate both with your G+ profile. And as far the language you use, use the one your audience is most familiar with. That’s what matters.

  23. Author rank removes the quandary I had about where to publish. I mean, you have a great idea for a post but where to put it? Your blog, a guest post somewhere, Google+, facebook, Squidoo etc. etc.

    Authorship markup in theory does away with the ‘where’ and puts it on the ‘who’.

    Just what we’ve all been hoping for really.
    Stay well

    lol! Spellcheck wanted to change Squidoo to ‘squidgy’, sorry Seth!

  24. Excellent post. I use Google authorship on all my blogs and it does give you peace of mind. I also believe a small ranking boost is likely as I’m sure the Google Algorithm looks at this factor.

  25. Thanks for this insightful post on Author Rank. I have several online businesses but I’m just creating my presence as a Life and Business Coach and Reiki Master / Teacher. This helps me know which steps to take next to build my online presence.

  26. As an SEO I think it totally makes sense this move from Google. As the web keeps progressing, it is key for the big G to have these signals to directly influence the way pages, websites, authors,etc are ranked. If they get it right, search engine users will be even happier to use Google and trust his algos.

  27. HEY Great info here guys. Thanks a mill! I am an author of 7 books now and really need to crank up my efforts with this so this article is just what I needed to take my stuff to the next level.

    As per usual it’a always a pleasure to read your work as it is so valuable to me.

    Best
    Greg:)

  28. Google Plus is becoming more and more important each day. The author rank feature has made it a must for every published to focus on Google Plus. I also think that actively using other Google Plus features such as Hangouts, and setting up communities will all contribute to your overall influence and author rank,

  29. Hi,
    Interesting. Got me thinking about two subjecs:
    1. How should a company use author rank? Is it better to have an author like “MyCompanyName” or should it be a real person?
    2. What about co-authorship? I’m assuming it is possible to attributa an article to more persons. So if an article is written by two persons? Is it better to assign it to one? Or to two? I mean if it is only one then you get all the ‘worth’, but if it is assigned to two you could get more indirect traffic from the other author?

  30. While I see this as a great step forward, I’m also a bit worried about the company profiles. While I do most of my stuff with my own name, and I do want to have AR on it for the future, I’d still appreciate building Company Author Rank as well, since those would be two separate things.

  31. Please consider using dates on your articles! This techie SEO world changes so rapidly, that having a date point of reference on articles I read is something I find both useful and necessary when evaluating how to use the information I’m reading!

    Thanks!

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