For many bloggers, the whole Google Plus thing is still a bit new. So I’m sure the mention of this Google Authorship brings out the reaction… ‘HUH??’, especially since I’ve gotten this same reaction from experienced bloggers who I’m usually asking for advice and guidance from. But, don’t let the NEW scare you. Google authorship is important, and needs to be a priority if you wish to grow your blogs following and readership.
First things first. Are you on Google plus? YOU NEED TO BE!! If you’re not, after you read this article you need to head over and get signed up. Ready?
Now, let’s move on (assuming you either have your G+ acct set up already or just did it)
The first step in verifying your authorship on G+:
- do you have an email address that is the same as your domain content? (domain = semperfimomma.com / email laura.com)
- make sure that your content[blog posts] shows you as the author (in wordpress, this is where you want to make sure your user set up [ domain.com/wp-admin/users] has it so that the Author name shown is the same as your G+ profile name. Mine, on both is listed as Laura C If you’re not sure what I’m talking about here, let me know in the comments below) Look up. On this post, under the title. ‘Written on (date) by Laura C‘ <- that’s how my profile is set up on my wordpress, that’s my author name, that’s how my google + account shows my name. It’s all uniform.
- go to the —> page and enter in your email address
- if you DON’T HAVE A DOMAIN EMAIL, skip down to the rel=author (option2) portion of this post
Once you’ve done this, you’re going to want to see what author data google can/has extracted from your page.
(also calling this OPTION 2 if you don’t have a domain email)
To do this, you’ll want to go to the
Type in your URL, hit enter.
Type in your gooogle plus profile link (go to your profile, click ABOUT, copy/paste that link)
Now, what you want to look at is your Authorship rel=author Markup area.
Mine says:
See how mine has my G+ profile linked in? Lets get yours set up to do the same. (again, if this or anything in this post doesn’t quite make sense, leave your questions in the comments below and I will answer them)
Replace [profile_url] with the your Google+ profile URL, like this:
Save. Now, go to your site, click on your author profile, and click on your G+ link to verify it goes to your profile.
Also, just to make sure you’re covering your bases, go to your G+ profile. Scroll down to ‘LINKS’, and see where it says ‘Contributor to’? Make sure you add the link to your website there.
Now, go back to the Google Structured Data Testing Tool, enter your info again, and now everything should be good to go and say Yes.
(fyi – you can also find all of this info )
- Authorship is working for this webpage.
- rel=author markup has successfully established authorship for this webpage.
- Publisher markup is verified for this page.
- You just made your searchable content that much more personalable – when you scroll through a google search, studies show you’re much more likely to click on something you can SEE, and feel more relate-able too. People will like to see your face. And? It’s more authentic, and therefore making your post feel more trustworthy and clickable.
- You’re improving your SEO and ranking - the real deal lowdown from the horses mouth? Eric Schmidt (google’s former CEO) said himself that the content linked to your google + profile is going to rank higher than the content that is not linked to a G+ acct. Meaning? You show up higher in the google search, = better click possibilities, = better SEO. The more you’re clicked, the better you’re off, and if you’ve connected your g+ profile and verified your authorship, you’ve just given yourself an easy boost and a major leg up on the competition.
- YOU ARE IMPROVING YOUR SEO!!!! - seriously people. What does SEO stand for? Search Engine Optimization. When you think search engine… what do you generally think of? Google. Pretty much the most popular and widely used search engine and who has pretty much monopolized the search engine world. Anything you do through google (G+ acct/profile, authorship verification, and so on) just gives you that much more of an SEO boost. Pretty much elementary, Watson.
- You’re leaving your Google footprint - funny how we’ve gone from thinking about what sort of footprint we’re leaving on our Earth, to what kind of footprint we’re leaving on the internet. Serious author/blogger/freelance writer/small business owner/etc the list goes on…. ??? Yes. You are. Well then, leave your footprint. Make your mark! By verifying your authorship, you’ve linked your blog/website to your G+ profile. And?? Well, what else is linked to your profile? In mine I’ve linked not only this site, but a site I’m currently contributing to as well as some of the sites that I’ve contributed to in the past. Plus, my social media accounts are linked to my profile. And? The more powerful the sites you’re linked with, the greater the power of your authorship.
In short, by taking the time to verify your Google Authorship you are increasing your visibility as a blogger and writer and doing yourself a huge favor. If you do anything new to ‘help’ your blog and increase traffic, let it be this.
(again, please feel free to leave me any questions you may have in the comments below . I’m more than happy to help)
I had Google authorship set up on my WP blog but I changed my username from admin to something else (deleted admin, created a new admin with a different user name.) Now Google authorship is gone and when I test my site on the structured data testing tool, it says nothing is verified. Do you know what I need to do to fix this?
Thanks!
i took a quick look, so lets start with a minor troubleshoot…
http://www.thisgalcooks.com/author/jmurkerson/
I don’t see on this page anything that links to your google plus ‘rel=author’ tag. You’ll need to do this in the backend of your wordpress, in ‘users’, ‘your profile’, and then in the ‘Biographical Info’ box.
https://semperfimomma.com/author/SemperFiMomma/
Check mine out, and you’ll see where I’ve linked to my google plus. Also notice how my author is author/SemperFiMomma, and not Laura. So even if your blog username is not the same as your google plus account name, it’s ok. It will still work. Let me know if this helps, and if not we’ll keep working on it.
Love this! Thank you for the tip!!!! I’ll be doing this tonight!
GREAT!! Let me know if you have any questions.
Laura,
Authorship rel=author Markup Mine all say “no.” Totally confused as to what I should adjust and where.
My posts all say Jennifer W but my Google + is my full first and last name. Do I need to change Google +?
Any help you want to shoot my way would be great
Thanks!
when I first did this, my google + profile said Laura C, and my author name here on the blog just said Laura. So I don’t think you need to change it, though I have changed mine since just for uniformity.
In your wordpress blog, make sure in your user profile you have a link to your google plus profile (the about page) that includes the rel=author in the link back. When this is done I should be able to find that google plus link to your profile on your user/author link: http://tomygirlfriends.com/author/jennifer-w/ (which I’m not currently seeing)
Also, on your main page where your social connect buttons are, it doesn’t hurt to change your G+ button to connect to your G+ profile (about page which is your main page and where you’ve linked your other connections) and also add the rel=author… just for extra linking measure.
This will be my first project tomorrow. Wish me luck and thanks for this post.
GOOD LUCK!! You can do it