The Advantages of Showing a Google Author Profile

Have you noticed while surfing the web there are several Google Search results that return information that has a writer’s profile information attached? This is not a fluke or mishap on the part of Google. In fact this is an enormously clever idea someone discovered with lots of benefits for freelance writers. This is a Google Authorship or sort of a author profile Google has created. In fact, having your author profile shown in the results of Google Search has a lot of benefits many writers never imagined.

 

Benefits could include increasing traffic, Brand recognition and growing page rank with search engines. All of these are on a "wish list" for any freelance writer working hard at their online writing career. Getting more traffic or readers to your content is extremely important and through promotional opportunities like this, you will make it happen.

How does this help me?

Nine out of every ten readers searching for material around the web will click on the first results a search engine offers. With Google being the largest search engine currently being used, it is important to rank as high as possible with this search engine. Ranking first means more traffic, which means making more money online as a writer.

Of course, the chance of being first on any page of material with them is extremely difficult and the average writer doesn’t make it. Even if you are fortunate enough to make it with one piece of work, you will not with everything you write. Though, if you are a talented writer with great relevant content you could potentially find yourself ranking high enough to get on the first couple of pages which is where a reader is willing to browse to find what they are looking for.

Gaining the attention of a reader enough to distract them from automatically selecting the first piece of content and choosing you at every chance you get is a good thing. Find a way to make them choose you when you miss the first spot on the page and still get the traffic your work deserves. Having a piece of something special like the Google author profile attached to your link could make that happen.

Authorship defined

A writer will have their byline and pic from their Google plus or Google profile placed next to their search engine results with search engine returns for any reader query results. This is Google Authorship or better said a Google author profile tied to links.

A number of people have even heard a rumor the search engine will eventually use this as a way to eliminate spamming and include it in building a better way to position content or rankings. Not only will written material be ranked according to the algorithms Google has tied to content, but also include author rank on some level when deciding where to put a piece of excellent content in search engine result returns.

At first glance it may be more hoops to jump through, but this is currently not being used to rank your work.

The future for Authorship

Categorizing written material with both of these pieces combined is not taking place at this moment. However, while searching for ways to increase membership in Google Plus -this particular piece of the pie may not be that far away.

There are rumors the future could hold some input from author profiles or rankings along with their content for search engine changes being considered.

Advantages to think about

If this is the direction of the future, getting your foot in the door in the beginning of the process could help you establish a great position for having your work classified higher in search engine results. You could have the opportunity to have work on the first pages a reader finds and increase your traffic resources tremendously. This is more money in your freelance writing wallet. Organic traffic will increase when Google author profile or Authorship is working correctly.

Building online credibility with search engines is important to say the least. This could possibly help in classifying your byline higher and your work more superior to other writer’s materials depending on what future direction this idea goes in.

Writers working toward building online businesses will have an opportunity and resource to work with what could possibly link all online work together easier. Readers that recognize your byline next to a piece of material will generally click on it. If they enjoy the relevant material written they have the resource to search for other work from the same writer with ease using the same profile link.

Adding your authorship to your writing work will not change where Google ranks your material. This is not included in the algorithms they use today.

Getting two for the price of one is a good thing. How about helping you save time with networking these same articles or posts? This is a great time saving measure.

What platform are you working with?

Bloggers using the BlogSpot platform have a simple method for linking the two together. There is an automated process which will do the work for you. Simply log into your BlogSpot account and follow the easy directions provided. Going forward, every post will have your authorship linked to a search engine result that returns your content.

Outside of the BlogSpot platform you will need a Google or Google plus profile created and a little more work is involved.  There is a post on Making Blogs Work outlining setting up your Google Authorship using platforms like WordPress, Infobarrel, Hubpages and other places your content is found around the web.

Find out more here.

 

Disadvantages

You do need to use your real name to claim authorship with Google. This means if you write under a byline that is not your real name and would like to keep it this way; this is an obstacle that cannot be tackled at this time according to a number of resources around the web.

There are some writers who admit you can use a byline outside of your real name. However, you need to jump through a number of hoops to make it so. Getting authorship will make a lot of writers who enjoy anonymity give it up to profit from Authorship.

I could not verify whether or not this was a true statement or not. I do understand a lot of writers do not like to use their real name while working and want to keep it that way going forward. Whether this search engine will give them a break remains to be seen.

It takes about a month to see any real measurable results of whether this is working in your favor or not. If it is, organic search engine readers should rise.

If you write on a number of different sites, you will need to update all of these individually to tie back to Google Plus or Google profile. There is no one stop to do it all method for making changes to add the Google profile method discussed here.

How soon does it happen?

Search engine results and rankings do not automatically change and correct. This means it will be a while before any visible results to changes you have made are proven to be beneficial. Of course, you will be able to analytical tell if you have received more visitors from your Google search engine crowd when it does start working. Though, whether or not this is because of the modifications made to your Authorship is a direct result or not is to be determined over about a month. Other factors like improving your material or getting more work out there could also play part.

Hopefully, analytics will be changed to reflect these findings separately. This would be the direction to go for the search engine to prove their idea is working toward improving a writers income and get more people on board.

Generally 30 days will be the measurement for a difference after changes. This is characteristically the amount of time Google search engine rankings reflect any major changes in “reranking” order. Therefore, it is assumed this same time period is justified in finding out if your work paid off.

Google will not give you an automatic notice updates and changes to link your authorship has been completed for all of your online content. You will need to manually verify changes have been made by looking through search engine material.

All of your Google profile links should follow directly to one author profile page. Whether you use Google Plus or a regular Google profile.

There is a “contributor to” area of every Google profile which should connect a reader with your author profile pages.  Make sure you do not have more than one profile link with Google. This is not usually the case. However, if you have set up more than one because of a name change, email change with Google or anything else which could affect this, update immediately to link everything to one place or one profile.

http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/richsnippets is a link or resource which gives you a preview to verify set up is completed for your Google Profile. This will not verify all of your changes to content have been made.

Note-google has not changed how they rank material with Authorship. as of today this has not been implemented, but where there is a rumor you will generally find some truth in it. it could possibly be underway.

 

in conclusion

The easiest way to draw the reader's attention to a spot on a page is adding something unique or out of the ordinary not seen with the other search engine results on the same page. Adding you profile info is one resource to use to make this happen.

Adding a profile picture to a byline is a wonderful way to interest a reader and make them take an added interest in your link. Not only do you gain a response of a reader click on your link, but many readers admitted they believe the pic and the byline holds more authority over a subject matter.

Generally having something stand out from a boring page of information is enough to gain that much needed notice. This is where that author profile from Google comes in and makes great things happen for you and the reader. Consider setting one up.

Whether or not you set one up does not affect where your material is ranked with the Google Search engine today. Yet, it doesn't hurt your rankings either.

If you want easy steps to install Google Authorship, follow this link. Click here.