To understand SEO, it's important to understand how search engines work. Implementing schema.org tagging is a great way to gain visibility in search engine results - but it can be overwhelming to know where to start. Implementing authorship is an important first step.

1. SEO and Google Authorship
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Ruth Burr
Inbound Marketing Lead
Moz.com
@ruthburr

2. In Days of Yore…
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@ruthburr
Image Source

3. In Days of Yore…
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@ruthburr

4. Up Until a Few Years Ago…
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@ruthburr

5. Google Saw the Web (More or Less) Like This*:
Website
(topic)
Website
(topic)
Content
(keyword 3)
Content
(keyword 1)
Product
(keyword 2)
Image
(keyword 1)
*Gross oversimplification.
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@ruthburr
Product
(keyword 3)
Image
(keyword 1)

6. Now it’s more like this*:
Content
Wrote
Employee
Also Wrote
Content
Website
Website
Business
Product
Thing
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@ruthburr
Location
Map
Social
Media
Friends

7. The Knowledge Graph
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@ruthburr

8. The Knowledge Graph
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@ruthburr

9. Rich Snippets
Personalized
Authorship
News
Video
Review
Full list of Google-supported rich snippet types:
http://bit.ly/17iHVTH
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@ruthburr

10. Schema.org
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@ruthburr

11. Finding the Right Schema for You
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@ruthburr

12. Use Examples and Templates
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@ruthburr

13. No Invisible Markup! (That’s Cloaking)
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@ruthburr
Image Source

14. Check in Google Webmaster Tools
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@ruthburr

15. Avoid the Data Highlighter
NO.
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@ruthburr

16. Structured Data Testing Tool
http://bit.ly/18lHYcD
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@ruthburr

17. Authorship
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@ruthburr

18. Entity Search
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@ruthburr

19. Why Authorship?
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@ruthburr

20. Author Markup: What You’ll Need
• A Google Plus Account
– With a clear picture of your face
NOT
• Some content that you created
– As yourself
– On a page by itself
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@ruthburr

21. The 3-Link Method
1.) Link with rel=“author” to your profile page
on-site:
<a href=http://moz.com/community/users/63”
rel=“author”>Rand Fishkin</a>
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22. The 3-Link Method
2.) Link with rel=“me” from your profile page
on-site to your Google+ profile:
<a
href=“https://plus.google.com/111294201325870406
922” rel=“me”>Rand Fishkin on Google+</a>
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@ruthburr

23. The 3-Link Method
3.) Add the site under “Contributor To” in your
Google+ Profile
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@ruthburr

24. The 2-Link Method
1. Add the site under “Contributor to:”
2. Link from your byline directly to your
Google+ profile using rel=“author”
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@ruthburr

25. Email Verification Method
1. Got an email address with the site’s
domain? Add a link to the email from your
byline.
2. Add the email address to your Google+
profile.
This is not something I would recommend doing if
you can do the other two.
Because really, how many email addresses do you have?
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@ruthburr

26. Final Tips
• Make sure your byline says “by (your
name)”
• First name + last name
• Make sure it doesn’t say “by” anywhere
else on the page (edited by, etc)
• Just because it works in the validator
doesn’t mean it will work in real life.
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@ruthburr

27. Thanks everybody!
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