Everyone who uses Google Authorship wants to know: Is AuthorRank active yet? That is, is Google using Authorship data as a direct influence on search results yet? Most likely not. But...Authorship provides a significant benefit that most miss: it builds the PageRank authority of your profile, making it a ranking powerhouse (One correction from last slide: My Google+ guides are found at http://bit.ly/gplusguides - all lower case)

1. Virante Web Marketing
Mark Traphagen
Director of Digital Outreach
Google+ Profile PageRank:
The Real AuthorRank?
Tuesday, June 11, 13

2. Virante Web Marketing
Mark Traphagen - Director of Digital Outreach
Tuesday, June 11, 13
If nothing else in this presentation impresses you: THIS IS ME WITH A WHEEL OF
THE MARS CURIOSITY ROVER!

3. Mark Traphagen | Virante.org | @marktraphagen
http://bit.ly/AuthorshipCommunity
Tuesday, June 11, 13
Most hotly debated topic in Google+ Authorship Community: Is AuthorRank
active?

4. Mark Traphagen | Virante.org | @marktraphagen
http://bit.ly/AuthorshipCTR
Tuesday, June 11, 13
Authorship has been proven to increase CTR for many search results. (Eye track
from http://justinbriggs.org/how-does-google-authorship-impact-ctr)

5. Mark Traphagen | Virante.org | @marktraphagen
Tuesday, June 11, 13
Many users report anecdotal evidence of large traffic jumps after implementing
Authorship. AuthorRank at work?

6. Mark Traphagen | Virante.org | @marktraphagen
Tuesday, June 11, 13
Another mystery: How was I able to outrank someone with 6 times my followers
in Google Search when I reshared her original post?

7. Mark Traphagen | Virante.org | @marktraphagen
Tuesday, June 11, 13
So is Author Rank currently active?

8. Mark Traphagen | Virante.org | @marktraphagen
NO!
Tuesday, June 11, 13
Matt Cutts, Othar Hannson, John Mueller (all of Google) all maintain Authorship
does not yet have any "direct effect" on SERPs

9. Mark Traphagen | Virante.org | @marktraphagen
Strikes against Author Rank as
present reality:
1. Low Authorship adoption
Tuesday, June 11, 13
Authorship still not widely adopted in many verticals

10. Mark Traphagen | Virante.org | @marktraphagen
Strikes against Author Rank as
present reality:
1. Low Authorship adoption
2. Social signal parsing infancy
Tuesday, June 11, 13
While Google is eagerly investing in & pursuing research around being able to
understand the true meaning, intent, and relative weight of social signals, the
science is still in its infancy.

11. Mark Traphagen | Virante.org | @marktraphagen
Strikes against Author Rank as
present reality:
1. Low Authorship adoption
2. Social signal parsing infancy
3. Mis-attribution
Tuesday, June 11, 13
Google has been increasingly attempting to attribute authorship even where it
has not been implemented. But this has led to numerous cases of authorship
being shown for the wrong person.

12. Mark Traphagen | Virante.org | @marktraphagen
Hey, whazzup?
Tuesday, June 11, 13
So what's up? If Author Rank as Google patents described it isn't a thing yet,
why do so many people seem to see increased performance with Authorship?

13. Mark Traphagen | Virante.org | @marktraphagen
CTR Feedback?
Maybe yes,
maybe no...
Tuesday, June 11, 13
Is it CTR as a ranking signal to Google? AJ Kohn says could be, but just as likely
that Google normalizes for that.

14. Mark Traphagen | Virante.org | @marktraphagen
Secrets Revealed!
Tuesday, June 11, 13
Now the secrets can be revealed!

15. Mark Traphagen | Virante.org | @marktraphagen
Profiles Have PageRank
Tuesday, June 11, 13
Google+ profiles have Google PageRank, the measure of search authority power
used by Google.

16. Mark Traphagen | Virante.org | @marktraphagen
Pages Have PageRank
Tuesday, June 11, 13
Google brand pages also have PageRank

17. Mark Traphagen | Virante.org | @marktraphagen
Communities Have PageRank
Tuesday, June 11, 13
Even Google+ Communities (and their sub-categories) have PageRank

18. Mark Traphagen | Virante.org | @marktraphagen
Google+ Internal PR
Tuesday, June 11, 13
Reshares, mentions, and engagement by high-authority people build your
profile's/page's/community's PageRank

19. Mark Traphagen | Virante.org | @marktraphagen
Google+ External PR
Tuesday, June 11, 13
Followed links from regular web sites to your profile, page, or community pass
PageRank authority.

20. Mark Traphagen | Virante.org | @marktraphagen
Google+ Fitness &
Nutrition Community
3 Posts on High PR
Blogs
Went from pg. 8 to
pg. 1 for
"fitness & nutrition"
(Still there!)
Tuesday, June 11, 13
Case study: We got three guest posts about the Fitness & Nutrition community
on high authority blogs. Moved them from p. 8 to p. 1 on Google for "fitness
and nutrition"!

21. Mark Traphagen | Virante.org | @marktraphagen
www.prchecker.net
Tuesday, June 11, 13
www.prchecker.net is one of the few PageRank tools able to parse Google+
entities for PageRank

22. Mark Traphagen | Virante.org | @marktraphagen
PageRank vs. URL Rank
Tuesday, June 11, 13
From broad sample of G+ profiles: PR ranges from 1 to 6. (Only one profile
found with a 7: Barack Obama.) External links seem to be able to boost up to PR
5 at most. PR 6 & 7 gained from internal G+ influence.

23. Mark Traphagen | Virante.org | @marktraphagen
Authorship vs. Non-Authorship PR
Tuesday, June 11, 13
Over a broad sample of bloggers with Google+ profiles, those who use Google
Authorship tend to average a full PageRank higher than those who do not.

24. Mark Traphagen | Virante.org | @marktraphagen
Authorship Is Link Building
Tuesday, June 11, 13
Followed links from regular web sites to your profile, page, or community pass
PageRank authority.

25. Mark Traphagen | Virante.org | @marktraphagen
G+ Posts Pass PR
Tuesday, June 11, 13
The featured link in a Google+ post pass PageRank to the page to which it
links.

26. Mark Traphagen | Virante.org | @marktraphagen
1 - My Google+ post
2 - Google+ page post
3 - Another Google+
post by me
4 - Share of Google+
post by friend
5 - Home page of site
6 - Inside page of site
7 - Another page of site
8 - Another page of site
Tuesday, June 11, 13
Google+ posts can help you capture more SERP real estate. Here we got 8 of 10
1st page results for a KW important to us.

27. Mark Traphagen
Director of Digital Outreach
Virante.org
Google.com/+MarkTraphagen
@MarkTraphagen
All My Google+ Guides:
bit.ly/GplusGuides
Tuesday, June 11, 13