1. SEO, Google Authorship
and AuthorRank
@StevenShattuck

2. AGENDA
•
State of SEO
•
AuthorRank
•
Google Authorship / Google+
•
Q&A
@StevenShattuck

3. Understanding SEO in 2014
@StevenShattuck

4. Then:
Keyword Stuffing | Exact Match Domain
Link Spam / Link Building | Directories | Forum Commenting
Now:
“Good Content” | Social Signals | Relevant Links
Clean Site Architecture | Positive User-Experience
@StevenShattuck

5. WHAT GENERATES RANKINGS?
•
Links
•
Social Signals
•
On-Page (Technical)
•
On-Page (Content)
@StevenShattuck

6. http://blog.searchmetrics.com/us/2013/06/27/ranking-factors-2013-google-usa/
@StevenShattuck

7. STUDY FINDINGS
•
The number of backlinks remains of enormous importance
•
Social signals correlate very well with better rankings
•
Keyword domains have lost relevance (don’t need keyword in URL)
•
Factors like “length of text” and “number of images” correlate positively
with improved rankings BUT scale does not seem to be unlimited
upwardly (longer content isn’t necessarily better)
•
A good technological page design is still a basic requirement for rankings
in general and the existence of the keywords as well as the existence of
H1, H2 and description on-page continues to be important.
@StevenShattuck

8. HOW IS CONTENT RANKED?
•
Links
•
Social Signals
•
On-Page (Technical)
•
On-Page (Content)
@StevenShattuck

9. HOW IS CONTENT RANKED?
•
Links
•
Social Signals
•
On-Page (Technical)
•
On-Page (Content)
@StevenShattuck
“Just make good content
and you’ll be okay.”
- The Google

10. How does Google know if
content is good?
@StevenShattuck

11. AuthorRank
@StevenShattuck

12. “AGENT RANK” PATENT (2005)
“The identity of individual agents
responsible for content can be used to
influence search ratings.
Assuming that a given agent has a high reputational score,
representing an established reputation for authoring valuable
content, then additional content authored and signed by that
agent will be promoted relative to unsigned content or content
from less reputable agents in search results.”
@StevenShattuck

13. “AGENT RANK” PATENT (2005)
“We know that great content
comes from great authors, and
we’re looking closely at ways
this markup could help us
highlight authors and rank
search results.”
- Othar Hansson (Software Engineer, Google)
@StevenShattuck

14. DIGGING IN TO AGENT RANK
Assuming that a given agent has a high reputational score,
representing an established reputation for authoring
valuable content, then additional content authored and
signed by that agent will be promoted relative to unsigned
content or content from less reputable agents in search
results.”
1. high reputational score (strong personal brand / lots of followers)
2. established reputation (non-anonymous)
3. valuable content (traffic/shares)
@StevenShattuck

15. IN OTHER WORDS
The author of content will factor into rankings.
Expert content,
written by non-anonymous authors
will rank higher than anonymous content.
Google: Agent Rank
Marketers: AuthorRank
(same thing, basically)
@StevenShattuck

16. THINGS WE DON’T KNOW
•
How significant of a ranking factor it will be
•
How authors will be graded (PageRank? Klout?)
•
If it is truly live now or when it will go live, if ever
@StevenShattuck

17. GOOGLE WANTS IT
“Within search results, information
tied to verified online profiles will
be ranked higher than content
without such verification, which will
result in most users naturally
clicking on the top (verified) results.
The true cost of remaining
anonymous, then, might be
irrelevance.”
- Eric Schmidt (Executive Chairman, Google)
@StevenShattuck

18. How do you identify yourself
to Google?
@StevenShattuck

19. GOOGLE AUTHORSHIP
contributor to
rel=”author”
@StevenShattuck

20. GOOGLE AUTHORSHIP 1/2
http://searchengineland.com/the-definitive-guide-to-google-authorship-markup-123218
@StevenShattuck

21. GOOGLE AUTHORSHIP 2/2
•
“rel= author” tag pointing
back to your G+ profile
OR
•
A link to your G+ in your
author bio on-page
http://www.swellpath.com/2013/09/author-rich-snippets-tutorial-2013/
@StevenShattuck

22. TESTING
http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/richsnippets
@StevenShattuck

23. Benefits of Google Authorship
@StevenShattuck

24. AUTHOR RICH SNIPPETS
@StevenShattuck

25. AUTHOR RICH SNIPPETS
Author Photo
Other Posts
Google+ Profile
@StevenShattuck

26. AUTHOR RICH SNIPPETS
Which caught
your eye first?
Which would
you click first?
@StevenShattuck

27. NIELSEN'S F PATTERN
Higher CTR?
Ranking not as important?
http://justinbriggs.org/how-does-google-authorship-impact-ctr
@StevenShattuck

28. YOUR FACE MATTERS!
35%
increase
in traffic!
http://moz.com/blog/google-author-photos
@StevenShattuck

29. TEST ≠ APPEARANCE
@StevenShattuck

30. APPEARANCE FACTORS
How authorship is set up
+
Frequency of page crawl (time)
+
Frequency of publishing
+
Google+ usage / profile robustness
+
Individual search settings
@StevenShattuck

31. AUTHORSHIP STATS
@StevenShattuck

32. WHEN AUTHORSHIP IS BAD
http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2286728/Can-Google-Authorship-Really-Cause-a-Huge-Traffic-Drop-Case-Study
@StevenShattuck

33. AUTHORSHIP ADOPTION
@StevenShattuck

34. AUTHORSHIP ADOPTION
http://moz.com/blog/googles-december-authorship-shake-up
@StevenShattuck

35. AuthorRank and
Google Authorship
will keep Google+ relevant
identity + authority
@StevenShattuck

36. GOOGLE+: AUTHORITY ENGINE
“After Page Authority, a URL's number of Google +1s is more highly correlated with search
rankings than any other factor. In fact, the correlation of Google +1s beat out other well known
metrics including linking root domains, Facebook shares, and even keyword usage.”
http://moz.com/blog/google-plus-correlations
http://www.stonetemple.com/measuring-google-plus-impact-on-search-rankings/
@StevenShattuck

37. GOOGLE+: IDENTITY ENGINE
YouTube
Google+
@StevenShattuck

38. GOOGLE+ USAGE IS KEY
Google+ posts pass link equity!
3 follow links!
@StevenShattuck

39. AGENT RANK BLUEPRINT
Assuming that a given agent has a high reputational score,
representing an established reputation for authoring
valuable content, then additional content authored and
signed by that agent will be promoted relative to unsigned
content or content from less reputable agents in search
results.”
1. high reputational score (readers/followers/subscribers)
2. established reputation (non-anonymous)
3. valuable content (traffic/shares)
Frequent Publishing
@StevenShattuck
G+
Google Authorship

40. AUTHORRANK SUCCESS
Strong, visible public persona / personal brand
+
Google Authorship
+
Frequent Publishing
+
Google+ usage
@StevenShattuck

41. AUTHORRANK SUCCESS
•
Establish Google Authorship
•
•
•
Fill out Google+ profile completely
Verify your name
Active use of social media - especially Google+
•
•
•
Add users to circles
Comment/+1 content
Keep publishing good stuff!
@StevenShattuck

42. FURTHER READING
✤
✤
✤
✤
http://raventools.com/blog/ultimate-list-of-relauthor-resources/
http://moz.com/blog/how-to-prepare-for-authorrank-and-get-the-jump-ongoogle
http://www.seobythesea.com/2011/11/agent-rank-or-google-plus-as-anidentity-service-or-digital-signature/
http://www.blindfiveyearold.com/author-rank
@StevenShattuck

43. Questions?
@StevenShattuck