Rel=author?? google auth?
-
Hi everyone, i need some help with this rel=author and google auth which has come into place. Some questions:
1., I write a blog on our e-commerce site, do i need rel=authort?
2., i write on other sites do i need rel=author
If so is there an easy way to implement this, i know it links in with the Google+ profile but i am confussed as i keep seeing different ways to do it.
I've also been told to do good auth, what is this? ive been given a piece of code to use in my site to auth it? is this worth it?
Any help really appreciated
-
Hi Guys,
I just wanted to add to what I have previously said as when I have dug a bit deeper into this, I have found some info that could go against what I have previously said.
You can use the rel=publisher tag alongside the rel=author tag on a webpage. With this in mind it would be a good idea to have the rel=publisher present on every page in your website to enable you to be eligible for Google's Direct Connect feature.
I found this out when looking through a Google forum and one of the Google Trend Analysts confirmed this by saying:
Hi guys
_just a few short comments: it's fine to have both a link rel=publisher and author-markup on the same page. The rel=publisher confirms that your website is the publisher of that Google+ Page; the authorship markup confirms that you (your personal profile) is the author of the content on that page. This markup can be used independently, since the meanings are slightly different. The issue with the Rich Snippets testing tool flagging this as an error is a bug on our side and should be resolved soon (sorry about the confusion caused by that!). _Cheers__John
Just thought I would share this with you all as it might help.
Matt.
-
It certainly makes sense. We are all in the dark at the moment to exactly how it will work, however, there have been a few tests that have been done to show that page authors have a direct effect upon SEO.
I would imagine that this will be the case for business pages too, however, for the likes of blog posts, etc, (i.e. content that is made by a specific individual within the business) it is best practise to author them to the page. Google is having a big push at linking who actually created the content on websites (and rightly so!), therefore they like it when this is done. Not only this, but it can help with click-through rates within the SERPs to have this.
Matt.
-
Say i auth with an individual employee on google+ and get gains from it when the algo takes it into consideration - what happens if they start letting company profiles auth with content? will i have messed the pages up, or do you think i could have reverted?
Surely Google will let you eventually auth a company google+ profile with content it has written, it makes sense as a company should write trusted and quality content.
-
Yes, but it is important to understand the power of authorship toward SEO. Google is placing more and more importance around actual authors of content when they decide up search engine rankings.
My advice would be to have the content of the business authored to a relevant employee (i.e. the CEO, the blogger, etc) and ensure that they are active on Google+.
This way, you can get a headstart on your competitors and have a powerful author rank.
Matt.
-
I want to tell users that our business wrote the content, doesn't seem to be a way to do that yet which is disappointing.
-
Yes, the rel=publisher tag is used for pages that would be displayed giving information about your business. For example, when you search 'SEOmoz', the company profile appears on the left side. This is because they have used the rel=publisher to link to their Google+ business page.
Use the rel=author for pages that have content on that was done by someone specific, i.e. a blog post, or in your case: holiday guides. This is when you link to your actual personal profile page.
Hope this clears things up a bit.
Matt.
-
Hi Matthew thanks for the advice so far. I am a little confused now. we have rel=publisher and rel=author.
I understand schema, so far on our business site we have verified our google+ page with our website by adding some code.
I have no rel=publisher and no rel=author on any pages. I have some fantastic holiday guides however. Can i benefit from using this rel=author feature or rel-publisher?
Publisher i am assuming is used for business pages?
-
Hi Paul,
Yes you are able to do this via the rel=publisher code. This is used the same way in which rel=author is used, however, you link it to your Google+ business page.
To verify it on Google+, all you have to do is place the link to your website within the about section of your Goole+ business page under the 'website:' section.
Hope this helps.
Matt.
-
Hi Angela,
Sorry, I meant the Google+ page for your business (i.e. not your personal Google+ profile).
I would probably avoid using this on individual products pages. Use schema.org markup on those pages to show product images, price, etc within the SERPs.
For your about us page, home, etc, I would use the rel=publisher to link your Google+ business page.
Hope this helps.
Matt.
-
As far as im aware you cannot link up with your business profile on g+ - just the personal one to auth a page content?
-
Thanks Matt. I have an ecommerce site. When you say "business page" do you mean product pages or content pages like FAQ, About Us, Terms and Conditions, etc? Just want to make sure I'm understand correctly.
Thanks!
Angela
-
Hi,
Yes I would do this for your website's main inside pages. Make sure that when you use rel='publisher' that it goes to a business page and not to a user page or it won't work.
For example, the one I use on the Wow Internet website is:
Hope this helps.
Matt.
-
I've set up Google authorship but is it a good idea to set up publisher markup too?
-
Hi Paul,
My advice would be that you don't want to have rel=author on your e-commerce pages, i.e. for product pages. You should have different schema data for those pages to let Google know that it is about a product, the price, etc. You can check most of this info out at http://www.schema.org
With regard to how you actually go about setting up the rel=author to your Google+ profile, you can check out this blog that I wrote on the wow internet blog.
I would stick to using this on blog posts and information pages on your website, i.e the homepage, about us, etc.
Hope this helps,
Matt.
-
Apologies for the delayed reply - I've just spotted your question.
Rel=author is really easy to implement on your own site or on guest posts.
1. You have to make sure you are a contributor to the website you're writing for and that you have a link to that site on your Google+ profile.
2. Then, you have two options - the meta tag or a rel="me" part of a link which credits you for the post.
There are good number of guides on the web - two good ones are here
http://www.blindfiveyearold.com/how-to-implement-rel-author
http://www.pr2020.com/blog/claim-your-content-how-to-set-up-rel-author-tags
I'm afraid I can't advice on 'Good Auth' but if you have a decent blogging platform you should be able to get a good plugin to help you with implementing rel=author.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
QUESTION! Does anyone have any information about using an API to create Google Posts?
We have a client that has over 150 locations. They are using a software to post to all of their accounts at once with an API for different platforms. We are wondering if there is anyway to do this to post to their Google My Business Page.
Social Media | | Brie.E.Anderson0 -
How long it takes for Twitter carousel to appear under your website in google results
Dear Moz community, Not later than 7 days ago I did impelement twitter markup to a website including : as well as twitter markup to all blog/article posts The question: I mentioned Moz (when you search for this brand name in Google) it shows a recent tweets carousel, how long it takes for it appear on our website and should I do any additional fixes for it to appear ? BWctKyu
Social Media | | admiral990 -
Google+ Brand Page in Knowledge Graph
We've been unsuccessfully trying to get our brand's Google+ page listed in the Knowledge Graph for our brand. I believe that our markup on our website is correct. Can anyone advise on why we can't get this to pull up in the knowledge graph? Google+ page: https://plus.google.com/+Tacticalgearcom Knowledge graph for TacticalGear.com: https://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome-psyapi2&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8&q=tacticalgear.com&oq=Tac&aqs=chrome.0.69i59j0l2j69i57j0l2.2831j1j7
Social Media | | cat5com0 -
Is it possible to modify the default social sources in Google Analytics?
In the newest Google Analytics there's a section called 'Social' which tracks traffic from FB, Twitter and other social sites. For some reason it doesn't include Instagram (which is the one that matters to me, though I'm sure there are many others that it doesn't include either.) Is there a way to modify that and add Instagram as a social source?
Social Media | | storemachine0 -
Do you think that Content Locking (force to share to unlock content) is manipulative and will eventually be penalised by Google?
There is a tactic called content locking which requires a user to share a post or homepage URL in order to unlock content (either a video, a full post or downloadable ebook). Do you think this is manipulating signals to increase search rankings? Argument Against Using Content Locking Social signals and links from Google Plus shares clearly correlate to increased search engine visibility. Requiring a user to pay for content with social sharing is only used to improve search rankings. According to the webmaster guidelines: "Avoid tricks intended to improve search engine rankings. A good rule of thumb is whether you'd feel comfortable explaining what you've done to a website that competes with you, or to a Google employee. Another useful test is to ask, 'Does this help my users? Would I do this if search engines didn't exist?'" Argument For Using Content Locker Users tend to value their social profiles and won't share something unless they believe it is valuable. Requiring a share is just a push to motivate them to share something they value. Additionally, it is similar to an email opt-in in that the publisher now has a social media lead they can follow up on. It's not just about SEO, it's about tapping into social network traffic and engagement on social networks.
Social Media | | designquotes1 -
Why doesn't our product images show up in our Google Plus post?
When we post links to product pages onto our Google Plus account, the image never shows up in the post. Only the name of the product and our domain name appears. Has anyone experienced this problem or have ideas on how to fix? 8nCbk8A
Social Media | | znotes1 -
Rel Author
Should I be linking to the author's G+ profile or their Google Places for the rel author tag? It's my understanding that Google Plus profile is different from G Places and hence two different urls. If I'm linking to the profile page of the author and not their Google Places, does this have any negative impact in terms of SEO?
Social Media | | priceseo0 -
Whats more beneficial - Google+1 on your website or Your Google+ Page
Hi From an SEO perspective what is the most beneficial getting +1 of your homepage or trying to get customers to click on your actual Google+ Page - or are they linked in some way? As the importance that Google are/will place on this cannot be ignored My concerns regarding Google+ are that I believe in the UK at least, most active consumers are not on Google+ (not sure what its like in the USA) many may not even have a google account, especially of their email is with the likes of hotmail or aol. The people who are using Google+ are other companies, web pros,marketing pros etc and not your target audience in many cases
Social Media | | ocelot0