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
-
Installing rel=publisher
Hi, I want to add rel=publisher to my website. According to Google support I should use the following tag - Add to homepage - [rel="publisher">Find us on Google+](https://plus.google.com/my page]) A few questions: Is this in addition to my social media button linking to my page to direct users there or should it be used instead? Where does "find us on Google +" appear on the page - or is this a hidden instruction only meant for Google? Could I add the code without the "find us on Google +" so that it would read Can this be added anywhere on the homepage (as implied by Google) or should it be on the meta head? Thanks!
Social Media | | theLotter0 -
Google Autor Profiles in Big Companies
I work for a big company and they want to use the google autor tag. The goal is to get the rich snippets and better rankings in the future from having a trusworthy autor for each topic building up followers basically. The problem is that the company does not want to pay employees to build up their own autor profiles/trust since an employee could leave the company any time and we would have to start from scratch building another autor profile. Now I know that google only wants real people in google plus bla bla ... bla bla ... How do you guys handle this problem? I thought of having our autors sharing one made up autor profile which is owned by the company.
Social Media | | Windex0 -
Where is the Link Site button on Google+?
I want my content authors to be able to associate their work with their Google+ profile. I read about an update rolled out in June that included a Link Site function on the Edit Profile -- About Tab. I don't see where to do this. Can anyone help me figure out how to enable this function?
Social Media | | wlefevre0 -
Google 'Author' tag question (Guest Blogging)
Hi, It seems like im seeing more and more about the Author tag, its now in Webmaster Tools and Google+. If your guest blogging, is it a good idea to include the Author link back to your Google+ account? If your Google+ account is also connected to your website and Google confirms they can see the connection does the Author links help with ranking when you push them back to the connected Google+ account?
Social Media | | activitysuper0 -
On the new Google+ Local pages, I was wondering if anyone knew how to add the "Follow" button to lead to the company Google+ profile.
I saw a video on an Internet marketing blog that showed a company's Google+ Local page with a "Follow" button on it so people could follow their company Google+ profile.
Social Media | | innovationsimple0 -
Google+ Ranking Factors - Are Keywords meaningless ?
Hello Mozers! On the Conversation Marketing blog, Ian Lurie published a lengthy article called Google Plus Box Ranking Factors Report. In it, he claimed amongst other things, that "Keyword relevance of your posts: Totally meaningless. Write whatever you want. Seriously. Just make it good." What say you? Are keywords really meaningless? Thanks in advance!
Social Media | | ShivaS1 -
Google Places Pages and social icons
I have a business that works in many cities across Texas. Our home base is in Austin and i have a Google Places page set up for Austin. I have a page dedicated to each major city in Texas talking about clients we've worked with in each city, etc.. I am placing social icons on each page and Google Places is one of the Icons and i was concerned that if Google sees a link to our Austin places page on our Houston page that the Houston page might be considered less relevant for a Houston search being as Google takes note of addresses on pages to consider relevance. Will my page suffer in the serps if i link to our Austin local page on our other city pages in the google places icon? Second question: What are the best social icons to put on my web pages for the best traffic? Take care,
Social Media | | Ron10
Ron0 -
Can anybody please invite me to google+ please?
Hello friends, can anybody please invite me to Google+ please? my gmail is [removed by staff. please PM author] will really appreciate it. thanks.
Social Media | | maddogx0