Google Authorship and Why it is Important for Your Social Media Strategy

Google Authorship is one of the latest tools available to website owners and bloggers who want to make the search engine’s quality standards work to their advantage.

This new add-on can be especially advantageous if you are an online business owner already using written content to market your products and services.

Google Authorship is designed to capitalize on the idea that an author photo gives any site more credibility. It also takes a social media presence to the next level by bringing in more traffic and allowing for more personalized interaction with your readers.

Integrating the authorship tool with Google+ will give content a boost in ranking as the search engine sends your site more visitors based on your existing social clout.

Getting Started With Google Authorship

A Google+ page is the first requirement for adding the authorship feature, and it can be completed in only a few steps once you have set up a Gmail account for your business.

The next important step is to add a recent photo of yourself. This image will show up next to each listing of your content on the search engine results page. Studies have shown that Internet searchers are more likely to click on a link with an accompanying image or link to a video.

A Google Authorship picture adds transparency and will instantly make you appear more trustworthy to people searching for information about your niche topic.

Adding Credibility and Authority

Using Google Authorship with Google+ will increase a site’s relevancy because visitors realize right away that a real person exists behind the content. Exploring a business’s link with a photo and byline will also bring customers direct access to experts in the business’s particular niche.

Many people have already found that connecting with a site owner and other stakeholders is a better way to find out detailed information about a given industry’s latest products and services. Since a smaller number of site owners have currently set up their Google Authorship, your photo and byline will make you stand out as a knowledgeable source.

Attracting More Visitors Quickly

One of the aims of Google Authorship is to reward site owners for valuable content and meaningful social media connections. The specific design of the search engine will push more traffic to your site once you have established your links through the Google+ editing menu. Another advantage of Google Authorship is that you receive instant access to groups of other possible readers each time only one person adds your profile to his or her Google+ circle.

Testing Your Content’s Performance

As you build your connections through Google Authorship, you will be able to track how many readers view your content each day. Since each of your social media contacts is included in a group known as a Google+ circle, you can also track how many times other people in your circles have shared your content.

This relatively new structure of social linking will send Google signals that your content is considered relevant and helpful. Examining this aspect of Google Authorship will also help you determine which of your postings or articles may need revisions in order to perform better in terms of sharing.

The Google Authorship tool is an important means for your online business’s website to gain traction in search engine results, to connect with more site visitors and to build more credibility through social signals. Site owners who want to establish authority in their respective niches find that trading online anonymity is a worthwhile choice in exchange for increased traffic and revenue. Taking advantage of Google Authorship is considered one of the best ways to increase social ranking and pull ahead of competitors.