If you've followed SEO and Internet marketing news over the past year or so, you've no doubt come across the concept of AuthorRank, which AJ Kohn says "could be more disruptive than all of the Panda updates combined."
Google has stated that "the identity of individual agents responsible for content can be used to influence search ratings." In other words, Google will begin (or has begun) to consider not only content quality as the basis of search results, but also their authors.
Many believe that AuthorRank will be the definitive search engine ranking factor of the future. Steven Shattuck will get you up to speed on AuthorRank, and show you how to take advantage of the many benefits of Google Authorship.
What's on the agenda?
We'll keep the event to 90 minutes, focusing on providing attendees with opportunities to meet each other, as well as hear valuable insight from our guest speaker.
Please note that doors open no earlier than 7:30am.
7:30 AM Arrival and networking
8:00 AM Announcements & introductions
8:10 AM Presentation by Steven Shattuck
9:00 AM We're done! On with your day...
Who's Presenting?
Steven Shattuck, VP of Marketing - Bloomerang
Steven Shattuck (@StevenShattuck) is VP of Marketing at Bloomerang, which helps nonprofit organizations to reach, engage and retain the advocates they depend on to achieve their vision for a better world.
As a HubSpot Certified inbound marketer, he is a contributor to Social Media Today, Search Engine Journal, The Build Network and Business2Community. Steven has spoken at national and local conferences, and is frequently interviewed by media outlets for his expertise in digital marketing.
Recipient of the David Letterman Scholarship, he graduated with honors from Ball State University in 2006 with a degree in Telecommunications and Creative Writing.
8. “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 | #IndySM
9. @StevenShattuck | #IndySM
“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)
“AGENT RANK” PATENT (2005)
10. DIGGING INTO 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.”
@StevenShattuck | #IndySM
1. high reputational score (readers/followers/subscribers)
2. established reputation (non-anonymous)
3. valuable content (traffic/shares)
11. IN OTHER WORDS
Expert content,
written by non-anonymous authors
will rank higher than anonymous content.
@StevenShattuck | #IndySM
Google: Agent Rank
Marketers: AuthorRank
(same thing, basically)
12. THINGS WE DON’T KNOW
• How significant of a ranking factor it will be
• How authors will be graded (PageRank? Klout?)
• If/when it will ever go live
@StevenShattuck | #IndySM
13. GOOGLE WANTS IT
@StevenShattuck | #IndySM
“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)
19. AUTHORRANK PRE-REQ
@StevenShattuck | #IndySM
“The identity of individual
agents responsible for content
can be used to
influence search ratings.”
Google Authorship (exists)
AuthorRank (does not exist)
27. APPEARANCE FACTORS
@StevenShattuck | #IndySM
How authorship is set up
+
Frequency of page crawl (time)
+
Frequency of publishing
+
Google+ usage / profile robustness
+
Individual search settings
30. WHEN AUTHORSHIP IS BAD
@StevenShattuck | #IndySM
http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2286728/Can-Google-Authorship-Really-Cause-a-Huge-Traffic-Drop-Case-Study
39. GOOGLE+:AUTHORITY ENGINE
@StevenShattuck | #IndySM
“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/
40. GOOGLE+ USAGE IS KEY
@StevenShattuck | #IndySM
Google+ posts pass link equity!
3 follow links!
41. 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.”
@StevenShattuck | #IndySM
1. high reputational score (readers/followers/subscribers)
2. established reputation (non-anonymous)
3. valuable content (traffic/shares)
Google Authorship
G+
Frequent Publishing
43. AUTHORRANK SUCCESS
@StevenShattuck | #IndySM
• Create author page and author bio
https://bloomerang.co/blog/author/steven/
• Establish Google Authorship (owned and earned blogs)
• Add Google+ badge to website
• Fill out Google+ profile completely
• Verify your name
• Publish frequently (focused area of expertise_
• Active use of social media - especially Google+
• +1 button on your blog posts