In today’s world of SEO, you need to establish yourself as a content producer. If you produce content such as on your own blog, you will want to setup Google Authorship so a recognizable headshot of you will display in the Google search results along with postings. This is a great way to establish yourself as a known author and a subject matter expert.
Overview: To setup Google Authorship, first setup your Google+ Profile. You will need a good recognizable headshot to use as your profile photo. You then need to associate the content you produce with your Google + profile. Your content needs to reference you as the author. Note: Even though you do the correct setup, Google doesn’t guarantee to show your author information in Google Searches.
Google+ Profile: You will need a Google account such as Gmail or Adwords… Google Authorship has specific requirements in your Google+ Profile.
- Upload a clear headshot photo (no abstract art or cartoon images).
- Within the profile, you will see a top navigation; select the tab “About.” Under Other profiles, add custom links to social media profiles on the web (Facebook, LinkedIn). Add places that you regularly write under “Contributor to.” List the home page URL for these sites.
- Select the tab “+1’s” and check the box “Show this tab on your profile”
- Optional: Complete as much information on your profile as possible to improve your credibility as an author.
Content Association: You need to link your content to your Google+ profile. There are two ways of doing this.
- Direct: at the bottom of each article or blog posting include a boilerplate mini bio that has a link to your Google+ profile page URL.
- Indirect: Each article or posting needs to link to a profile page on that site. The profile page includes an author bio that has a link to your Google+ profile page URL.
Go here for an in-depth tutorial on Google Authorship set-up.
