optimising online revenue

Want to become a Google Featured author? Here's how

November 2012

 

There's a vast amount already been written regarding Google's Author Information functionality, although much of it seems somewhat contradictory and confusing: a reflection, perhaps, of Google's own documentation regarding the development.

Essentially - and to quote Google itself -

If you want your authorship information to appear in search results for the content you create, you'll need a Google+ Profile with a good, recognizable headshot as your profile photo. Then, verify authorship of your content by associating it with your profile using either of the methods below. Google doesn't guarantee to show author information in Google Web Search or Google News results.

Option 1: Link your content to your Google+ profile using a verified email address.

Option 2: Set up authorship by linking your content to your Google+ profile

It's been claimed in one or two blogs that the first method (which is certainly the most discreet, as it doesn't require a very obvious link to Google + within content) is less likely to produce results than the first. This is not, however, something that can easily be verified, and in fact, it's the only method outlined by Google themselves on at least one of their authorship support pages.

Despite what appear to be glaring anomalies in the consistency and quality of information provided (if the world were fair, would Google themselves ever gain accolades for their own, highly variable content?) we still recommend consulting Google's own support for the most up-to-date information regarding participation in the Author Information scheme.

Handy, too (and again, not necessarily easy to locate) is the Structured Data Testing tool, which enables testing of the Authorship function once set up, and provides a tantalising glimpse of exactly how your Featured Author snippet would look!

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