Unless you are an SEO guru, you probably don’t know much about Google AuthorRank. In fact, you could have missed a few days of important Google updates and consequently, you might have missed any news about AuthorRank altogether. This has left an awful lot of people out of the loop when it comes to knowing what AuthorRank is and how it can help websites improve search engine rankings and generate more website traffic in various SEO schemes.
The first thing is to understand what Google AuthorRank is.
What is Google AuthorRank | History of Google AuthorRank
The truth is that AuthorRank dates back to August of 2005 when Google applied for a patent for a system then called Agent Rank.
The premise behind the patent application was to introduce a system where popular agents would have their content and interactions that they received from their content ranked higher than content of non ranking agents. This system was meant to refine Google’s search engine results and help to promote viable and quality content,while preventing spammers from moving into better and higher rankings.
This intial action on Agent Rank largely was pushed by the wayside mainly because as good as the idea was, there was one glaring problem. There was no system in place to identify ranking agents.
Google’s stance on Agent Rank remained until 2011 when Google filed for a continuation patent referencing a proposed identity platform. To many insiders, this sort of sounded like Google’s social network known as Google+ and the profiles its users created.With Google+ profiles and the content these profiles have attached to them, known as Google Authorship, it seems that Google found an answer to identifying ranking agents in a more convenient way than they ever had before.It wasn’t until recently that the name AuthorRank began to be used for this new move by Google and it is considered to be a bigger move by Google than Panda or Penguin combined.
What is Google AuthorRank | Will It Replace PageRank?
There was also some talk about AuthorRank as a possible replacement for Google’s PageRank. However, Google was quick to point out that AuthorRank will be used to inform PageRank only and not replace it. Most importantly, AuthorRank will be used to rank high quality content better than ever before.
The question many people have is why should anyone care? The reason is that it is very likely that AuthorRank will be included in the way Google does site rankings. Google uses various algorithms to collect and rank content. Since Google is always searching to improve their ranking system, it almost seems inevitable that Google will begin incorporating AuthorRank into their complex algorithms.
Regardless of when Google AuthorRank is introduced, rest assured it’s on its way sooner rather than later. That’s why you need to be prepared for a shift in how Google ranks content and inevitably, how your business or individual website is ranked. Fortunately, learning how to set up for AuthorRank is quite simple.
How to Prepare for Google AuthorRank
Whether you are doing this on your own or you are doing it with the help of an SEO firm, you first need to get a Google Authorship account set up. This not only gives you a content rich snippet that are so common in search engine results, it plays into Google’s hands as they get all the information they need to assign you an initial AuthorRank.
From there you need to do two things. The first is making sure that your content rich snippet is created to maximize this advertising opportunity. You can use various different applications that can help you create the best snippet. These applications are great, especially if you aren’t working with an established SEO firm.
Secondly, you need to track down the best quality content that you or your SEO firm has created on your behalf. This will help improve your AuthorRank rankings.
Lastly, you need to be committed to continually keep producing quality content. This will help your rankings, which will get your content ranked higher and ultimately help your search engine rankings to grow as well.
It’s also important to understand that Google AuthorRank is much more flexible than an application like PageRank. In actuality, you can have different AuthorRank rankings for different topics. This means that if you aren’t good at writing some content, you can make up for that by writing on a topic or subject that you are passionate or knowledgeable about in order to improve your AuthorRank rankings.
Now, just like any other SEO method, AuthorRank isn’t something that happens overnight. It will need to be a gradual and natural process where real writers write quality content, which is exactly what Google wants.
It will take constant attention. In fact, many experts trying to prepare SEO professionals and individual website owners for the introduction of AuthorRank recommend you follow a daily routine in order to help improve your AuthorRank. Things like checking your Google+ at least 5 times per day, writing quality content such as your own personal blog, and visiting blogging sites that you guest write for while leaving quality replies are all helpful in increasing your AuthorRank.
Preparing yourself for Google AuthorRank will help you be ahead of the curve once it is officially added to Google’s algorithms. This will allow you to move forward in search engine rankings while some other individuals and SEO firms will be busy playing catch up.
What Affects Google AuthorRank?
Google AuthorRank Factors