My slidedeck on Google AuthorShip for the SMX Toronto 2013 Conference!

1. Authorship:
Why Claiming your
Identity Matters…
SMX Toronto 2013

2. Our Session TOC…
• Google’s Official Position Basics
• Google’s Patents on AuthorShip & AuthorRank
• Microsoft & Yahoo are in as well
• Google+ and AuthorShip
• The Benefits of AuthorShip
• AuthorShip Bonuses
• AuthorShip Conclusions
• The Future of AuthorShip & AuthorRank
• Credits…

3. The Official Google Basics…
• This is all about Authorship and it’s impact on SEO
and Social Media too…
• To begin, let’s look at the various search engine
patents and pull out what I think are the “best
factors” they divulge about that ranking
functionality from same…
http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?
hl=en&answer=1140194

4. “Google Might Rank User Generated
Web Content in Google + and Other
Social Networks!”
…by Bill Slawski, seobythesea.com
the Patent Whisperer
http://www.seobythesea.com/2011/07/how-google-might-rank-user-generated-web-con

5. Agent Rank!
Google Patent: US 2007/0033168 A1
Filing date: Aug 8, 2005
“this technique ranks authors in social media
systems through a combination of statistical
techniques that leverage usage metrics, and social
and topical graph characteristics. In various
exemplary embodiments, the technique can rank
author authority …”
http://www.google.com/patents/US20070033168

6. Method and Apparatus for Rating User
Generated Content in Search Results!
Google Patent: US 2011/0196860 A1
Filing date: Apr 19, 2011
“a method and apparatus provides for rating user
generated content (UGC) with respect to search
engine results…thereby generating a rating factor
for the UGC field based on the document goodness
factor, the author rank and the location rank…”
http://www.google.com/patents/US20090271391

7. Ranking Authors in Social Media Systems!
Microsoft Patent: US 2012/0117059
Filing date: Nov 9, 2010
“the technique can rank author authority by the
following: 1) temporal analysis of link sharing in
which authority is computed based on a user's
propensity to provide early links to web pages
that subsequently become popular; 2) topical
authority based on the author's links and content
updates in specific topic areas too…”
http://www.google.com/patents/US20120117059

8. Method and Apparatus for Rating User
Generated in Search Results
Yahoo Patent: US 2009/0271391
Filing date: Apr 29, 2008
“The method and apparatus thereby generates a
rating factor for the UGC field based on the
document goodness factor, the author rank and
the location rank…to output a search result that
includes the UGC data field positioned in the
search results based on the rating factor…“
Patent Filings here…

9. Patent Take Aways?
All Search Engines have patents on
using social media of one type or
another to create “identifiable” content
authors…and will rank sites based on
that AuthorShip…
http://www.seo-theory.com/2013/02/06/seo-myths-
about-authorship-and-author-rank/

10. So
What?
http://www.seo-theory.com/2013/02/06/seo-myths-
about-authorship-and-author-rank/

11. “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, ex-Googler
NYTimes Book Review 2013

12. WHY
BOTHER?

13. Traffic!
“Want at least a Boost in Traffic?
Then Use this Idiot-Proof Guide to Google
Authorship Markup…”
…by Neil Patel, KISSmetrics.com
http://www.quicksprout.com/?s=authorship

14. Click-thrus!
“And don’t forget – Authorship tactics
bring at least a 35% increase up to a
400% increase in click-thrus too…”
…by Neil Patel, KISSmetrics.com
http://www.quicksprout.com/2012/09/17/author-rank-a-step-by-step-guide-to-dominat

15. So...isn’t EVERYONE using AuthorShip then?
Not even close…
Most online SEM
types are NOT using
it yet!
Let’s look at that…
http://www.catalystsearchmarketing.com

16. Only 9% of Tech Blogs use Authorship!
This is somewhat shocking it is known to increase
the click thru rates from the Google search results
to the web site!
Even more
shocking
Is that 3%
weren't’ able
to “do” it!
http://www.conductor.com/blog/2012/08/how-9-out-of-10-tech-sites-could-improve-the

17. Google Authorship Adoption Among Social
Media Influentials!
“Adoption of Google Authorship among these
highly-influential people on social media was
surprisingly low.
Only 15 of the 50 influentials (30%) have set up an
Authorship connection…”
by Mark Traphagen, Virante.com
http://www.virante.org/blog/
https://plus.google.com/u/0/?tab=wX#communities/104474428845467390263

18. Benefits
Of
Authorship

19. Authorship Creates
Your Brand!
1]. You create your own personal brand…that will
let all searchers know who you are…and that you at
a minimum have spoken/written on the topic
they’ve just searched for….

20. You Now Don’t Have to Be #1…
2]. Used to be that
you need to be #1
to get click-thrus
and traction…
but no more!

21. And You Can Track
Authorship Click-thrus!
3]. In GWT > Labs > AuthorStats you can see your
own metrics….
* Can you tell when I was away?

22. Google Provides A Hidden Benefit!
4]. After a web search and at least 90 seconds…
Google will display an extra 3 listings for a
verified Authorship content creator…

23. Authorship is Valued by Google+
5]. Another way that Google Authorship is so
important is the fact that it allows you to build up a
reputation in particular areas of knowledge…
Much like rival social network Facebook, Google+
logs verified information about you…
This influences which search results you receive as
well as how trusted certain websites are to both
you as a user & search engines too…

24. SEO Benefits of Authorship!
6]. When an author gets a relatively good amount
of social notice and web traffic, the writer obtains
an “Author Ranking” with Google Authorship. This
creates a ranking system to boost the content each
writer creates…
As Brian Clark, founder and CEO of Copyblogger,
said, “Author Rank has the potential to be the
biggest algorithmic signal for the SEO since the
hyperlink itself…”

25. BONUS: Use Plus Mentioning!
• The ability to plus mention someone in a post in
a comment by typing a + sign and then
immediately typing the person’s name.
• Once posted, the plus mention becomes a link
to that person’s profile, but also generates a
notification to the person mentioned with a
link to the post!
• This is a GREAT way to build AuthorRank rep!

26. BONUS:
Do +1 Clicks Affect Search Results?
• +1 helps people discover relevant content—a
website, a Google search result —from the
people they already know and trust…
• The +1 button appears on Google search, on
websites and on ads too!
• So the content that you create – will gain +1
clicks…and help your AuthorRank increase...

27. BONUS: The AuthorCrawler App!
• Created by Tom Anthony of Distilled…
• Helps the SEO community to use Google's
authorship markup to harvest data about
links…
• Uses the seomoz API to
sort your backlinks by the
social standing of the
authors of those links!
http://www.tomanthony.co.uk/tools/author-crawler/

28. CONCLUSION:
The Future of Authorship is AuthorRank!
AuthorRank is defined by Google as…
“The identity of individual agents responsible for
content can be used to influence search
ratings…”
It’s coming….
Are you ready?

29. AuthorRank Take Aways:
• Find your own channel to be an Authority!
• Write often in that channel and remember to
deploy it across all social media apps…
• USE Google+ and the +1 buttons daily to help
Google realize that YUP – you’re an Authority!
• Find other channel influentials and take a role in
their own online reputation building too!

30. AuthorRank Take Away Links…
Econsultancy – is AuthorRank a Myth?
Seo.moz – What AuthorRank is?
AJ Kohn – Reading May Influence AuthorRank
Econsultancy – Are you prepared for AuthorRank
CopyBlogger – Why Hunter S Thompson…
DuctTape – When Authors rule the Web
SocialThoughts – AuthorShip & Identity…
AJ Kohn – A Seminal AuthorRank Study…

31. Credits…
Jim Rudnick -- MCSD
• CEO KKT INTERACTIVE
• a Microsoft Certified Solution Developer
• more than 17 years of SEO experience
• with more than 25 years of web experience
• have worked for NY Yankees, PEP Boys, GE,
The Disney Company, Canada Life, Mercedes,
SAAB, Reuters and Quaker State Oil…
• built more than 400 sites…have run more than 100 SEO Campaigns over
past decades…
• we build sites that have had millions of hits come up on the first page in
search engines and more than that – we build sites that generate new
business for our clients day after day!!!
• we blog about Canadian SEO at www.canuckseo.com too!

32. Questions?
Jim Rudnick
KKT INTERACTIVE Inc.
jrudnick@kkti.com
www.kkti.com
jrudnick@kkti.com
905-667-8565