Google Profiles

Since the launch of Google Plus, I have been reading about how different Google services like Google Maps and Google Calendars will get redesigns. I have also heard that Google Buzz and Google Profiles will be layered into Google plus. So with all these redesigns and layering comes new opportunity. The new opportunity could be in having a Google Profile, because Google is saying that your Google Profile might start helping your Search Engine Ranking. So who you are and what you publish online will be public information.

Google Profiles – “Authorship Markup”

Google has a series of new video tutorials discussing the new “authorship markup” opportunities. Google actually talked about this first in June saying that they are “experimenting” with using the data they receive as a way for people to find the authors of the content in search results. So will there be a rankings boost for rel=’author’? Well, Othar Hansson from Google said “It’s obviously early days, so we hope to use this information and any information as a ranking signal at Google. In this case, we want to get information on credibility of authors from all kinds of sources, and eventually use it in ranking. We’re only experimenting with that now. Who knows where it will go?” then he also explains that for the time being the goal is just to put a picture next to author published content. Matt Cutts from Google says “If people believe it’s a good idea, you know, using HTML5 hopefully might help Google and any other search engine figure out more about content on the web, and what’s trustworthy and what’s less trustworthy over time”.

How to use the Markup on Content

To use the markup on a single authors site you need to:

1. On every post, add a link somewhere on the page pointing to your Google Profile

2. On that link, add an attribute rel=”author”

3. The link can go in the footer or the header or wherever you see fit.

4. You can also wrap it around an image.

If multiple authors are on a site then you have them insert a link themselves at the bottom of the page with the attribute on it. Or link the bio to the author’s bio page, add rel=author on the links to the bio, and from the bio page add rel=”me” links to the Google Profile, and link the Google Profile back to that page. Cutts also says that they are going to try and start working with CMS manufacturers so that individuals don’t’ have to do all the work if they don’t want to.

More detailed information on how to set up the authorship markup at Google webmasters tools. I also more detailed information from Webpro News. Let us know what you think about having your face next to your published results.

Link to related Topic on Google +