Vital information if you have a Google profile - claim authorship

1. 85

   Marisa Wrightposted 12 years ago

   As many of you know, Google recently introduced a feature to identify authors around the web.  To be recognized as an author, you need to create a Google profile and add links to your profiles on the websites and blogs where you write (which includes your HubPages sub-domain).
   
   However there is one more important step.  The links mean nothing if you don't link back FROM your profiles to your Google profile.
   
   Ideally, you should do that by modifying your website template - but obviously, you can't do that on HubPages.  And some of us aren't quite tech savvy enough to do it on our own websites, either.  So here's Google's official word on an easier way:
   
   http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/81552#post1754786
   
   I've tried it and it seems to work on HubPages. 
   
   Please note that on your Google profile, you need to link to the profile or About Me page for each of your sites.  Not the home page.

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   1. 61

      Lisa HWposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Marisa, I saw you mention this on another thread and thought I'd bump it up.
      
      Since I'm doing that anyway, I thought I'd mention that I did do what you showed.  Before, I had just put a link to the URL of my Google profile because, I guess, when I did the reciprocal links/about me thing originally there wasn't any mention of doing it the way you've shown here.  So, thanks for showing.  I'd forgotten that I'd done the half-baked Profile link on my HP profile because of that.
      
      It appears to be working OK on my profile, but I was wondering if there's some way to check whether Google is actually getting the "behind the scenes" info, rather than having the link appear to be working (by getting to the profile desired) but maybe not really be doing the job it's supposed to be doing between HubPages and Google?  (I'd agree with you that having this work properly is more vital than ever.)

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      1. 85

         Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Did you submit the form?  I'm told it's unlikely you'll get a reply but it is an essential part of the process.
         
         Google has said that just a straight link back to your Google profile isn't enough - you have to do it this way, or by altering the code.
         
         You will know when it works because your Google profile photo will start to appear next to search results. Otherwise, there's no way to tell.  And it's not immediate so patience is required!

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         1. 61

            Lisa HWposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Good reminder, thanks.  I did submit the form when I was originally using the code to put the button on my own blogs.
            
            Profile picture:  That's been showing up on next to my Hubs on search pages since I did the whole set-up thing (before I knew about this new +name thing on the HP profile.  Maybe putting the button on my blogs (and getting the codes to do it) meant Google "knew" to associate me with my Hubs (because of the regular link I had on the profile - "Google Profile" linked to the About Me page)?   Anyway, doesn't matter, I guess.  My profile picture has been showing up.
            
            Thanks.  I'll assume all is well and working.

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            1. 85

               Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Aha - yes, I'd say that's it.  I was confused, myself, because the form doesn't actually ask you to name your website - so maybe they just look at your Google profile and assume if you've proved you're the author or one, they'll believe you for the rest!

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   2. 85

      Ms Deeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for this, Marisa!  This is the first I'd seen this.

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   3. 76

      Greekgeekposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Marisa, thanks for this. I've been reading up on metadata and semantic markup for a whole blinking YEAR now, and had yet to do anything about it because it was a hassle.
      
      I'm still of two minds about the way Google (and Facebook) are trying to be the web to all people, the way AOL tried to be in the 90s. Too much domination by any commercial company, even one I generally like, makes me twitchy. So I don't like it when Google attempts to apply web standards that we all have to follow like little robots in order to get our piece of the search traffic pie.
      
      But, well, the pie puts food on the table, to mangle metaphors. I've now hooked my Google profile up to HP and Chez Squid and various blogs. I'll keep an eye out to see what happens, as some of my web assets are a good 5-10 years old.
      
      Of course, this means Google's going to Pandalize us according to our profile. Panda was all about evaluating the average quality of content posted to a site, then using that "Panda Site Rating" as one ranking factor for all pages on the site.
      
      I believe that Google's going to start using authorship -- rating the overall quality of articles we claim -- in a similar fashion.
      
      On the more prosaic front: do you think that +Marisa Wright link would work if one were not a member of Google+? I'm not finding the documentation where they mention that as an alternative to rel="me" on sites where we can't hack the code. So I'm not sure if that's a perk reserved for + members.

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      1. 76

         Greekgeekposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Oops, scratch the prosaic question; I found the answer in your other post. Thanks!

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2. 75

   sofsposted 12 years ago

   Thanks Marisa.. I truly appreciate this.. this information has helped me get the rel=author link done without much difficulty

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3. 80

   Wesman Todd Shawposted 12 years ago

   Marisa - forgive me if this is a dumb question, but are you talking about Google +??  or something else?

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   1. 85

      Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      No, this is the feature which allows Google to identify you as the genuine author of your blogs and articles. 
      
      It's one way of ensuring that scraped versions of your blogs/articles are downgraded, in theory.

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4. 72

   WriteAngledposted 12 years ago

   Edited to say that I finally managed, but I had to not use some of the code Google said to use.

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   1. 85

      Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Unfortunately, if you didn't use the correct code, it won't have the desired effect.
      
      The link will work, but Google won't regard it as proof.

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      1. 72

         WriteAngledposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         No, what happened was that the code I put in just kept getting changed back to my HP profile URL. Then I realised that I shouldn't put in the <a href type stuff that I had copied down from the Google help notes. When I cut that off and only used the middle bit, I ended up with a similar link to the one on your profile, Marisa, except that mine is an ordinary Google profile, not a G+ one. This works and leads to my Google profile.

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5. 74

   Richieb799posted 12 years ago

   Thanks, this is useful!

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6. 95

   leahleflerposted 12 years ago

   Marisa, thanks for posting the first part about how to do the rel=author and then this follow-up post about linking everything back to the Google profile. I would have had no idea how to do this (or even that I should do it) without your help!

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7. 80

   Aficionadaposted 12 years ago

   I don't understand what is meant about the picture showing up in search results.  Is that only for Hubs, or does it include articles on other sites that you have linked with rel=author?  I tried running a search for non-Hub articles written by Hubbers, and I did not see any pics at all.

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   1. 85

      Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Aficionada, a lot of Hubbers probably haven't set this up yet.  HubPages only did half the work to create the rel=author relationship, they're still working on the other half (which is why I posted this workaround).
      
      The instructions say you have to place the rel=author link on all your profiles on all the sites you write on, although Susannah reckons she's been recognised on HubPages already, even though she had only made the connection on her blogs.

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         charliegrumplesposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Is there any benefit in actually doing this .. eg have you seen improvements in ranking for it ... I'm just getting a little frustrated by the do this do that to get higher ranking and nobody actually seems to know what works any more with google ... the only thing I have spotted while doing keyword research is that hubs that hit the top ten tend to have a good volume of copy on them which is also a bit frustrating as 95% of people probably scan read a paragraph or two

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         1. 85

            Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Google is saying there will be a benefit.  I'm still not seeing my picture next to search results so it's having no effect for me yet.  Looks like there is a human approval required which could take some time.
            
            As for length - yes, one Hubber did some research last year and found Hubs over 800 words did better.

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