When you do a Google search have you noticed that next to some search
results there is a nice picture next to certain blog posts in the search
engine results? You tend to want to click on those blog posts first don't
you? Actually, according to some tests, blog posts with pictures in the
SERPS have a 30% higher click-through rate than posts without the pictures.
The reason that you see the authors' pictures next to their blog posts is
because they have taken the time to establish authorship for their site with
Google. I just managed to accomplish this amazing feat for my blog at
Quickregister.net and here is everything I did to get it done:
Add a Nice Head Shot of You to Your Google+ Profile Page
In order for your picture to show up in the SERPS you need to have an
official picture of yourself on Google+. Log into your Google+ account and
upload a recognizable head shot of yourself. It cannot be a picture of your
cat. It has to be human and you. I have heard it helps if it is sized
equally like 250 pixels by 250 pixels. I am not sure if this is true. I did
it anyway.
Set All Your Google +'s to Public View
Log into your Google+ account and in your settings set it so that the public
can see everything you Google+. (If you have not yet gotten started with
Google+ here is an article which gets you started with the basics.
1. Log into your Google+ account
2. Click the edit profile button
3. There is a check box that says "Show this tab on your profile" check the
box and then save settings. Now your plus Ones will be available for public
visitors. That's it! Thank you Blogs Trick for showing me this.
Create a Link From Within Google+ to Your Site
Log into your Google+ account, click edit profile, and at the bottom there
is a place to add links to your websites. Add a link to your blog or website
there.
Link Your Site to Your Google Plus Profile
You need to establish a relationship between your Google+ profile and your
website. So you need a link back to your Google+ profile. I put the
following in the head section of my blog: <link rel="author" href="https://plus.google.com/117311402320952355213/posts"
/>
Notice the: link rel="author" part of the code and then the link to my
Google+ PERSONAL profile. This lets Google know that this site is mine and I
am personally the author of the blog.
I have seen other blog posts suggest that you just put a Google+ badge to
your profile on your site. You can create your own Google+ badge here.
However, I actually went and looked at sites that had successfully acquired
Google+ authorship and they had the code above in the head section of their
websites. So I just did as they did. I believe in imitating what really
works.
I also noticed they linked to their Google+ business page for that specific
site in the head section of their site as well. If you have not yet set up a
Google+ business page for your site you can learn how to do so here. (You
can set up a separate Google+ business page for your website in addition to
your personal profile with Google+)
They linked to their Google+ business page in the head section of their site
with this code:
<link rel="publisher" href="https://plus.google.com/b/100107215782513653883/100107215782513653883/posts"
/>
Notice the link rel="publisher" code. This lets Google know that my website
Quickregister.net is the publisher. The link is to my Google+ business page
for my site Quickregister.net. I do not think this step is mandatory, but I
saw other successful sites adding a publisher link to their business page so
I did the same.
Add A Link From Your "About Us" Page On Your Website To Your Personal
Google+ Profile With Your Name And With The "rel=author me" Tag
You can use the "About Us" page of your blog or website for this. If you do
not have such a page create one. Then add this link to your About You page:
<a href="https://plus.google.com/117311402320952355213/" rel="me">Matthew
Meyer?/a>
The link is to my personal Google+ profile and notice I hyperlink this to my
name, exactly as on my Google+ personal profile with the rel="me." Yes I
actually put the letters me. I am not saying to put your name there. Really
put "me." Of course, replace the link to my personal Google+ profile page
with your Google+ profile page and change my name to yours.
Add a Verified Email@yourdomain.com <mailto:Email@yourdomain.com> to Your
Google+ Account
Google mentions this on their official page so I guess it is important. Add
an email address to your Google+ account @yourdomain.com and verify it. Many
of us are probably using our gmail.com email for our Google+ account but add
an email from your own domain as well to tie your domain even closer to your
Google+ profile.
Check to See if It Worked With Google Rich Snippets
Google has a free tool to help you see if you have successfully established
authorship for your blog or website. Go here then type in the URL of your
website. If you did everything correctly, you should see your picture next
to your website. Note that sometimes it can take a few weeks for Google to
update everything so you might not get immediate results.
This is everything I did and it worked! You can do a search for
"Quickregister.net How To Set Up A Google+ Page For Beginners" and you will
see my picture next to the blog post. Having your beautiful mug next to your
post should definitely help your click through rates and maybe even your
SEO. I would love to hear your comments, especially from you really smart
people out there who might see something I have missed.
If you have any questions or comments please contact me.
Regards Gerald
Website: http://www.webcraft.ws
E-mail: gerald@webcraft.ws
Twitter: WebcraftGuru
Facebook: Webcraft Guru
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