Author Rank…..o… Google Author Rank!
We have been listening to lots of stuff about Google Author Rank around the blogging niche. According to some bloggers, Google Author Rank is a nightmare for their online work just like Google Panda. But, is it really a nightmare?
Hmm… no!
I know there is a lot of confusion on the term Google Author Rank, and many are searching online to know more about the importance of this upcoming ranking factor in the search engine. Author Rank is most likely to be another algorithm by Google to rank your identity online in their search engine results. It will allow the Google to easily share a sneak peak into your life, and on the standards of your work and eventually reward you in the SERPs.
Basics of Google Author Rank
Google Author Rank is a very old project of the Google Search team, which was initially named Agent Rank. Google wants an algorithm that collects data from both websites, and the social world regarding different topics. This will create more valuable search engine results for its users.
According to the documentation available in major SEO portals, I have discovered that Author Rank was first discussed in 2005. Sadly, after that it never reached the surface in the market. It was only discussed in research departments as a tool that would be strong and effective for business.
However, earlier this fall, after the launch of several Penguin and Panda updates in the market, Google revived the discussion of Author Rank clearly in public. This indicates its concerns on the implementation of such an algorithm in the search engine that collects data from both the web and social networks.
Impact of the Social Web
It is all about the involvement of social media signals and their impact on the old-age SEO. Google is using social along with other data to measure the worth of every author profile in the online world and the value of that profile to their readership. It allows Google and other search engines to easily measure the rank of the individual author and publishers in their system. According to Google’s very own study, social signals are less spammy than SEO signals, and the implementation of such social signals in SEO will provide more quality results to their users.
In the last few months, Google has changed many things in their algorithms and totally redefined the meanings of search engine optimization for everyone. Their speedy changes in the algorithms make them pretty unpredictable for intermediates, but at some stages the professional experts are tracking and keep hunting the new algorithms.
The Foundation of Google's Author Rank System
While we are discussing the Google Author Rank system, let me tell you that everything of Author Rank will stem from Google’s very own social network Google+ and your Author Markup, and will also ends on the Google+1 button shares.
Well, you might be thinking in your mind that social shares can be easily tricked, and one can easily get ranked on top of your posts!
Google's Author Rank system is not only based on the basic social shares and interaction of your content with readers. It actually works as a social knowledge graph. It collects all the basic sharing data from the specific user with the help of other social networks, and using the advanced refers within URLS that allows anyone to track the visitors, and after collecting all the produced data the system runs the raw data into filters to get an actual hype and engagement of readers with your content. Relevancy also counts here! One should be relevant to the specific niche before start ranking in the SERP.
This is just an advanced step created by Google to make search engine results clean. It heavily impacts the brand's online presence in the search engine. It takes the old-SEO formula to a new level with the implementation of social ranking signals in the search engine bots. The Agent Rank research started back in the days when Google contracted with Twitter to access and index Tweets in the search engine like today's Google+ posts rank for your personal circles.
Google Author Rank is all about your real presence on the social networks, and your communication skills with people around you. It can boost someone's online presence with real hype from social networks. Here are lots of things that are still not revealed about Google Author Rank, but it is reported by several experts and researchers that Google will reveal more information on the public launch of the Google Author Ranking system.
Are you prepared for this latest algorithm update from Google? What are you doing to build your Author Rank?
Thanks for clarifying this new system from the big ‘g’, now the next step for us now is to start building relationships with our readers and social friends out there.. Very informative.
Hi Nhick,
Your welcome 🙂
Yes! It’s the very next important thing to follow up. At the time there were only a few tips on how to improve the Google Author Rank, but whatever we have in hands, still works! 🙂
Actually I believe the Google Author Rank is trying to promote Google Plus network. They are always sending messages about increasing engagement and followers on this network to get better ranking, so most bloggers/webmasters have to stick with this social network. The change is not about user.
I agree with you Tuan. Google is making use of its search engine to push-sale Google+. Are they bribing us to use G+?
Hey Taun,
I just wanted to say Google Author Rank is not a complete overhaul of SERP, and ranking system. It is just another algorithm to refine the search. Yes, at some level it appears to be forcing the webmasters to use it.
But being a marketer, I believe it is a good step. At least it provides us a powerful profile in the global village.
Hi Hamza,
There is some really great info packed into this post and a must read for all bloggers!
Having a strong social presence is a must for any blogger online, and as you’ve pointed out with the latest update from Google they are making this known.
Great post
Cheers
Mark
Hi Mark,
thanks a lot for your words buddy! Being social and communication expert is one of the most important skill of the bloggers and internet marketers. I believe a person with poor communication skills can never lead in this internet world even with quality / unique content.
first author rank is introduced by Microsoft for their project than later google introduced Agent Rank and now it’s caller Author rank and i think now in google’s future algorithm update it’s take much more part in ranking factor. nice information i really got many information from this article.
Neha, yeah! Originally, Microsoft presented the idea in the market, but later Google takes it to the next level and start planning to implement it in the real time search engine results.
According to the personal study, and tracking of the Author Rank, there are many results that changes on the daily basis just because of Author’s rank.
It’s really interesting to learn this. So, if author rank is included as Google’s search engine ranking factor, can we expect better search results? Won’t it again favor big companies who have more followers to +1 than we small bloggers?
Suresh, personally I am also looking for the same thing, and even I have raised the same question in the forums.
However, I know one thing. Author Rank will be just another filter from Google to clean out the results. Believe me!
Big websites like Mashable, Gizmodo and the whole network are never favored in the SERP over normal rankings. If their pages are appearing on the front page, it is all because of their quick performance and growing authority – which brings them in the Google News. 🙂
There is a big mystery behind the DA & PA of the website.
Very interesting, personally I’d never heard of it before. Further demonstrates the importance of social media.
Good explanation of the importance of Author rank Hazma. I had read up learned some about this but you explained it very thoroughly in this post.
Justin, I am glad that I am able to deliver the core points of the Google Author Rank. I have been working silently from many weeks to learn about the Google Author Rank. I have dig numbers of documents, and forums before coming to write this post here.
This is an interesting subject, as I’ve heard all kinds of opinions about it. Some people are eager to exploit this opportunity,, while other friends thing it will just ruin all their work done for the past years.
Hey Jack, personally I believe that it will ruin the old-age SEO marketing, but for the sake of pure SERP results it will bring the more original results on the first positions.
I did not knew about how to get the google authorship verified but I was verified without doing anything and finally now I know what is the author rank, Great post btw!
Hey Hamza nicely structured post! Google should be on everyone’s radar, especially those who own a blog or website. Obviously with the additions of G+ & all of Google’s Algorithm reports, this will make owners be more Google guideline compliant than ever before.
It may be the end of SEO that marketer are accustom to, not so much the end of SEO, rather more compliance will be required.
Perfect timing BTW with this posting.
Hey Bryan,
I am completely agreed with you. It is a clear end of the old-age SEO, now the next-generation SEO tactics will include many simple marketing tactics to rank better in the search engine.
Now, SEO is changed into the advanced marketing of any product, website, or niche.
Thanks a lot for your comment, well I am guessing that I was late in publishing my article. If you need more information on the Google Author Rank, make sure you check out my links 🙂 I have covered the topic very deeply. 🙂
Great post there, Hamza. Google Authorship is very essential for bloggers. Furthermore, it adds SEO value for your blog post as well.
Thanks again for this informational post.
Cheers
Hi Hamza,
I’ve heard the term “Google Author Rank” many times but never give any attention to it. Certainly a great tutorial and many webmaster would now consider to have their account on Google+ too, which they’ve been avoided for long time. 🙂
Hi Aasma,
Thanks for your words 🙂
Yeah. Many webmasters will now make their profiles on the Google+, but I want to repeat, it’s not all about only Google+ account and interaction with users over Google+.
Actually, Google is about to use all the social networks, and their signals to rank the better content.
Very nice info. I’ve never heard of Google Author ranking system before. Thanks for sharing this.
Hey Richard,
Thanks for your comment 🙂 Hope you will come again!
Well Explained Hamza I tried to get author ship for my blog But didn’t get yet. But not in much tension. It just another way to strong your position in search engine. Nicely explained Kepp it up
Hey Danial,
Yes, it is another way to strong one’s position in the search engine results. Many people get confused with both terms Google Authorship (Author Markup) and the Google Author Rank.
Thank you for this introduction. I’ve heard of the Author Rank but I had no idea what it was.
I’ll be honest, I didn’t know much about this Author Rank stuff so thanks for this informative and enlightening piece, Hamza. Hardly surprising though that Google has integrated author rank with its own social networking platform.
Hi Jeff,
I am really thankful to you for sharing your honest words with me. 🙂
Yes, Google has invented and researched on the Author Rank and that’s why they have implemented it with Google+. They have firstly tested the Agent Rank (Author Rank) with Twitter tweets, and then later implemented with Google+.
Hi Sheikh,
Do you know – Google Author Rank is SUBJECTIVE or OBJECTIVE?
I mean, a reputed author (in the eyes of Google) who writes for an authoritative blog or websites with higher rankings for most of her articles; If she writes for a comparatively new and non-authoritative blog – Will her content still ranks higher?
Express our vies 🙂
Hi Nadita,
Your comment really pushed me to seriously talk about Google+ 😉
That’s what I wanted to share with readers in the comment section. Well, the answer is simple ‘No’.
Google Author Rank works like the knowledge graph, it collects the information of the specific author from Google’s collected raw data and then run the same data on some (not revealed) filters to check whether you have some knowledge on specific topic or not. If your older collected data represent that you have knowledge about specific data, then there are high chances that you will get high ranks..
But if you take a start with completely new niche, then it will highly depends on the social interaction of your content 🙂 #Pro
Nope! You’ve not understood my question at first place.
ANSWER:
1# Google Author Rank is SUBJECTIVE – It means, if an author with high Google Author Rank (who usually writes for an authoritative blog) writes for a comparatively newer blog with same niche; contents will still rank higher compared to a low rank author writing for an authoritative blog.
This is why – Authors or Content Creators will be benefited immensely while switching companies.
2## If you write for a new niche, your content will be ranked lower with a low author rank for that niche.
Thanks.
Thanks for more clear question 🙂
Answer #1: If an author with high authority (Google Author Rank) in the same niche (but on the new blog) writes an article, it will surely help him in the SERP’s. But, before ranking the content they will run the collected raw data from the Average PageRank & Social Signals filter to make double sure that content is originally written, and not for some quick cash.
That’s the most confusing part of the whole Google Author Ranking system.
Answer 2: Currently, there is no mechanism to measure the Author Rank, but you can measure your simple worth with G+ (original) interaction, and shares of your content.
Nice post.. Some of my doubts regarding the Author Rank was cleared.. Thank you so much..
It’s my first time to hear about that Author rank. That totally something we should pay attention to. Thank you for your sharing!
A very Nice way of explanation Hamza Sheikh !
I had some questions about Google Author Pagerank ,and they all are cleared.
Google Authorship is one of the things that got me using G+. At first I thought it was just a strategy by Google to get people to use it, but then I started seeing the benefits it can have for their search engine. I think it’s a great way to involve human factors in the algorithm, rather than have it rely solely on machine computations.
People have to understand that Google does not like SEO, because the point of it is to deliberately influence search results. Google will move toward more and more policing on the factor, we are going to see more and more types of updates like Panda and Penguin.
If you want to succeed in content creation, you have to write things that people want to read, not things that will be ranked high by machines.
Hey Kirill,
I am really glad that I got someone here with same point I had about the Google+. In the initial days, I also stumbled why I have to use the Google+, and why Google keeps rolling new features / buttons for the webmasters.
But, after the implement of Google+ button on my website, and keeping an eye on the Google Webmaster Tool. I figured out that Google silently rolls out the Google+ Button information in the Webmaster, and then they rolled out the similar feature in the Google Analytics. Many have ignored the fact, but you can judge 😉
Had no idea about this, should be interesting to see all the ins and outs of it once it launches though. Google appears to making constant changes, I guess time will tell if they are for the best.
Bloggers and jumping on the latest fads and trends. Just keep on writing quality content (and SEOing) and the rest would take care of themselves. Simple.
No one should break a sweat over this author rank of a thing and stay focus on delivery quality to their audience.
Hi Steven,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, but I am not agreeing with you here.
If the quality content is the only thing that can lead us into the top charts, then I guess every other Content Writer should have blog /website.
The reality is something different! It’s all about the communication / networking, and marketing skills. As far as I know, and stated by many other bloggers! The quality content is that which automatically gets itself in the readers network. 🙂
Hi Sanjay,
Thanks for commenting, and sharing your thoughts on the Google Author Rank.
According to your words, you are also mixing up the Google Author Rank with Google Authorship.
The one you implemented on your website is Google Author Markup (Authorship).
Google Author Rank is a ranking algorithm that is used to rank author profiles.
Yeah, just noticed it after you commented 🙂 Thanks for clearing that up!
Google author rank is a good way to give credits to whom it is due. Those who have been writing quality contents all along should be recognized and this is how Google author rank helps.
This panda updates make hard time to the SEO’ers, Thanks for the great post – helped me to understand the real impact of the author rank system.
Hey Hamza,
Excellent tips and Excellent work. You are right that Google Author Rank is going to play an important role in next up coming few weeks. Google has not launched Author Rank algo till yet but in the up coming days, they are going to roll out this update as well. It will help those blogs who have already used Google Author Rank and those blogs or websites will show lower in search engine rankings who have not implemented it.
Basically they are trying to capture market using Google +, they are not getting much traffic on Google plus as Facebook is getting so they are doing what ever they can do to beat Facebook.
Thank you
Hey Saif,
Yeah I am agreed. Google Author Rank is going to be the future of SEO, and will surely give another chance to low scale websites to jump in big competition.
hello admin
Thanks for this great and very informative article.I really appreciate your blog and i will definitely share it to my friends.Hope your blog will grow as much as posible.
thanks
Rihaaz
Thanks for this post! I feel like this article widened my knowledge about these things. I really admire you for sharing this well crafted literary piece and I hope you will continue providing great posts like this.
Nice post , Google authorship is the future of SEO and Social presence for all bloggers.
Thanks for the sharing the useful information.
never heard of it before
Ranking with author labels is disappointing for newbies because it will
degrade their article’s rank even if a well know author writes on that topic days later
I have not heard of Author rank before so its interesting for me. I hope this will help many web-masters or those who are using social media to lift their SEO efforts. I wonder how it will work and how it will actually effect SEO but not nonetheless lets hope and see how this one turns out.
Hi Ileane,
I heard a lot of people talking about this Author Rank, that it will be the future of SEO, but I haven’t seen any ways you can optimize it yet. I use the author markup for my blog but I don’t know how that can affect my ranking.
Thanks for posting this Ileane, I think I’m gonna start looking for more info on this new Google algorithm now that I’ve read your post.
Have a great day.
~Philip
Hi Philip,
Thanks for commenting, and allowing me to share my words 🙂
Google Author Rank is still in testing, and Google is very aggressively testing it with some high publishers. They are trying to implement the social signals with SERP results. Well, I guess you have missed some important discussion regarding the Google Author Rank.
I have recently covered a post featuring how to optimize the Google Author Rank 🙂
I am embedding the link below, you can check out by yourself.
Author rank is something I have heard about already.
I just haven’t had the time in creating one for myself.
Will need to 🙂
Google Author rank is the future of SEO for blogging.
Thank you Hamza for this informative post.
This is something harder to understand. If an author is to be ranked by his real presence in online world and social networks, why only Google+? Why not the social network itself?
At the end of day, it all appears to be Google’s attempt to push-sale its Google+ network. Is Google bribing the webmasters and authors to stick to Google+? Is it not making some unfair favor to its own network against lot other already-established networks?
Though, as a blogger we can’t do anything except follow Big G’s all directions, I guess we can raise suspicion to its actions?
Hey Suresh 🙂
Welcome here! 🙂
Well, Google is a bit tough here! They haven’t said that they will not look into other social networks, they will surely! But Google+ will be the main stream to measure the interaction, and believe me it’s a good approach. For the next few years, there are no chances that big fishes converted their stream to Google+, and less spam 😉
So, by anyhow! It will be good for everyone! 😀 #JustUnderstandWhatEMSaying 😛
hi,
great share, Recently I am starting blogging so its so useful for me thanks for sharing with us.
Well, i was never aware about this Google author rank. But now after reading your post, i think i should take it seriously and improve my engagement on G+.
Anyways thanks for sharing this with us.
Hi Ajay,
that’s so nice of you that you will take a step after reading my words. Make sure to ping me over twitter when you are about to implement the Google Author Markup. I will love to work with my readers.
Author Rank is a complicated subject. I know there are a few plug-ins for author rank and I tried them but could not get them to work properly. After reading your article I think I will have to go back and try to get the plug-in to work for me. You have renewed my interest in author rank. Thanks.
Hey Dennis,
Thanks for your read, and comment. As I have mentioned above most of the people mix up the Google Author Rank and the Google Author Markup (Authorship). The thing you have to implement in your website is Google Author Markup, and once you have successfully implemented the Google Author Markup – then Author Rank will start.
This is truly next generation SEO. Many SEO strategiest thinks that Social signals are much less spammy as compared to SEO signals. And I personally feel the same. Lets see what changes author rank is going in SERPs.
Hi Vivek,
Thanks for sparing time to comment. I really appreciate your comment 🙂
Yes, this is an advanced SEO term where Google and other search engines are opt to use the social signals as a factor rank the results. 🙂
How does Google stop webmaster from using the author account that has the best authorship markup? It’s 1 simple question with 1 huge flaw in the so called new sytem coming out.
I seem ot have put my email in my name and my website in my Twitter 😀 sorry about that
Google Author Rank perfectly suits general and niche bloggers. Some of the bloggers deserve to get more attention and rank high in search engines, so this system will introduce new successful bloggers, showing their interaction with visitors and their unique content on their blog.
I agree with your point of view, but just think about the already settled bloggers and author profiles with thousands of interaction with their content. Just take Mashable for the moment, their author profiles are always filled with fans.
What I hate about this is that it seems to be based largely on Google +, and lets face it if it wasn’t for the fact that Google results are shaped by it I don’t think anyone would really be using it. I guess its just one more way for Google to get us to use another one of their products, but hey since I learned about Google Authorship I went ahead and got my blog linked to it.
Indeed truth, Google is just trying to get everyone excited about the Google+, and its so-called benefits for them. They are actually creating the demand to kill the Facebook, and other social networks.
Interesting post and I agree that on author rank Google plus have a big impact.
It’s for sure one of the most important social networks to look after.
thanks for sharing
This is quite interesting, I wonder what opportunities having a high author rank will actually give, I’m all for google updating its system, I just hope this is helpful and not hurtful to us hard-working bloggers…
Google is sending me a liltle more traffic after I enabled authorship, but since mine is a multi author blog, I find it hard to make all users setup their author profile.
Very interesting post indeed.
Hey Sreejesh,
That’s really nice for you! Hope, other members will also see an increase in traffic towards their websites after implementing the Google Author Mark Up on their websites.
this the first new for me about the author ranks so I don’t know clear about what is that. However, this tips make me know about author ranks the first time.
Thanks a lot for clarifying almost each and every doubt that could come to mind . I still could not help notice that there are a lot of probabilities that such update can be rolled out soon .
with the changing seo trends it is important to not to miss even a single chance to give your website an advantage in google serps. Author rank is important and can be helpful in giving your site google position. I have author rank so every one should have and and increase your circle
So Google author rank is all about SEM (Search Engine Marketing). I think i heard these kind of algorithms related to Google Knowledge Graph. It is better to have a good social media profile for us to help increase our Google author rank. In future, Google author rank will be equivalent to an page rank.
Hi Rajkumar,
I am agreed with you. Google Author Rank is very similar to Page Rank, and it as well somehow depends on the inner-side of knowledge graph (means the Google owned author profiles data). 🙂
The thing is even if Google doesn’t put too much weight into Author Rank today, chances are they will in the future. Perhaps in a month or a year having an established author profile will increase your rankings much more significantly, so there’s no reason not to use it.
Hi Michelle,
Agreed with you! Google is already putting so much value into Google Author Rank, not directly! But indirectly they are pulling so much information from the Google Author Rank.
Google Author Rank should be the ranking factor I think. Better articles results better ranking. BTW nice article. Thanks for such a valuable article.
I have verified my Authorship for my blog a long time ago. This is the first time, i hear a bout Google Author Rank. This is informative article.
Great article! I was looking out for this information. Google author ranking might be the next best update by Google.
Thanks for the info:)
Google author ranking is all about online presence of an individual and how well he/she communicates with the people around in helping, and spreading valuable information.
Thanks for the valuable information.
This raises some interesting questions. I have (wrongly in my mind) lost my Adsense account with Google, I am now banned for life from engaging with this without even knowing what the indicator was for banning me in the first place. Now, does that mean this is logged against all my websites and blogs as listed in my google + account, and that these will all be penalised as well because it sees me as a bad author. i.e. is google going to drive me to move home, change my name by deed poll, and repost all my websites on different domains attributed to my new identity. It is scary how much potential control one provider can have over information and access to it.
Hi Paul,
Its sad to hear that you lost your Google Adsense account. But buddy believe me, Google Adsense is shit 🙂 There are lot of other things available in this global village to earn money.
It’s hard to keep up with Google and what’s in their mind when determining the ranking system. It’s nice to see quality posts in regards to changes and updates. It amazes me how much SEO has changed over the last 5 years since I’ve been blogging and marketing online.
Hi Brain,
The SEO has changed a lot in the last couple of years. It is gone completely different from its actual picture, now it becomes more marketing and social interaction than backlinks.
Well Google Author rank is still confusing factor for me.I just want to know that if a person has good social image in some popular networking site but don’t have any or somewhat less image in Google+ then also Google provides him good author ranking or Google+ image matters more.What you say?
Hi Tec,
If one has a good social image on websites like Facebook & Twitter, then he will automatically have lots of social influence towards its projects. 🙂
I didn’t know any more about Author Rank before. When i read this post i get some extra idea about Author Rank. I seem this blog is helpful for all. This blog is good tutorial too. I will definitely share it to all.
Google Author Rank…never heard of that before but seems good.I hope it will help people to find original content and help bloggers to give their best.Google+ already a must have for all bloggers and author rank will add to its importance.
Hamza very nice article on Author Rank (Agent Rank), you described the topic very well, thanks a lot, is there any tool where we can check the Author Rank?
Hi Sayali,
Google Analytics, & Google Webmaster contain hints panel to guess the position of Google Author Rank.
Hi, Can you please share a link/html code with me on how I can place my google plus profile on my blog?
Google is nailing it with google+. Authorship, and authorrank are huge steps in gaining juice based how the actual author. It really starts to reward us if we publish quality content.
Best part is the increased rankings, and of course the plus rankings showing up for your circles…..love it!
Awesome post bro….I was just digging into archives and I saw your name and felt pretty happy after reading your article …Nice work…
Thanks for sharing….nice to hear about the google author rank….keep the good work going…and for the awesome post…..
Wow very informative article.I really don’t know much about Google Author Rank.But now i know much about Google Authority.Thank you Mr. Hamza for this article.Great Job.Keep it up
Hey Hamza,
Nice post and Thanks for sharing this useful information with us. I really enjoyed this post while reading and this post helps me to understand about Google author rank. Now I am thinking good relationship with my readers and social media friends.
I think it’s more important to stop thinking about what Google wants and focus more on creating our own circles. Understanding our niche audience, delivering the kind of information they want and connecting directly with them.
Google algorithms will continue to change in directions that we can’t predict and trying to keep up with all the changes isn’t necessary. But getting Google authorship is probably a smart move so thanks for the great info Hamza 🙂
Keep supplying my blogs with reliable content. Either I write them by myself or by guest blogging.