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The re=”author” tag is used to connect an author’s blog with their Google+ profile so that authors can showcase all their articles in the search results and their Google+ profile image will appear next to the article in the search results.  So what’s the hype over the authorship tag and how does it affect SEO?

When you include the rel=”author” tag in the article’s HTML, this is what people will see in the search engine result page.

• An eye-catching picture from your Google+ profile
• Shows the number of people in your Google+ circle (Yea, I don’t have much people in my circle.  Not a lot of people I know uses Google+)
• A clickable “More by Tommy Tan” link.  People can view more articles by that author if they click on the link.

As of now, Google doesn’t use Authorship as a factor to determine a website’s ranking.  However, as Google is trying to increase the use of Google+, it is possible that in the near future that Google will include author rank in the algorithm.

So…what’s the hype?  Other than SEO ranking, the authorship still provides other benefits.

Increase Click Through Rate (CTR)

With an eye-catching image of the author in the search engine result page, it will catches searchers’ eye and it definitely stands out from the other search results without it.  Furthermore, with the number of people in that author’s circle shown under the result, it gives searchers the trust factor that they can trust this website (once again, yup, I don’t have much people in my circle.  I am working on it).

There are reports that shows authorship actually increase click through rate by 30% to 150% or more! The image in the search engine result page attracts more attention and thus, attracts more clicks! Although Google never mentioned that CTRs affect a website’s ranking but in my humble opinion, it plays a role.  CTR can tell Google whether people find your website useful in regards to a certain search.  In addition to CTR, time spent on site and bounce rate also plays a role.  Once again, it is only my opinion.

Promote Other Articles Published

As I mentioned above, when the authorship tag is implemented, under the search result, there will be a clickable “More by Input Author Name” link.  If someone wants to read more articles by that author, they can click on the link to view a list of articles the author published.

This helps the author promote his/her other articles that people may not know about, increase impressions for other articles and possibly increase traffic to the website.

Read the step by step guide on how to implement Google authorship to your website and increase the CTR now!

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