It was in 2009 that the idea of author authority affecting Google rankings first emerged. Google received the agent ranking patent in 2009 and announced that authorship is important for SEO.
In 2011, authorship markup became available. This allowed publishers to use HTML5 and XFN standards for marking authors (HTML5, rel=”author”>) or (XFN, rel=”me”), respectively. This allowed Google to identify articles written by the same author across the Web.
Since 2011, it’s been twelve years since 2011. You should ask yourself: Does authorship matter for Google or SEO?
Google’s Original Authorship Idea
John Mueller, three years after its release, announced the end of tracking data by using rel=”author” and rel=”me.” The decline of Google+ was a major factor in abandoning authorship.
Google is always looking to improve its search engine algorithm. Ideas like adding authorship to articles tend to be successful, even though there have been more than 100 failed Google Products. Did it replace author tracking with something else?
Does Google still care about authorship?
Google constantly optimizes its algorithm, and it uses private contractors to evaluate pages that appear during certain searches. These contractors were required to follow certain rules after the release of SQRG, which is the Google Search Quality Rater Guideline (2018).
The release stipulated that a web page must have expertise, Authority, and trustworthiness.
The Raters Guidelines were updated many times to reflect the EAT principle. You can see in October 2021’s Changelog that tracking content creators, formerly called authors, is back.
In the same document at points 2.6 and 6.6, on page 39, it is clear that when there are limited details about the author of the content, the website will often lose its ranking in search results.
Will Bagnall is an SEO expert at Suso Digital, and he spoke with article writing. Co. He said that he believes authorship does not make a difference in terms of Google’s algorithm.
It can also be advantageous to have a trustworthy person sign the article with their name. He believes that content that includes the author’s name will be more credible than that which does not.
It’s not necessary to segment SEO performance based on the author. The author of a site is just one aspect of its Authority and expertise.
Author information is different for each type of website
SQRG explains the amount of information that is disclosed about the author of the article or page depends solely on the type. In the case of blogs and personal sites, simply linking Social Media within the byline should suffice.
Google prefers that creator information be provided for sites that are transactional, such as ecommerce and marketplaces. This is to ensure users can get support from the owner/seller of the website.
Raters assign page-quality ratings.
Google contractors may rate your page independently if it ranks well enough in a particular query. This is new for 2018. You might be penalized if you fail to provide enough information about the author of an article.
In some cases, author authority is important. But not in all. In general, however, it is important to take into consideration if your goal is to reach the top.
Author authority has many other benefits than SEO. Bagnall says that the author verification is likely to take place in a separate page analysis at a time other than the scan of the page. Google’s algorithms use authorship as a way to validate the ratings of its raters.
Author Authority: Other important factors
Most people mistakenly believe that the Google search engine algorithm is nothing more than an algorithm. The algorithm was designed for the people and is designed to provide them with what they are looking for within a few search terms. Google is more likely to promote your content if people are interested in your article and stay on it for a while, so don’t bounce; share it.
The more Authority that you gain as an author, not only in terms of SEO but also among the public at large, will increase your chances of attracting visitors to websites that list you as an Author. According to a 2021 update of the policy for content creators, displaying all relevant data about authors beneath their work can increase the ranking potential.
Will Bagnall said that Google’s algorithm can use authorship data in niches with high regulations. Google could use authorship information to determine whether or not the content of a website should be shown to Google users based on that author’s credibility.
The Extra Mile
You can future-proof SEO even if you’re not sure that Google will verify all pages to determine author authority. Implementing it in your articles is a great way to do this. Google values authors who are credible, knowledgeable, and authoritative. I expect Google to use author authority more often as a search tool, no matter how much it does now.
You should always share more information about yourself and other authors on your site. By establishing Authority and personality, readers can get a better idea of who they are sitting with when looking for someone to trust.