Instructions on how to Link a Google+ Profile to Content Created

Linking yourself as an author to your content is relatively easy. If you do not have a Google+ profile created yet, start with by creating one. Next, on your header section of your HTML place the <link href=”[profile_url]” rel=”publisher” /> as this will notify Google you are the publisher of the content. After placing this code in your heading you will want to link to your Google+ profile from your website. Add this code to your page:

<a href=”[profile_url]” rel=author” title=”Ty Whalin – Google+ Personal profile” >Ty Whalin’s Profile on Google+

Make sure you have the Google+ on it or it will not work properly. I found this out the hard way until better instructions were provided by Google and Jill Whalen. You can also find additional resources and instructions on Google Authorship.

As an alternative you can use this code technique as well to establish yourself as the author of content.

<a href=”[profile_url]?rel=author” title=”Ty Whalin – Google+ Personal profile” >Ty Whalin’s Profile on Google+

This is essentially the same thing as the code above it except you are using a ?rel=author parameter instead of the ‘rel’ attribute.

First set of instructions provided by Google:

You can link your content you publish on a specific domain (such as http://www.linkworxseo.wordpress.com) to your Google+ profile.

By Ty Whalin

1. Make sure you have a profile photo with a recognizable head shot.
2. Make sure a byline containing your name appears on each page of your content (for example, “By Ty Whalin”).
3. Make sure your byline name matches the name on your Google+ profile.
4. Verify you have an email address (such as info@linkworxseo.com) on the same domain as your content. (Don’t have an email address on the same domain? Use this method to link your content to your Google+ profile)

You can keep it private if you wish by selecting it as private. It will also add a public link to the domain of the email address to the Contributor to section of your profile.

By adding your domain name on the Google+ profile you will basically be reciprocal linking your website to your Google+ profile and vice versus. Which I found odd since Google has made it clear they are not in favor of reciprocal linking.

Second set of instructions provided by Google:

After you have completed the first step of instructions by Google you will need to finish it off by completing the second step. You will notice that the second part of Google’s instructions are the same as shown above the first set of instructions.

Create a link to your Google+ profile from your webpage, like this:

<a href=[profile_url]?rel=author”>Link Worx Seo – Google+</a>

Replace [profile_url] with the your Google+ profile URL, like this:

<a href=”https://plus.google.com/115899955224601506264?rel=author”>Link Worx Seo – Google+</a>

Your link must contain the ?rel=author parameter. If it’s missing, Google won’t be able to associate your content with your Google+ profile.

1. Add a reciprocal link back from your profile to the site(s) you just updated.
   1. Edit the Contributor To section.
   2. In the dialog that appears, click Add custom link, and then enter the website URL.
   3. If you want, click the drop-down list to specify who can see the link.
   4. Click Save.
2. To see what author data Google can extract from your page, use the rich snippets testing tool.

Why is This Authorship Worthwhile?

Since I completed this simple connection and made Google aware that I am the true author of my content, my numbers and stats have increased. Links generated in the search engine results pages showing a profile picture and establishing your name in a byline are said to increase click-through rates CTR’s by 30% approximately. Recent studies have shown people are more prone to click an article more because of this attached information on the SERP when an internet user searches for information on something.

 Increased Exposure and Higher Metrics

Increased exposure, by having a view-able profile head shot and showing your name off in the SERP’s helps you gain credit-ability in your industry as an authoritative figure. It is only logical that the more and more your name becomes synonymous with other individuals in your industry the more and more people begin to trust you, your research and recommendations. If you have not done this simple Google+ linking yet, you should as soon as possible.

Rich Snippet Testing

Using this simple form provided by Google allows you to test what is shown by Google as it would be shown in the SERP’s. The search preview will show you exactly what a user see’s when searching on Google. Now you may ask why this is important? Well, simply put; it can provide valuable insight to what others will see when searching and finding your information.

Extracted Author and Publisher

As you can see in green, I used my domain [http://www.linkworxseo.com] in the form to extract the page data. Because the <link href=”[profile_url]” rel=”publisher” /> is listed in my heading and I properly made use of the rel=author on my pages, it showed as verified as an author and a publisher. Google does not have to show your head shot or byline, it is at their discretion on whether or not Google wants to show this information. But the main point here is that when it is done properly you can verify it by using the Rich Snippet Testing Tool.

Different Google+Pages

Something else I learned along the way during this new process is that each page has a separate Google ID generated for each Google+ page. Why is this of concern? Let us say if you have a Google+ page to a personal profile but yet you have a business page as well, the Google ID’s are different. This matters because if you want to prove you are the publisher and the author, each profile has to be directly linked as shown above in the pervious instructions to achieve the same effect in the SERP’s. You must add the rel=author and rel=publisher with the perspective Google ID to the heading and a link to each Google+ profile page with the proper rel=author attribute or parameter to the appropriate Google+ page and vice versus. Now, let us take this one step further.

Word Press Authorship

When you create a Word Press blog you complete details about yourself within Word Press admin Users section. When you complete this information for your Word Press blog for yourself or add other user to this Users section Word Press is capable of knowing who is writing the post for the blog because they are logged into the system. Word Press automatically list the person writing the blog post as the author of the content when the post is published.  If you will notice at the top in the first image, it shows a byline with my name “Ty Whalin”.

The significance of this is, what if you have several authors for a blog and each one of these authors have multiple post written on the same blog. You can then select post written by specific authors. This makes it easy to find familiar authors by name.

The trick here is that in the display name box on the user profile I used the name Link Worx Seo and not my real name as you can see highlighted in yellow above. Of course this can be change at anytime you desire. But the byline still shows my first name and last name which is from the first and last name input boxes on the user profile. Because the Word Press blog has been listed on the Google+ profile page, Google is able to make the distinction between the blog and the profile. The main point here, is that as long as you post a link to your Word Press blog on your Google+ profile, Google will display the author information appropriately if Google deems so.

If you were to select the link above highlighted it would take you to an archive of postings for the author. Link Worx Seo Proof that it works is simple enough. My head shot is from my Google+ profile and because my first and last name match on my Google+ profile and my Word Press User profile; Google extracts this from the Google+ profile in turn it shows me as the author.

Article Base Authorship

Finally, one last catch before finishing up today. You can pull off the same thing by adding your Article Base profile link to the contributor section of your Google+ profile page. You of course first have to create an Article Base account and fill in the details as an author/pen-name information. Once this is complete you then can place a link in the contributor section of your Google+ profile page.

Article Base Profile

If you did not notice you can see the Google+ logo in the snap shot above. This is how Article Base links to your Google+ profile page. I used my name as it is listed on my Google+ profile as the same on my Article Base profile. This is another great way to gain credit-ability and exposure for you and your business. Here is what it looks like in the SERP’s.

Article Base Profile SERP and byline

Conclusion

If you think this is to advanced for you or you just need some help with it, consult a professional or do some more reading on the topic. There is of course one more step to add too all of this. It is referred to as the rel=me. This is to link multiple author pages. This is somewhat un-tested by me at this point. From what I have been able to understand about it, is that if an article is written the rel=author should be used on the article and a rel=me should be used on the authors profile page. The article and the author page both contain a link to the authors Google+ profile page. This rel=me is able to correspond the article, author and the authors Google+ profile page. This is another way to show your work off and let Google know your are the author of the content.

Technically this seems to be the same principle concept as how Article Base works. It associates your article with the Article Base profile and the Google+ profile. Although I am not sure if your supposed to list the site your writing for in the contributor section, the article or the profile for the site you wrote the article for in this area. If I had to guess I would say yes, list the author profile from the site your writing for in the Google+ contributor section. Which would be the same as listing the Article Base author profile in the Google+ contributor section.

Blee, Blee, Blee – That’s All Folks.

I am a web designer, SEO specialist, programmer and internet marketer entrepreneur. I attended Central Florida Community College where I majored in Computer Information Administration and Rasmussen College studying Computer Information Technology. I am the Founder and CEO of Link Worx Seo, played drums for almost 30 years, father of one daughter and enjoy everything life has to offer.

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