Google Authorship a big plus for blogging lawyers
Google+’s Google Authorship feature allows you to link connect you publish on the Internet to your Google+ profile.
The concept of linking content and peoples’ reaction to your contact (sharing) is perfect for lawyers. Growing your influence as a niche online publisher enhances your reputation as a trusted and reliable authority. Google Authorship grows your influence, stature, and, it turns out, search performance for your content.
Richard Darell (@minervity) writes this morning that Google Authorship is having an insane impact on web traffic to sites published by those using Google authorship.
Google Authorship is a way to help search engine users find content from people they know or want to connect with. Basically what you do is personalize the visual search engine result and claim it as your own. For example, it means that when you have Google authorship incorporated on your Google Plus profile and your website, Google will start indexing the content you have created with images, circle count and a whole lot more. It helps Google further rank your content, and it is said to even increase your rank if you have Google Authorship enabled.
The real interesting side effect that comes with “signing up” for Google authorship is that it has been proven that people who use the Google search engine are more likely to click search results with a picture and Google authorship information than any other search result that shows up. As a matter of fact, in some cases, it increases Google authorship user’s content click through rate up to 150%. If anything, that should be of interest for any website owner.
Demian Farnworth (@demianfarnworth), writing for Copy Blogger, shares 10 reasons blog authors ought to be using Google Authorship. Here the five most relevant to you as a law blogger.
- Higher click through rates on search. Content published by those using Google Authorship is more visible on a search at Google. Your picture is displayed along with the content, especially so in the case of people Google believes are interested in what you write. Other content you have published may be displayed below the prominent listing.
- Elevates the role of you, the writer. As you build your reputation in two or three specific categories, and your content follows you around, your audience will start to recognize the value of your contributions.
- Take it with where your go. Your Google profile follows you across the web into comments and articles published on other blogs.
- Build trust. The recognition that you have a Google+ account and a headshot beside your search listing and the listing of your content is going to separate you from the faceless law bloggers and law firm content creators. David Gould said it best: “For users, this reinforces the idea that the result is reputable: this link isn’t just the result of robotic SEO manipulation, but rather it’s from a human being who we can learn more about. Knowing that at least some minimal verification has gone on creates a trust factor with the user.”
- Establish authority. A law blog author with a Google+ follower count of 3,000 is going to be recognized as a higher authority than an author with an account of 10. Both by people searching for content and, in all likelihood, by Google, resulting in your content being ranked higher.
- You protect your name. When others have your same name (who doesn’t), you, and your content will be deemed more credible and receive a higher ranking.
I am using my Google+ account and have linkedin my blog to Google+ with the Google Authorship feature. There’s no question that my content is now more prominently displayed on search.
Better yet, it’s my belief that rather than Google looking to Page Rank and links to sites as Google has in the past, Google is going to look to an individual’s credibility, influence, and authority when providing search results. For me as a professional, and you, as a practicing lawyer, that’s gold.
And won’t it be great when lawyers just chasing SEO with content, as opposed to authority, trust and credibility, earn their rightful place at the bottom of the sea?
Lawyer’s want to be looked at as a lawyer’s lawyer. We all want people to listen when we talk on the subjects for which we have established expertise.
Google Authorship will help us get there. It’s a no brainer for all bloggers looking to be viewed as a credible authority, including all lawyers.