Launched in early 2012, Google Authorship is a relatively new feature that allows authors of specific content on their websites to link that content to their Google+ accounts and, therefore, lend credibility to the piece of content. When an author uses Google Authorship properly:
- His Google+ account picture will appear next to the byline of the piece of content in search engine listings.
- The listing for that piece of content will be more prominent than other search engine listings that don’t feature bylines and professional photos.
- Users will be far more likely to click on that listing due to its prominence and apparent credibility (in fact, one study found that using Google Authorship could increase the clicks to a specific piece of content by as much as 150 percent).
With so much competition out there for both content and lawyers these days, using any advantage you can – such as Google Authorship – can be key to not only increasing your website’s search engine rankings but also to optimizing your site and drawing in more potential users and clients.
Getting Started with Google Authorship
To get started using Google Authorship, follow these steps:
- Set up a professional Google+ account for you and/or your law firm if you do not already have one.
- Make sure that you use your primary email address when setting up your Google+ account (or, if you already have such an account, that it has the proper email address listed).
- Login to your Google+ account and create a link from this account to your content (the option to create this link will be under the “About” section of your account).
- Link your content to your Google+ account (so that, while Google+ links to the content, your content also links back to Google+).
