The results from my in-depth study of hundreds of Google Authorship profiles, revealing common patterns among those that either retained or lost Authorship results in Google Search during December 2013.

1. The Great
Google Authorship
Kidnapping
Presented by:
Mark Traphagen
Stone Temple Consulting

2. Hi, I’m Mark Traphagen!
• Sr. Director of Online
Marketing – Stone
Temple Consulting
• Google.com/
+MarkTraphagen
• @marktraphagen

3. In December 2013 many Google Authorship photos went
missing from Google search.

4. Matt Cutts promised this was coming at Pubcon Las
Vegas in October 2013.

5. Mozcast.com/features
And sure enough, in December we saw it happen.

6. Mozcast.com/features
In fact since then, there have continued to be
fluctuations in whose Authorship is showing.

7. And a new way of showing Authorship for some...

8. Second Class
Authorship
“Second Class” Authorship, where author gets a byline
but no profile photo.

9. Let’s put on our Authorship glasses and see what
happened and why.

10. No Change
For authors, there were five possible effects: 1. Some
authors showed no change at all.

11. Mixed by Site
2. Some authors had Authorship reduced for some sites
but not others.

12. Mixed by Content
3. Some authors lost Authorship for some content on a
site but not for other content.

13. Mixed by Authors
4. On some sites, some authors retained authorship
while others lost it.

14. Author Loss Across All Sites
5. Some authors lost Authorship for all sites on which
they had published.

15. Reduction by Query
From http://moz.com/blog/googles-december-authorship-shake-up
While fewer queries were showing authorship, the
number of authorship results/page did not change.

16. Messages from the Kidnappers
In January 2014 we finally heard from some Googlers
about the change.

17. Messages from the Kidnappers
• “…estimating quality of an author’s
documents.”
1. Google is using some kind of scoring of an author’s
content quality as a qualifier.

18. Messages from the Kidnappers
• “…estimating quality of an author’s
documents.”
• “…the documents an author typically
writes.”
The scoring is aggregated from content across all sites
publishing the author’s work.

19. Messages from the Kidnappers
Google uses author scoring as a qualifier for other
search features, such as In-Depth Articles.

20. Messages from the Kidnappers
• “…estimating quality of an author’s
documents.”
• “…the documents an author typically
writes.”
• “…people you’ve circled on G+.”
There is also a personalization factor for logged-in
searchers.

21. Messages from the Kidnappers
John Mueller - GWT
We also heard from Google Webmaster Tool’s John
Mueller when questioned in a Hangout On Air.

22. Messages from the Kidnappers
• “Is the author someone Google
recognizes as “worthy”?
John Mueller - GWT
Mueller seemed to reinforce the idea of an overall
author content quality score.

23. Messages from the Kidnappers
• “Is the author someone Google
recognizes as “worthy”?
• “Is the content high quality?”
John Mueller - GWT
The application can also be on a content-by-content
basis.

24. Messages from the Kidnappers
• “Is the author someone Google
recognizes as “worthy”?
• “Is the content high quality?”
• “Is the site known for publishing high
quality content?”
John Mueller - GWT
There is also a publisher factor.

25. How can authors improve their chances that they will
get more Authorship results?

26. @marktraphagen
Factor 1: Author Reputation

27. Factor 1: Author Reputation
• Reputation for quality content
1. Author has a reputation for the highest quality
content.

28. Factor 1: Author Reputation
• Reputation for quality content
• History of publishing such content
2. The author has an established history of publishing
quality content.

29. Factor 1: Author Reputation
• Reputation for quality content
• History of publishing such content
• Consistent earning of social shares
3. The author’s content usually gets good social signals.

30. Factor 1: Author Reputation
• Reputation for quality content
• History of publishing such content
• Consistent earning of social shares
• Consistent earning of quality links
4. The author’s content tends to attract valuable,
natural links from reputable sites.

31. Factor 2: Site Quality & Reputation
Another factor seems to be the quality and reputation of
the site on which the content is published.

32. Factor 2: Site Quality & Reputation
• High domain authority
1. Does the site have good domain authority?

33. Factor 2: Site Quality & Reputation
• High domain authority
• Long history
2. Does the site have some history? (Newer sites less
likely to show Authorship)

34. Factor 2: Site Quality & Reputation
• High domain authority
• Long history
• Never been penalized
3. Does the site have a clean record with Google, never
having been hit by any penalties?

35. Factor 2: Site Quality & Reputation
• High domain authority
• Long history
• Never been penalized
• Frequently publish content from
quality authors
4. Does the site have a reputation for publishing other
high-quality authors?

36. Factor 2: Site Quality & Reputation
Another factor: Site has not connected Authorship to
non-author-content pages.

37. Factor 2: Site Quality & Reputation
bit.ly/relauthorFAQ
An official Google FAQ said only connect to pages w/
original content by the stated author.

38. Recovering the Kidnap Victims
So how do Authorship “kidnapping” victims get restored
to having Authorship shown in search results?

39. Recovering the Kidnap Victims
• Publish on high-quality, trusted sites
1. Publish only on sites that appear to care about the
quality of their content.

40. Recovering the Kidnap Victims
• Publish on high-quality, trusted sites
• Quality over Quantity (but stay fresh!)
Be more concerned with creating quality content than a
quantity of content (but keep your content fresh!)

41. Recovering the Kidnap Victims
• Publish on high-quality, trusted sites
• Quality over Quantity (but stay fresh!)
• Connect rel=author only to real
content
Only allow your Authorship to be connected to your real
articles on a site.

42. Recovering the Kidnap Victims
• Publish on high-quality, trusted sites
• Quality over Quantity (but stay fresh!)
• Connect rel=author only to real
content
• Build your network & audience
Building up an audience that loves your content and will
share it creates good signals around your content.

43. Thanks!
• StoneTemple.com
• Google.com/
+MarkTraphagen
• @marktraphagen
Thanks to Weal Media for the caricature!