High-quality authors and content creators can boost the profile of their
work and their site with a boost of recognition from new Google's
search engine site-ranking system. Content authors are graded on their
reputation, credibility and quality of their work. AuthorRank is the
name of this new ranking factor, and it's gotten a lot of attention in
the media lately.
Features
AuthorRank has several interesting features, such as time-on-site and a
system of variables relating to an author's content that basically adds
up to a positive-mention count. Time-on-site tracks how long a user
stays on a website that appears in Google search results. There is a
cutoff time, unspecified at this point, beyond which a site raises its
profile on Google's ranking system. The rationale is that if visitors
stay on the site longer, they are more likely to be interested and
engaged with the site's content. This implies a higher-quality website
deserving of better placement in search results.
Another important feature of Google's search ranking system is measures
of positive mention, reference by other content and reach of a given
author's content. This is a measure of popularity, important to a site's
overall ranking. Lastly, AuthorRank-influenced results may look
distinct, depending on other information an author provides to Google.
Search results influenced by AuthorRank may include author's name and
picture in a small tab next to the website link.
Using AuthorRank
If content does not have a reputable author, it may pay to ask a
reputable author create some content for your site. Their credibility
will likely boost your site reputation. Search engine rank is also
driven by social signals such as Facebook "likes," tweets, shares and
other indication of popularity, credibility, quality or approval.
Additionally, it is a good idea to generate website content and features
to entice a visitor to stay on the site. The longer they stay and
browse your site, the better your bounce rate and page views. The logic
of this ranking is to get a rough measure of visitors' interest. Two
sites may have an equal number of visiting clicks, but if one site has
visitors leaving after an average of 15 seconds and the other one has
them staying for over 5 minutes, the second site will be seen as more
favorable to Google.
Possible Flaws
What is an objective measure of credibility and productivity? For example, how does one rank:
- a physics professor who wrote a
few singularly creative but practically useless articles about possible
causes of galactic Dark Flow
- a financial planner who publishes a few practical articles about investing in unconventional assets
- a popular and respected plumber
who frequently posts about people's propensity to ignore leaks as well
as interesting stuff he's found in drain pipes
Basically, AuthorRank digitizes a problem that has plagued the academic
world for a long time: the relationship between popularity and quality.
There are other potential pitfalls and possibility for unfairness with
implementing AuthorRank. Google may give special prominence to
already-established authors at the expense of creating a higher barrier
to entry for newer, less experienced authors to gain popularity and site
visits.
