Authorship and Google +

[NicheGuy]

I've got 14 affiliate websites with plenty of original content on each.

When I set up Google + last year I of course had the page in my name and then went on to set up separate pages for each site. Actually one page is related to 8 different sites related to golf but broken down by club type.

I also have a Wordpress plugin which presents my author bio on my about page for each site. I've filled out all the pertinent information on each Google + page with unique data.

OK, when I write a review or blog topic and post it to Google + am I getting the rel = author juice from the sub pages as if I post it to my main profile page?

Posting to my Don Bistrow page vs. my golf page?

[Everett]

I'm not sure what you mean by "real = author juice" since, as far as anyone knows, there is not currently any ranking boost associated with "author rank" though it is a likelyhood in the near future.

If you mean that in terms of whether you will get the author thumbnail next to the post the best way to find out is to do a Google search.

Of course I may not be understanding the question correctly. My advice first would be to reconsider the tactic of having that many closely-related sites and instead put them all, or mostly, on one site. That aside, you would have one Authorship profile and would link to that from each site, though each site could also have its own rel = publisher tag, and associated G+ profile and thumbnail image.

If each post links to the author bio page on the same domain that the post is on, and each author bio page links to your G+ profile you should be set up correctly, as you do not need to link to your G+ profile from every post so long as every post links to the author's page, which links to the G+ profile.

[NicheGuy]

These sites are "Niche" golf sites so I whittled them down to specific clubs. I understand my competition covers all sites on one site but many golfers tend to look for a specific club then  either by a whole set or that one club they want - i.e. wedge, putter, hybrid, fairway, driver, etc.

I did some experimenting and sites aren't always coming up with the thumbnail images. It seems very random as to what URLs come up with the thumbnail or not. The Google+ pages and Facebook pages where I post a new review are coming up in SERPs. My FB pages automatically post to my corresponding twitter account.

Here's the Google + page related to Golf

Here's my Google + profile page

I suppose link juice was the wrong term, I'm really wondering if that thumbnail helps in the overall realm of SEO or I should not worry too much and move on the more important matters.

[Everett]

I noticed your rel publisher links have "follow us on Facebook" as the link title. That probably wouldn't cause the issue, but I'd fix it anyway.

I noticed on your About page on G+ for your personal author profile you link under the "links" and "other profiles" section. The link to the websites you write on should go under "Contributor To".

I noticed you put the rel author link in the header, sort of like a rel canonical tag. This is probably done by a plugin. I recommend putting the link where your name is after the post so it is an actual href link around your name instead of a header tag.

If you fix those three things and are still having sporadic success  just keep building the trust/authority of your websites and your G+ profiles. Just because you put the tags on your pages correctly doesn't guarantee a thumbnail, but building a good following and high-quality links/content should get you there eventually if the links are set up correctly.

I would continue to build up your authority as a golf writer on your sites and others. Eventually I think this will have a positive  impact on your rankings. Right now it could help your click-through rate, but I don't think it directly impacts rankings. It is worth doing, in my opinion.

Good luck!

[NicheGuy]

Thank you so much for your assistance. On the plugin I'm writing the developers to see if there is a way to manipulate the code to appear in the area you recommend. Otherwise I may have to switch to something out of the Google "Authorship" toolbox.

I changed the redundancy with the links and left it to "Contributor to".

One last question on what you wrote:

I noticed your rel publisher links have "follow us on Facebook" as the link title. That probably wouldn't cause the issue, but I'd fix it anyway.

I've looked but I'm not sure where "follow us on Facebook" is appearing in "rel publisher" links. Is this in Google + or on my sites?

I appreciate all your advice on the rankings and authority. Thanks again.

Don

[Everett]

Hello Don,

I saw the title="follow us on Facebook" tag within the code of a rel publisher link on one of those sites. I don't remember which though. Just open source view, search for rel="publisher" and double check the href title attributes on each site. I could be wrong, but am pretty sure I saw it that way.