Rel=publisher

[SSFCU]

Hi there,

One of the things I want to get my department to do is pursue Google Authorship. I don't think assigning a person with rel=author is the best idea for us, so I am going with the rel=publisher option. Are there any other actions I should take - aside from having good content that will be +1'ed by Google - to ensure that I am taking full advantage of the benefits of having strong Google Authorship?

Thanks,
Sarah

[BeanstalkIM]

Authorship and publisher are different things.  the author tag tells Google who wrote a piece, the publisher tag tells Google who owns the site and it only needs to be put on the homepage (as far as I know ... anyone have any different feedback?)

You can read about the difference at http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2013/02/05/the-difference-between-rel-author-amp-rel-publisher.aspx in more detail but in short ... they don't do the same thing and I don't think the publisher tag is going to do what you want it to.

Hope that helps !

[SSFCU]

Thanks Dave, that does help!

What I'd like to be able to do implement is the author tag, but I don't think associating a face with the tag is an option. We could associate it with a staff writer, but I don't know that it would be a good idea. I assume the authorship option is for experts with clout and, although our staff writer(s) would be gathering the content from such experts in our company and turning them into blogs, I don't know that it's the intent of Google Authorship. Is that frowned upon?

Using a staff writer or two could be a workaround, but I wouldn't want a staff writer to be mistaken for a virtuoso - he/she would be a conduit of good information, taken from the experts and put into nice, readable blog posts. And we'd be transparent about it - for example a Q&A with an expert published into a blog.

[BeanstalkIM]

I've always used it as a "this person is responsible for this content" which helps clarify things.  Yes having an author deemed an authority helps of course but on the other side, they'll never be an authority if they don't start somewhere and your own blog is a good spot to work from as a starting point.

Re: taking inspiration from the work of others, as long as that person or work is getting credit for it (i.e. stat sources noted, etc.) then there's nothing wrong with it.  That author write that piece so they get the credit.  the author of the stats (for example) will get the credit for their work on their own site (re: authorship).

This is of course opinion as content ownership has a whack of grey areas but if you know your sector, what you can and can't ethically do, and properly credit your sources in the post - you shouldn't have any problems.

[SSFCU]

Thanks! I'll start the conversation with our content team then. I think the ends justify the means.

[Linda-Vassily]

There is some question about the fate of Google Authorship; in fact AJ Kohn says that the Authorship Project at Google has been abandoned and Google will be using other ways to extract identity from pages.

http://www.blindfiveyearold.com/authorship-is-dead-long-live-authorship

[SSFCU]

I saw that too Linda, and will be keeping an eye on that. Am I right to assume there's no harm in implementing it anyway? By the time we get to that point, it may be moot.

[BeanstalkIM]

Good point.  I've taken that approach that if I use it well, it'll work well and until it's replaced and not working - will continue to.

But as with all things SEO ... one always needs to pay attention to what's going on around you.

[Linda-Vassily]

Absolutely; you should implement it anyway. Even if Authorship doesn't turn out to be as important as it was first thought it would be, it is another signal to Google.