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The idea that author authority influences Google ranking dates back to 2009. At that time, Google received the so-called Agent Rank patent and openly announced in a press release that authorship is important for SEO.
In 2011, author markup was added, allowing the publisher to use either HTML5 or XFN standards to tag authors (HTML5, rel=”author”) and (XFN, rel=”me”), respectively. This allowed Google to locate articles by the same author anywhere on the web.
12 years have passed since 2011. So you should ask yourself: does authorship still matter for Google and SEO?
Google’s original author idea
Three years after publication, John Mueller announced on Google+ (which, like the original authorship, no longer exists) that the tracking of data with rel=”author” or rel=”me” will officially end. As authorship was closely linked to Google+, its eventual demise contributed to the project being abandoned.
And while there have been over 100 failed Google products, Google is always striving to improve the search engine algorithm, and ideas like adding authorship tend to remain a staple of article publication. So has it replaced author tracking with something else?
Does Google still care about authorship?
Google continuously optimizes its algorithm and uses privately commissioned raters to rate pages that appear in certain search queries. After the publication of SQRG – the Google Search Quality Rater Guidelines (2018) – these contractors had to adhere to certain rules.
One of the key guidelines of the release was the need for a page to exist Expertise, high Authority, And Trustworthiness.– or the well-known acronym EAT.
The rater guidelines have been updated several times over the years to reflect the rationale of EAT. In the October 2021 changelog, you can see that tracking of content creators – formerly called authors – is back in play:
Following the same document, you can see in points 2.6 and 6.6 on page 39 that limited information about the creator (author) of the content often causes the website to lose its position in the search rankings.
In an interview with Article-Writing.co, Will Bagnall, SEO expert and founder of SUSO Digital, said that he believes that authorship doesn’t make a significant difference to Google from a purely algorithmic perspective.
However, for other factors (e.g. conversion rate) it can be beneficial to have a trusted person signing the article on their behalf. He says that content that credits its author inspires more trust than content that doesn’t credit its author.
There is no need to segment SEO performance by author. An author is only part of a website’s authority and expertise.
Different types of websites require different author information
The SQRG explains that the amount of information disclosed about the content creator depends strictly on the nature of the page and article. For blogs and personal websites, simply linking to social media in the byline, such as LinkedIn, should suffice.
On the other hand, for sites that process transactions – such as e-commerce sites and marketplaces – Google prefers creator information to ensure users have access to the site owner/seller’s support.
Raters give page quality ratings
Since 2018, if your site ranks well enough for a specific search query, there may be a chance to be independently rated by Google contractors. If this happens and you have provided insufficient or insufficient authorship information for an article, you may fall behind in the ranking.
In some cases the author’s authority matters, but in others it doesn’t. But in general, if you want to get to the top, keep this in mind.
Also, SEO isn’t the only thing author authority is good for. According to Bagnall, author verification likely occurs as part of additional page analysis — at a different point in time than scanning the page itself. In other words, Google’s algorithms take authorship into account to support reviewer findings.
Other important factors for author authority
Most of the time, people think the Google search algorithm is just that: an algorithm. But the algorithm is made for humans and its goal is to give them what they are looking for in a few searches. When people jump to your article out of genuine interest and stay on the page for a long time, not bounce off and share it with friends, Google is more likely to promote your content.
The more authority you build as an author – not only for SEO, but also in public – the more likely it is that your name will attract visitors to a website that credits you as an author. A 2021 update to the content creator policy states that displaying all relevant information about authors below their work increases ranking potential.
Will Bagnall added that Google’s algorithms can leverage author information in highly regulated niches. Author details could be useful for Google to verify whether a webpage’s content should be presented to Google users based on the credibility of the author.
Go the extra mile
While it’s not 100% certain that Google checks all pages for author authority, you can future-proof your SEO by implementing it for your articles. Google continues to value knowledgeable, credible, and authoritative writers. I expect that author authority measurement will be increasingly used as a search feature, no matter how much of it Google is currently doing.
It’s always a good idea to share more about yourself or other writers on your site. Building real authority and personality through a byline gives readers a clearer picture of who they’re sitting with when they’re looking for someone to trust.
More resources on Google authorship and SEO
Three good reasons why Google authorship still matters
The benefits of byline authorship and how to do it right
Google Authorship and Author Ranking: Major Importance for SEO in 2013 and Beyond
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