The Google Authorship tags have been getting popular quite quickly because of all the benefits it provides both to the author, and those who like to read their content. The one downside of the Google Authorship program was that it could be slightly confusing and cumbersome to actually claim authorship of content, especially if it was on a site which you didn’t own yourself. Google has recently added a couple of new features which should make it much easier for authors to get credit for the content they publish online.
The first new feature will automatically connect a writer’s Google+ profile with anything they write and post on popular content management sites like WordPress and TypePad. These two CMS’ are already integrated with Google+ so, if activated; this will make it extremely easy for authors to get the authorship tag on their content. This is a nice feature which site owners will likely embrace since it gives their writers credit, and can also help to bring in more search traffic from people who are following a particular author.
The second new feature will allow marketers to share public Google+ content on external sites, allowing their updates to get more reach. Google suggests that companies now use Google+ posts as primary sources of content for their sites. Of course, this also has the benefit of encouraging more people to use Google+ (a point I’m sure is purely coincidental, right?). If a third-party brand embeds a post, their readers can interact with and follow the original posting author from throughout the web.
This is a step in the right direction for Google, and will allow more authors to claim credit for the content they produce. These are quite significant updates to the Authorship program, and may indicate that the Authorship tags will become a larger factor in SEO in the future (if they haven’t already).
In the same press release, Google reported that the Authorship sign-ins may be available on additional publication sites including WikiHow, About.com and the Examiner, among others. It seems clear that Google is going to be really pushing this feature in the months to come, which should benefit both Google and content producers across the web.
What do you think about this update? Do you use Google’s Authorship feature?
