OK, so Google Authorship Emails went out today, why did you get this, what does this mean to you, your blog and authorship in Google Search Results?
#5 You already set up authorship, this is a reminder…
You already set up your authorship links or verified via email, the way many have tried to teach you over the last year on this blog and all over Google+. In this case this is a reminder of the fact that yes, it is working, you have not broken it by doing something like adding SEO software or changing blog themes and or adding a WordPress plugin that may break authorship.
#4 Another reason for this email is marketing.
If you have not heard of Google+ Authorship and author thumbnails appearing in search, you will today. I guarantee there are already tons on G+ posts on this, Tech Crunch and Mashable and all the others too. Good work Google!
#3 You are a guest blogger on another site.
If you got one of these emails and you are writing for a blog with multi author / blogger authorship set up on the site, congrats. If you are guest blogging and have not set up authorship, then you definitely want to check into getting authorship set up.
That takes nothing more than linking to your Google personal profile from your author profile page on the blog you guest blog for. Then linking back to the profile from your personal profile links. You can get that set up with little or no help from the owner of the blog.
#2 The New Rich Snippet Testing Tool has been released
This past week a new Rich Snippets Testing Tool with authorship thumbnail previews as they appear in search was released. The email directs you to check up on your domains and see if you have authorship in place and if not, to take action verifying it thru email based on your domain.
Thanks to AJ Kohn for pointing this reason out to me this AM.
#1 Google wants to remind the millions that have forgotten that Google+ is not just a social network.
It is an entire suite of tools that you do not have to spend all day chatting up your peeps to use. When you take Google Events, Google Hangouts, Google Authorship and step back a bit. Then think about the fact these are tools that the social feed is just a single part of.
Facebook and Twitter depend on interaction, and the social feed on Google+ does too. But author thumbnails in search raise your click thru rate and you don’t have to be number one to to that.
In fact, in my earliest writing about author thumbnails in search when I saw the first ones owned by Robert Scoble and Louis Gray in Febuary of 2011 I knew something special was coming. I hope you all got your email today and have been using this for quite some time.
If not, then get authorshop set up now, simply by going to the Rich Snippet Testing Tool also called the RSTT tool, and entering your domain and email address to get your verification email.
Full instructions are available at Google Authorship landing page….
Be seeing you in a the right Google places! – Chris
Chris – I’ve been able to get this working for a static site, a self-hosted blog, a Typepad blog, and even an Amazon author page… but not Twitter or Facebook.
I’ve listed them in the “Contributor to” section, but that doesn’t seem to be doing the trick. Any ideas? Seen anyone effectively do this?
I have seen author thumbnails appear for YouTube as well Scott. If you check the Rich Snippets Tool it will show linked author profiles for Twitter on multi author blogs, but I have not seen that happen on single author blogs like mine.
As far a Twitter and Facebook author thumbnails go, I think that relationship went out the window when Facebook blocked GoogleBot from much of Facebook and Twitter blocked Google from the real time firehose feed. Make sense Scott?
Yes, unfortunately.
Chris, I have not been able to remove my old website from Analytic’s? It is still locked in the system as http://dofollowuntacticcal000.com | I allowed my Domain to expire with Datorsam.biz. Thanks for standing by me.
Well I guess I just do not comment enough for Google to love me. It is just really sad if you want my opinion. After all these years I am just another palooka in cyberville. I could have been somebody, I could have been a contender…Stella!