For many years, Page Rank has been a basic standard to know more about the relative quality of a web page. In the last few years, SEO experts have believed that Page Rank has limited value as a quality metric. However, they also believe that Page Rank can still be quite meaningful when it is in conjunction with different kinds of quality metrics.

When we talk about SEO 2013, the scenario is about to completely change with the introduction of a new quality metric. Google Author Rank will be the new quality metric to identify page quality and search engine ranking. For SEO Author Rank is going to have a big impact. In this article, we will discuss everything about Google Author Rank and its impact on search engine optimization in 2013.

A Brief Overview of Author Rank

With the introduction of Author Rank, search engines will not base the authority of a web page or domain on just content quality. Author Rank makes sure that the authority of a web page or domain is based on the reputation of an individual, who authored the content. This quality metric aims to grade authors on the internet and use these grades while giving search engine results.

When will Author Rank be Introduced

Every sign and indication from Google just points out in only one direction. There is no doubt that Author Rank will be introduced very soon. For some time, Google has been emphasizing on +1 features and Circles. Since Author Rank will have a strong social element, it is a clear indication that Google is planning to introduce Author Rank soon.

However, Google has not announced an official date for its release. Therefore, all that webmasters can do is to prepare. Basic keywords and raw links will not be sufficient anymore. Moreover, all those webmasters who aren’t preparing for this will simply find out how bad their results can be.

How will Author Rank be Established

Google will start crediting authors on the web according to the kind of content they produce. Every author will be tied to his pages on the basis of content written on Google Plus profiles. This will be carried out through rich snippets. Moreover, an author will also be ranked on the basis of engagement factors of the content he or she produces.

These engagement factors will include social endorsements like +1s, tweets, likes and shares. The relevance and influence of other factors providing social endorsements will also be taken into account. In the same way, comments on different social networks with the relevance and influence of people commenting will also be considered.

In fact, Google will also consider the relevance and quality of inbound links related to an author’s content. In simple words, if an author writes more about a subject and engagement with his content is more, the author will be better ranked for that specific subject.

Basic Reasoning for the Introduction of Author Rank

Almost every quality metric that Google has been using for search engine optimization can be easily manipulated. However, Google Author Rank will make it difficult for webmasters to cheat the system. Therefore, SEO 2013 will be majorly affected by Google Rank.
When we talk about SEO Author Rank will be a heavy factor in determining search engine results. In fact, many search engine optimization experts and bloggers have already started preparing for this change.

Google Author Rank will be a simple measure of an author’s credibility and authority on a specific topic. The basic idea of how it will work is that if an author with a higher Author Rank is going to post around a specific keyword, the post is more likely to see better search engine results. On the other hand, a post written on the same keyword by an author with lower Author Rank will not be placed high on search engine results page.

Basically, this will affect search engine optimization in the most basic way. An informative and credible post on a Google+ profile will be ranked better than numerous other spun articles on low-quality websites. The main reason will be recognition of an author. Higher Author Rank will result in higher search engine rankings.

As mentioned above, Google Author Rank will be very hard to manipulate. For instance, unlike simple backlinks which can be bought, sold or traded by webmasters on ‘high’ PR domains, Author Rank will definitely force you to keep your integrity intact. It will be much similar to what you deal with in the real world.

In the real world, we don’t want our name to be associated with criminals or anti-social elements. In the same way, Author Rank will make sure that your business and web page is only associated with high ranked authors.

How can You Prepare for Author Rank

Author Rank is going to effectively combine search engine optimization techniques with social media optimization. Thus, it will get a lot harder for webmasters to succeed off any kind of black hat search engine optimization practices. Link farming and keyword stuffing won’t even stand a chance. The basic idea will be straightforward and simple. If an author’s content is not good, it will just slip further down the search engine’s rankings.

If you want to prepare for Google Author Rank, there’s only one simple, yet complex way. You need to start producing high-quality and relevant content, which your target audience is going to discuss and share. It is important to understand that if you start preparing now, you will be well established until Google finally introduces Author Rank.

Content writers will also need to develop certain authority signals to prove that they are experts in certain fields. Moreover, they will need to prove their popularity and the relevance of their content in a particular niche. Basic ways to prepare for Author Rank are as follows :

Create superior quality content
Engage with your target audience
Come an expert in your niche
Connect with other experts
Try to attract shares, likes, followers, comments, mentions, inbound links and +1s

Importance of Author Rank in SEO

After the release of Penguin and Panda, Google Author Rank is supposed to be the next big thing. Search engines are going to use human attributes like expertise and qualifications of an author. They will not just look for statistics of a website. Google filed the first patent in 2005. This one was called Agent Rank. Agent Rank described Google’s parameters about determining the popularity and authority of an agent on a particular subject.

With time, it became even more important to consider numerous social interactions and other human factors. Basic statistics for website optimization took a backseat. One major problem was that Google did not have any access to qualitative data to justify numerous social interactions for ranking authors and web pages. However, when Google launched its own social network, it became a platform to activate Agent Rank, which came to be known as Author Rank.

The basic purpose of Author Rank is to identify an author’s knowledge about a subject and his ability to write high-quality content. As mentioned earlier, Author Rank would also judge what a target audience thought of the content. The number of followers, shares and every other interaction on social media platforms will also be taken into account. Author Rank aims to tie all these quality metrics to an author who produces the content for a website. Moreover, Author Rank will also consider the website on which the content is posted.

How will Author Rank affect Content Marketing

The next big question for SEO 2013 is : How Author Rank will really affect content marketing in future? Let us help you understand its effects with an example. For instance, a website has been running for over a decade and produces content that has always been a reliable source in a particular field. This website had numerous shares and inbound links on different social media platforms. However, the owner of the website sold it a while back and the new owner was unable to produce the same kind of content.

Now, the editorial quality of search engine optimized content would completely fail. Still, the website will continue to perform well as it did in the past. In fact, such a website could run for years before a search engine identifies certain changes in metrics on the basis of decreased interactions and influx of links. Author Rank will completely change this scenario.

Author Rank will make sure that a search engine remembers the reliability and credibility of an author. A search engine will understand the signals that would specifically identify the quality of an author’s content. As a result, this would ease the whole process. A high ranked author will be able to uplift a website’s level and offer increased traffic. Basically, this is what Author Rank will help websites achieve.

It is important to understand that numerous factors will affect Author Rank. A search engine needs to access huge chunks of data. This data is analyzed to gather information about the website and content. A lot of different metrics come into play to affect website optimization. The following ways will help webmasters establish Author Rank.

First of all, you need to claim authorship of your content. This is quite easy to achieve. You just have to follow a simple verification step on your Google+ profile. In your Google+ profile, there will be certain links that will redirect you to specific pages that host your content and vice versa. All these resources should be linked to your profile.

An author can easily claim authorship with help from SEO plugins, which are available in WordPress. If there are multiple authors, you need to tag every one of them to their content. Similarly, if an author writes guest posts, it is better to tag him in the author bio. A search engine will just search for a tag in an individual piece of content. One major side effect of adding a tag in the author bio is that an author’s picture will be added to snippet when his post shows in rankings.

Using Author Rank for Better Search Engine Rankings

Internet marketers can use many different ways to improve Author Rank and enhance their website’s chances of getting better search engine rankings. The best way is to find authors who already have better author ranks. You may also try to build better ranks of authors within your organization.

Most of the brands which don’t have authors with good ranks can even outsource content to authors who have strong online reputation. This gives time to authors within your organization to leverage in the long term. While outsourcing content, you need to reach out and identify authors who already have an authority in a specific niche.

You can conduct Google searches for a relevant set of keywords and look for snippet-enhanced results to find out more about authoritative authors in a particular niche. Snippet-enhanced results will also tell you the number of Google +1 circles in which an author is present. This information is actually a quality metric to assess an author’s rank and value to your organization.

A combined list of authors on the basis of relevant search queries in which they appeared and Google+ circles involving them will give a better idea of all those potential authors who could improve your website’s search engine rankings. You should try to connect with all these authors and hire them to provide fresh, interesting and genuine content for your website.

It is extremely important to target popular blogs and websites. This way, your content will be more recognized. This will also give you more opportunities for attracting likes, comments, followers and more online engagement. All these are crucial factors in improving the search engine rankings of your website.

An author’s rank will improve as his influence and presence increases on the internet. Eventually, traffic on your website will increase. With SEO and search marketing becoming more focused on content, marketers will have to pay some extra attention to Author Rank. When we talk about SEO Author Rank is the next big thing. SEO 2013 will be completely dominated by Author Rank.