Google+ is weighing in big time on Google search results.  The importance of having an optimized site that includes the data Google needs to properly spider your site is no longer in question in my opinion.  Both Authorship Verification and Content Verification rich snippets are very important to include on your blog enabled website.

 In this article I’ll make it easy for you to properly set up content authorship

To increase your Google+ SEO Authority you’ll need to, among other things, set up your content authorship.  This will allow your content to be attributed back to you, get indexed by Google, allow trackbacks from guest postings you do and result in better SER.

Google offers a step by step guide to verifying authorship.  I recommend option 1 that Google offers…

(from Google Support page)


New!

Option 1. Add your name and email to your content (recommended for sites with content by multiple authors)

To verify authorship of a page using an email address, you need to do the following:

1. Make sure that your name and (ideally) email address appear on each page of your content, like this:

 

2. Add your new email address to your Google profile

Note:  If you want your Authorship information to show up in search results, be sure to have a completed Google Profile with a clear headshot profile picture and filled out all fields.  Google states this explicitly in their support article and that to me means it’s a non-negotiable item.  Once your profile is 100% continue with the following 9 steps…

  1. Sign in to your Google profilepages opens in new window'
  2. Click Edit profile.
  3. On the right-hand side, click the Contributor to box, and add all the sites you write for.
  4. Next, click the Work box.
  5. Click the New contact info box (the last in the list, and type the email address you use for the sites you write for.
  6. In the list to the left of the email address you just added, click Email.
  7. Click Save, and then click Done editing.
  8. Repeat for every email address you want to add.
  9. On your profile, click Verify next to the email address you just added.

    Google+ Authorship SEO Help

    Google will send a verification mail to that email address. Once you receive it, open it and follow the instructions to verify your email address.  I hope this Google+ SEO Authority guide helps you navigate the ever changing world of SEO Optimization.

     

    Have you found other new Google features that make a big SEO impact?