What is Google AuthorRank & How exactly it works?

AuthorRank algorithm
Google has gone a long way into streamlining their search results and delivering quality and relevant information to users. If you have been active lately and been following the news from the industry, then you would have heard about Google's AuthorRank. Even if you haven't heard about it, you'll most likely catch on pretty quickly, since the basic idea isn't unfamiliar. Google is working on a new system of ranking content and returning better search results to users, aka Google AuthorRank, which is a bit like PageRank really, if we strip down to the very basics. And this is what we are going to talk about today.
In fact, we'll compile a whole three-part series on the topic to tell our beloved readers more on the subject, because we believe this could well be the game-changer in the near future. And having knowledge beforehand might prove valuable for the success of your site after this new ranking system has been introduced.

Google AuthorRank Series
Part1: What is Google AuthorRank and How exactly it works?

What exactly is AuthorRank?

Everyone knows what PageRank is, right? Google takes a lot of factors into account when ranking pages, so that high quality pages are given a higher rank is Search Results. For a page, it is easy to calculate the incoming links, the quality of those links, traffic, page hits, and so on, and these are some of the factors that determine page ranking. But what about the people who write that content on those pages?


Before Google Plus, Google had no solid way of identifying who the author of a webpage is. Google Plus, together with Google Authorship helped overcome the problem by assigning a digital signature to piece of content. Since that difficulty has been overcome now, Google is now looking to rank people, or Authors, just like it ranks Pages. And this is what AuthorRank will be all about. 

An Author's (Agent's) rank will effectively influence a content's search results performance. So your reputation as a content creator will influence how well your content ranks. The better the reputation, the better the performance. Google will essentially use this information to pluck out spam from its very root.

How will it effect you as a content creator?

So far, we have established that this will be a new ranking system. But it won't be an algorithmic update, and won't be replacing anything. Nothing as big as Panda. You can think of AuthorRank as more of a supplement. AuthorRank will inform PageRank, which means that an Agent (author) with a high AuthorRank will now also effect a site's performance in SERPs.

Going Social

This suggests that some of the emphasis might now shift towards individuals who create good quality content. And when you look at Google's constant efforts to measure site trust, and their emphasis on going social, it all makes sense. People trust a site when they can connect and communicate with the author. So going social might just be the key here. How good content you write, how well you interact, everything will contribute towards AuthorRank.


Justice Vs No Justice

From Mohammad: 

"AuthorRank if implemented in 2013 would be the biggest relief for already established web owners and content publishers. With billion of pages uploaded each day, quality stuff is badly ranked well by search robots because its tough to pick the best among too many competitors. How would the robot know which article deserves more weight and credit then the other?  Here at MBT, each tutorial that we publish is duplicated several times by new comers that badly effect our traffic momentum, as a result we suffer both in traffic and revenue. With AuthorRank, we can expect true justice from Google, where real authors will receive true credit for their efforts. I am demonstrating this entire concept with a simple image shared below, which would give your a clear picture of how this new algorithm would work and do justice between authors."

Click the image to enlarge it. 

Google AuthorRank Example

What will effect AuthorRank?

Once again, AuthorRank alone will not effect a site's ranking. It will only be a factor. Google considers more than 200 factors, some of which will contribute towards your AuthorRank, which, in turn, will contribute towards your site's ranking in organic search results. That being said, let us look into some of the factors that might effect AuthorRank.
  • Google Plus engagement - How many circles an author is in on Google Plus. This indicated how popular an author is and what is the level of his engagement on Google Plus.
  • Social activity regarding the content - How many +1s and shares does an author's content gets. This will also take into account the social activity on other major social media, such as Facebook, Twitter etc.
  • Other sites the author has contributed to - This will take into account the number of sites that an author has contributed to, and their integrity, along with things like average PageRank of his content etc.
  • Number of posts to Google Plus, and other social media.
  • The number and nature of the connections on Google+ an author has. For example, connections with high AuthorRank authors will be considered good, just as high quality backlinks are considered good for a webpage.
  • On-site engagement - Number of comments an author's content gets, and the number of author responses.
  • YouTube engagement - Number of subscribers, activity on videos, engagement on YouTube etc.
  • Other authority indicators - Such as published works on Google Books, having a page on Wikipaedia etc

Google hasn't yet unleashed this ranking system, so no one knows exactly what factors it will consider. This list just serves as a rough sketch, the granular detailed of which will become public once this update takes place. Also, we don't know yet when it will take place. Google is working on it, and might just release in next week, or maybe after a month, or even an year. All we can do is, wait and prepare for it. Sites that have prepared for it will have a clear advantage over sites that haven't. So it's most probably time you started preparing too. We will cover more on how to prepare for it, along with some tips in our third part in this series. Until then, stay tuned. Shoot any questions you might have, because we're here to help. Good luck :)

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31 comments

PLEASE NOTE:
We have Zero Tolerance to Spam. Chessy Comments and Comments with 'Links' will be deleted immediately upon our review.
  1. well,
    i hope it creates benefits.
    but,
    which is more important ? PR or AR ?
    Visit My Blog

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think PR is more important than AR. As we all know that content is king and basically content is responsible for increasing PR and so AR too.
    PcTricksBlog
    Anyways... good post.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I am completely new to this ... does this mean we have to be prepared to remove your account profile blogger replace it with g+ profiles account for the blog?

    ReplyDelete
  4. a good post title is better thank AR and PR. No doubt.

    ReplyDelete
  5. @f4dLy :) No no, nothing of the sort. If you have already set up Google Authorship (connected ur G+ profile with ur blog), then u dont need to worry about anything. Just focus on your content. Most of the changes will happen at the back-end, and there'll be no need to create or delete profiles

    ReplyDelete
  6. After long time finally Qasim bhai you posted the article, article is good for learning purpose, i didn't know that AR rank does matters
    M.Y.B Softwares

    ReplyDelete
  7. @Akhil Pulotil Well, both will be important now. Of course, PR is still the bigger metric for determining a site's quality, but AR will be used to rate your content. So a good AR could boost the PR of a new 0 PR site, and a bad AR could effect a good PR site. So both will be important in their own way

    ReplyDelete
  8. @MYB Softs Yeah i has having exams, but now its good to back, thanks to all of you guys :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. dat was a nice one but is der in possible way to check our author rank??
    Computer Tips And Tricks

    ReplyDelete
  10. Well crafted post. Thanks to inform us in details.
    I am an author of Hindi blog and verified my authorship recently. This post is needed to me as I have lost my PR (from three to zero) because of my year-long distance with blogging.

    ReplyDelete
  11. nice information thanks for sharing. is valuable and informative post. :)

    Regards
    Rahul Kashyap
    Blog: SDMMovies.com

    ReplyDelete
  12. Great eye opener for future SEO. Thanks again Qasim Zaib. From now I will follow this blog.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Nice Post. Good To See You Back Qasim.

    Regards,
    Mehul

    ReplyDelete
  14. Please Mohomad tell me about how good my blog is ,
    http://www.bloggingindustries.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  15. Great eye opener for future SEO. Thanks again. From now I will follow this blog and we will get to know about page ranking google.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Thank For Share Nice Information Keep Update.....Great eye opener for future SEO
    www.3dwallpaper2013.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  17. hope it brings only benefits... www.epiblog.in

    ReplyDelete
  18. i got my authorship two days ago, but still few of my blog links dont have my profile link and photo in the search results.


    Shahbaz Khan recently posted

    How to Sneak into unprotected Security Cameras using Google Dorks

    ReplyDelete
  19. @Ranganathan C well, buddy. AuthorRank hasn't been introduced yet, but it will be released soon

    ReplyDelete
  20. @Mehul Mohan It's good to be back among you nice fellows buddy :)

    ReplyDelete
  21. @Shahbaz Khan here, try this bro http://www.mybloggertricks.com/2012/02/solution-to-why-your-profile-picture.html

    ReplyDelete
  22. This is called unique content , really informative article is .Atif980

    ReplyDelete
  23. thanks
    http://www.newsskiathos.gr

    ReplyDelete
  24. As you mentioned about the authorrank, isn't it injustice with new writers ? Who are working good but they are unfamiliar to google due to being new? What would you say?

    ReplyDelete
  25. mohammad many websites are saying for better seo wordpress is good but you are using blogger i think.. my website is <a href="http://www.annaunivedu.in/">www.annaunivedu.in</a>

    i too use blogger platform only. do you recommend wordpres for other

    ReplyDelete
  26. Finally i got to know exactly what the Author Rank is

    Hopefully i will have some good rank on my Bollywood Blog

    ReplyDelete
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