Inbound marketers are undoubtedly aware of AuthorRank and how much of a factor it can play in the success of content marketing efforts. If AuthorRank is a new concept to you, Google defines it as “the identity of individual agents responsible for content can be used to influence search ratings.”
In other words, content written by established experts carries more authority, and ranks higher than content with less-credible authorship or no authorship whatsoever. By facilitating the development of internal subject experts and encouraging them to publish on the company blog (and on their own personal blogs), employers can reap tangible rewards that will impact their business’s bottom line.
Reason #1: Content Credibility
The kind of content that first won at SEO required nothing more than keyword and anchor text link-stuffed gibberish. With improved algorithms, content quality increased to better serve human users. Now, a third layer has emerged: authorship. It’s no longer enough for content to be readable and helpful. The authority and credibility of an expert author, whose identity is authentic and transparent, is required for content to be truly successful.
Reason #2: Brand Amplification
Over a period of time, communities will begin to gather around your internal subject experts, in the form of social media followers. And if they’re publishing expert content on your company blog, traffic will naturally increase as their communities share that content.
Reason #3: Employee Wellness
Employers should not only encourage their internal subject experts to write, but they should take time to train them on blogging best practices, give them time to write, and perhaps offer extrinsic rewards for doing so.
A robust training program can be a perk for employees, leading to increased retention rates. As employee expertise becomes more vaunted, they may be asked to speak at events or solicited for quotes in publications. A culture that promotes this kind of growth and activity will be very attractive to prospective employees, allowing companies to recruit top talent.
Reason #4: Improved Customer Service
As content production begins to scale, your company will find itself with a large library of resources that current employees can draw on to answer customer questions and solve customer problems. Developing training material for new employees will become a thing of the past (or at least considerably less laborious), since content can be repurposed into up-to-date training collateral.
Investing in increasing AuthorRank among employees represents a win-win for everyone; the company gets expert content and employees get training and motivation to increase their personal brand standing.
For more information about AuthorRank and setting up authorship, check out this excellent and comprehensive guide to Google Authorship Resources from Jeremy Rivera over at Raven Tools.
