Don’t miss a huge branding opportunity: Link your Google+ profile to the content you create

Google is looking to put user identity at the forefront of a number of its products, including search. They are trying new ways to authenticate quality links. Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt discusses this in his upcoming book, “The New Digital Age”, writing that profile verification will be directly linked to search engine rankings:

“Within search results, information tied to verified online
profiles will be ranked higher than content without such
verification, which will result in most users naturally clicking
on the top (verified) results. The true cost of remaining
anonymous, then, might be irrelevance.”

As you know from reading this blog, creating a brand is incredibly valuable for building and strengthening relationships via social media and otherwise. People have more trust in recommendations from their circle of “friends”, including companies they follow on social networks. Google Authorship has made it easier for authors and businesses to get their brands in front of prospective customers and improve ranking — they can now represent themselves alongside their content within Google’s search engine results pages (SERP). Establishing a direct link between you and your articles or posts enables Google to display your picture next to the titles and descriptions of your site’s content so you stand out from the crowd.