Over the weekend I reworked Barbara Oliver & Co Jewelry’s publisher & authorship Rich Snippets. Previously I had only had the rel=author snippet on the home page but based on other examples that were showing in Local I added the rel=publisher rich snippet to the home page only and left the rel=author snippet on the home page and every other page. I had previously added review rich snippets on both the review and home pages.
As Linda Buquet had reported all of the rich snippets AND her Google reviews are now showing in the blended local results and the branded search result. Note that the testimonial page with rich snippets shows as a review source as well. Also the author image is smaller than previous example. I think that is due to having the rich snippet review included.
The code I use was as followed:
1) Home Page Publisher Linked to Google + Personal Profile:
<a href=https://plus.google.com/102541560060087493644/ rel=”publisher”>Barbara Oliver</a>
2) Home Page Author Linked to “Our Story” (the about us page):
<a href=/index.php?Our%20Story rel=”author”>About Barbara Oliver</a>
3) “Our Story” Page Author Linked to Google + Personal Profile:
<a href=https://plus.google.com/102541560060087493644 rel=”me”>Our Google Profile</a>
I believe that simply linking back to the Google+ Profile page as the author would have been adequate.
Props to AJ Kohn for the excellent articles, plus posts and a cool tool that helped in the process.
lol… Well, I guess there just aren’t any secrets with you and Linda! We have been doing this for our clients already, but, of course, have seen Google show it in their results until lately. Thanks again Mike, for awesome content and be such a Giver!
Comment by Eric Christopher (36 comments) — February 29, 2012 @ 12:16 pm
@Eric
There are no secrets. You must tell me all… you shall divulge any information that you suspect is proprietary…
Comment by Mike Blumenthal (1944 comments) — February 29, 2012 @ 12:19 pm
I MUST…. TELLLLL…. ALLL….ARRRRGGHHH!!
Comment by Eric Christopher (36 comments) — February 29, 2012 @ 12:29 pm
@Eric
The reality is that my blog is how I learn. As a single practitioner I find that by sharing details I get significantly more in return and everybody benefits. Its not a bad system.
Mike
PS Any secrets you think you have are not really secrets…pretty much anyone paying attention knows them
Comment by Mike Blumenthal (1944 comments) — February 29, 2012 @ 12:33 pm
Unless I am missing something… this seems like a great way for Google+ to build a huge volume of backlinks very rapidly.
On a side note did you read the WSJ news err editorial on the “Ghost town” that is Google+? While obviously biased I found the comment thread to be very interesting. WSJ Link
Comment by Mark (107 comments) — February 29, 2012 @ 2:25 pm
@Mark
Its a great way for them to build backlinks but the lack of them has not prevented any of the content from showing.
The comment thread is interesting and mostly favorable.
The issue here is that an SMB has to take whatever lemons they are handed by Google (ie them missing meta description and shorter Title tags) and cope the best they can. Its a moving target that is hard to follow but the rewards for a prominent local listing are real.
Whether G+ offers benefits remains to be seen but clearly Search Plus Your World holds a future promise of real social search… that may force additional engagement.
At some point though the increasing complexity will put a lot of SMBs off.
Comment by Mike Blumenthal (1944 comments) — February 29, 2012 @ 2:42 pm
Does this only work with personal google+ profiles, or would business profiles be displayed as well?
Comment by Andy (13 comments) — February 29, 2012 @ 5:06 pm
Andy
At this point we have only seen personal profiles displayed even when rel=publisher points to the business page. So far its all about author.
Comment by Mike Blumenthal (1944 comments) — February 29, 2012 @ 5:12 pm
I like to think I’m a SEO Rock Star (yes, I looked at and liked @Erics site) as far as my own home town is concerned. However, I must admit,
My problem is that…. the technical mechanics of things like, setting up my rel = author… picture… show’r upper thing-a-ma-bob.
Could someone leave a link that explains how to actually “Do It”? You know, set it up and make it work, but in a language that a brilliant but ADHD brained person will “Get it”? It seems (for me) that if a single tiny task requires more than 20 minutes and more than one cuss word, well, I just can’t seem to sit long enough to actually “Git’er Done”.
Ok, thanks for letting me blab and ask!
Gary Anderson II
Comment by Gary Anderson II (1 comments) — March 7, 2012 @ 2:19 am
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