Trying To Understand G+ and Authorship....

[ServicePros]

Hello, Linda.

Your Google Local 101 forum has been a great addition. Thanks for creating it and especially for allowing SMB's to participate.

I'm having a bit of confusion and I'm hoping someone can help point me in the right direction.

Well over a year ago I had lost my then 'Places' listing as we had moved the business from a shared office to my home. At the time, we still appeared very high in organic rankings and I did not create a new Places listing since it didn't really seem necessary. However, all directory listings and data collectors were updated (all except those that could not be updated, such as Yext listings).

Fast forward to the last thirty to sixty days and we now find that our organic rankings are slipping. Because of this I've decided to do two things:

1. Create a new G+ Business listing
2. Work on creating authorship

This is where I get confused.

I've been using a gmail email account for the last 3+ years for the business. This email account is used to submit and update directory information and was also used as the Google Places email address as well as adwords account and YouTube (we have several YouTube clips on our website and industry related forums).

I recently logged into the gmail account and was asked to verify under what name we would want the gmail account to appear to the public (vegascleaningservice @ gmail or my name). At the time I was not sure what to do, so I opted to maintain the name of vegascleaningservice since this is how it had always appeared in Google search results and on YouTube.

Once I made the selection a G+ account was created.

Should it be changed so it appears as my name and not as vegascleaningservice (by the way, vegascleaningservice is not the name of the business. At the time I created the account - roughly 2009 - I had not anticipated anything like we see today. To me it was just an email account to create and submit directory listings, etc.)?

How would this effect any attempt at authorship? As I understand correctly, for authorship to work, I need a G+ (circle?) account along with an email that has the same domain name of the business?

Can you have a gmail account for the business in your name and yet another business domain email in your name for authorship?

Did I say that right?

I apologize if this seems rambling, but this has been a big, confusing stumbling block for me.

For the record, I have a carpet cleaning and janitorial business located in Las Vegas, NV.

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[Phil Rozek]

Good questions. You'll need a "personal" Google+ page - not one for a "Local Business" - in order to implement authorship. It will need to be in your name, not that of your company.

It's OK to have it in a separate Google account from the one you created your Google Places (or Plus) listing in.

Here's a thread with a doodle I threw together that explains this:

http://localsearchforum.catalystema...erging-places-website-question.html#post17665

And here's my favorite walkthrough of how to implement authorship:

How to Implement rel=

---------- Post Merged at 05:00 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 04:59 PM ----------

Good questions. You'll need a "personal" Google+ page - not one for a "Local Business" - in order to implement authorship. It will need to be in your name, not that of your company.

It's OK to have it in a separate Google account from the one you created your Google Places (or Plus) listing in.

Here's a thread with a doodle I threw together that explains this:

http://localsearchforum.catalystema...erging-places-website-question.html#post17665

And here's my favorite walkthrough of how to implement authorship:

http://webfor.com/how-to-implement-rel-author

 

[Linda Buquet]

Thanks Phil, those are great articles.

Here are some other top resources.
Critical 4 Local - Author Rank, Publisher & Author Markup - What you NEED to Know

 

[laurie]

Thanks for the information. I have a question.

I write blog posts on our site and some guest posts. I have a G+ profile. When leaving blog comments, is it better to use my own name or the name of our business (or a combination of the two?) I wasn't sure if everything should use my name to point back to my G+ profile, or if it's good to get the name of our business out there as well?

Thanks.

 

[jerry]

In blog comments i always use my name/nickname (G+ profile). Imagine if all your blog visitors leave comments using names like "Fred Computer Repair Texas" "Mike Washington Plumber" huh is your real name "Computer Repair Texas..... Allowing business name in blog posts over the period lead to comment spam (i've experienced it). Blog comments are to provide value and build relation with site owners, i encourage you to use your name.

 

[laurie]

In blog comments i always use my name/nickname (G+ profile). Imagine if all your blog visitors leave comments using names like "Fred Computer Repair Texas" "Mike Washington Plumber" huh is your real name "Computer Repair Texas..... Allowing business name in blog posts over the period lead to comment spam (i've experienced it). Blog comments are to provide value and build relation with site owners, i encourage you to use your name.

Thanks Jerry. So, it sounds like you are advising to ALWAYS use your real name and not the name of your company. Since I use my name on my blog posts and guest blog posts, if I use it also in the blog comments, I would never be using the name of my business. Are others in agreement with that?

 

[ServicePros]

Thanks for the info!

Your doodle is very helpful. It's simple enough that even a janitor such as myself can figure it out.

One follow-up question if I may. I have two websites - two businesses really. One for carpet and floor care, the other for janitorial. Both have separate phone numbers and each have a registered dba. Only one will have a G+ Business listing though.

Can I add the two businesses to my personal G+ page and have authorship attributed to both?

Thank you again!

 

[laurie]

I'm not sure if this thread is considered to be completed, but I was hoping to hear some other comments about this. My last comment said:

So, it sounds like you are advising to ALWAYS use your real name and not the name of your company. Since I use my name on my blog posts and guest blog posts, if I use it also in the blog comments, I would never be using the name of my business. Are others in agreement with that?

Right now, I have an account with Disqus in our business name, so that would also have to be changed to my own name, right?

 

[ServicePros]

Hi Phil,

The doodle was very helpful, thank you!

Quick question, on the website itself why would you not want it to be set as rel=publisher?

Good questions. You'll need a "personal" Google+ page - not one for a "Local Business" - in order to implement authorship. It will need to be in your name, not that of your company.

It's OK to have it in a separate Google account from the one you created your Google Places (or Plus) listing in.

Here's a thread with a doodle I threw together that explains this:

http://localsearchforum.catalystema...erging-places-website-question.html#post17665

And here's my favorite walkthrough of how to implement authorship:

How to Implement rel=

---------- Post Merged at 05:00 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 04:59 PM ----------

Good questions. You'll need a "personal" Google+ page - not one for a "Local Business" - in order to implement authorship. It will need to be in your name, not that of your company.

It's OK to have it in a separate Google account from the one you created your Google Places (or Plus) listing in.

Here's a thread with a doodle I threw together that explains this:

http://localsearchforum.catalystema...erging-places-website-question.html#post17665

And here's my favorite walkthrough of how to implement authorship:

How to Implement rel=

 

[Linda Buquet]

Quick question, on the website itself why would you not want it to be set as rel=publisher?

In that post I linked to in #3 that I said was so important, you'll find answers. Here is one of the posts I linked to in that thread that explains well.

Google Local: Rel = Publisher Or Rel=Author? You Should Do Both | Understanding Google Places & Local Search

Sorry guys author/publisher is not my strong suit, that's why I keep linking you to that post in #3 that has all the best info.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Quick question, on the website itself why would you not want it to be set as rel=publisher?

In that post I linked to in #3 that I said was so important, you'll find answers. Here is one of the posts I linked to in that thread that explains well.

Google Local: Rel = Publisher Or Rel=Author? You Should Do Both | Understanding Google Places & Local Search

Sorry guys author/publisher is not my strong suit, that's why I keep linking you to this post that has all the best info.

Critical 4 Local - Author Rank, Publisher & Author Markup - What you NEED to Know