website design Columbus Ohio folks show old parchment paper with heading "Ye Old Daily Blog"

What is an "Authorship snippet"?

It's an image of the author of an article that appears in Google search results for a specific search query.

And you can probably guess why it's so important. Not that people care what the author looks like (though if you look like Angelina Jolie or Bad Pitt, it probably helps). No, it is a visual element in Google's search results page that draws the viewers eye to that result.

All marketers attempt to get noticed above the clutter, clatter and chatter, and visuals are one of the best ways to do that. Especially if there isn't any other image (or very few) in the search results. A Google Authorship image will get noticed first.

And it's not just conjecture! (We've been wanting to use the word "conjecture" in a sentence for months now, and we finally did it!) There's eye-tracking technology that tracks eye movement on a page or website (see heat mapping images here) that's been around for a decade. But of course, it continues to get better. There something called a “point-of-gaze” accuracy of 0.5 degree that tracks exactly where people are looking on a Google results page.

As you can see from the screenshot above, we've been publishing blog posts and articles on Google+ with an authorship image. (See our Google+ page here.)

screen shot of Google results showing the photo they plcae when you write an articleBegin by starting your Google+ account

Assuming you haven't started on yet, and be sure to use a close up, simple photo.

When you publish a blog or article on another website, be sure to include whatever name you use on Google+ on every page, and include an email address or link the article to your Google+ page.

But of course, all this is predicated upon your organization writing compelling content. Something your audiences looks to for helpful information. Being a Columbus web design company that focuses on SEO, we blog a lot about this issue.

Create a Google+ profile, using a clear and recognizable headshot. Read more at http://www.searchenginejournal.com/eye-tracking-study-importance-using-g...

This article in Search Engine Journal about Google Authorship is very helpful, and of course, Google has shared their thoughts, too, which you can read here.

As a website design Columbus Ohio company, we can help you show up well on Google and other search engines,