Stephanie Sammons has little patience for financial advisors who aren’t creating their own content, and pushing their brand across social media. The digital consultant is adamant that reps who get seen can grow their practice. She explained how building a Google+ account, and then linking its Author Rank tool, can push advisors’ names higher in Google search — without paying for sponsored spots.
“Author Rank is basically another way of Google ranking content on the web. Instead of ranking just the content in and of itself, they’re looking at who produced it, who is the person creating the content. Just like how it works in the real world with popularity. It’s all about the person and who you know. Author Rank is one of the only ways Google can filter credibility behind the content. It’s a perk from setting up your Google+ profile and attaching that profile to any content you publish on the web, your own site or somewhere else. Google is giving you credit for that content.
You make it work by inserting the proper Google code into a web site. (A good set of instructions from Google can be found here and here.) There is a particular HTML code that you need to put in every page of content that you have published, whether it’s your blog post or web page, which then adds your Google profile. Producing quality content on a consistent basis drives your ability to get found. At the end of the day, Google is going to show quality work. They’re going to show the real content creators.
This is a competitive advantage window for people who set this up right now, to get a little more visibility. It’s the future of getting found online by the right people. We’ll all be ranked on the quality of what we produce.”