Google has made some big changes over the last few month and most of us are still just trying to keep up. As an affiliate marketer or even just a blogger our goal is to get what we have to say out there so the world can read it. For that to happen, like it or not, we need Google.
With the big changes Google has added a new feature where you can have your Google Profile picture show up with your pages search results. At first I though “Great – one more page I have to maintain and one more piece of code I have to figure out.”
After a little more thought, I decided Google’s new profile picture in the search results really could be a good thing. Most importantly, at least for the next few months, it will make your pages stand out from the rest. There aren’t a lot of site implementing this new feature yet and until they do, your site is going standout.
With your Google Profile picture next your search result your link is going to look different than the rest. It is going to catch peoples attention and that is going to lead to more clicks. More clicks means more visitors and more visitors means more money.
Also this feature will allow you to lay claim to your articles where every they may be across the world wide web by letting your readers no who you are and where they can find more of your work.
The feature that allows Google to show your profile picture next to your search results is being referred to as Rich Snippets. Rich Snippets is still mainly in its trial stages and more the most part is only available to review sites and social networking/people profile sites. If you are writing for a site that is already participating your picture should start show automatically. If you would like to add your site to the experiment you will need to sign up on the “Interested in Rich Snippets” form.
Luckily, adding the Google Profile pic to your search results isn’t too terribly hard. Follow me through the process below.
Tutorial : Adding your Google Profile picture to your sites Google Search results.
- Create a Google Account Profile – If you don’t already have a Google account, you should. What you may not have taken the time to do yet is fill in your Google Profile information. This is super easy. Go to https://profiles.google.com/, click on each section and fill in the information. Try to make it personal, but also keep your goal of promoting your site online. You can also add in photo and links your own or sites you have been featured on.
- Creating an About Me page on your site – This is another one of those “If you haven’t already, your really should.” things. Just create a page about yourself or your site and add the following code. (Make sure to replace “your ID” with your Google ID. You can find it at the bottom of your Google Profile page, next to Profile URL.)
<a href="https://profiles.google.com/your_ID" rel="me">My Profile</a> - Link your About Me page to your Google Profile – Go back to your Google Profile and a Custom Link to your new About Me Page. Check the box “This page is specifically about me.”
- Add a link to About Me page to your articles – Now you are going to link all the articles you write your you about me page. Use the following code.
<a href="http://yourwebsite.com/about/" rel="author">More About Me</a> - Test it out – To test it out and make sure all your hard work was worth while go t othe Rich Snippets Testing Tool and enter the URL of page you created in Step 4. This will show you if the code has been implemented correctly.
NOTE : For now that does not automatically mean your photo will actually show up in Google search results. You must be posting on a site that has been accepted to the trial. Sign up with “Interested in Rich Snippets” form. Google will be adding more sites over time until we are all part of the experiment!
