Google Authority Listing Boosts Search Engine Traffic
Posted on February 27, 2008 by Nate Whitehill
Many of you know that two weeks ago, I finally moved into a house (pics coming soon). In case you didn’t read that, it basically outlines why I so grateful to have finally moved out the tiny apartment and finally into a big house again. Well, that same weekend, I also found out that Google finally granted me an “authority listing.”
What’s an authority listing?
When I first started blogging, there were no other “Nate Whitehill’s” who ranked for their names in Google. Within a month, I ranked #1 for my name. Now, not only do I rank for my name, but I have been given an “authority listing” in Google for my name.
Similar to an “indented listing” (see below), an “authority listing” is a site which has received a significant of natural backlinks, total number of daily searches, and high quality linkback “authority” from other high PR sites, over a long period of time. Many of you know that I have been blogging since January of 2007, so, it took me about a year for my name to receive an authority listing on Google.
Not only does an authority listing appear as the first result, but it also has 4-5 other links directly under it pointing to other high PR pages within your site. I am sure that Google listed my “23 Things I’ve Learned After 7 months” post only because it is probably the most linked-to post on my blog.
What does this mean for the future?
Well, for one, I will start to receive more traffic for my name than previously. In this Google Analytics chart, it shows the number of searches per day for my name over the past year.
As you can see, search traffic spiked in late September, but has also been steadily rising over the past month.
Why is it good to rank high for your name?
On the Internet, your reputation is a lot more important than your resume. Anyone can start a business online or make money, it doesn’t take any special degree or incredible resume. However, online reputation can help tremendously when it comes to effectively networking or marketing online.
Not to mention, if a potential employer really wanted to find out about you, they would Google your name and not just look at your resume. Just as long as you have surrounded your online reputation with positive and noteworthy achievements, then it can only benefit any online OR offline new job opportunity.
Any other “Nate Whitehill” who wanted to rank #1 for his contact would have very difficult time doing so thanks to my new Google Authority listing.
What do you rank when you type in your name? Do you have an authority listing?
Discussion: 32 Comments
32 Responses to “Google Authority Listing Boosts Search Engine Traffic”
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Authority Listing in Google does it mean anything to your site? - 28th Feb, 08 08:02am
Mike Touch
- 27th Feb, 08 03:02pm
Wow well done.
I’d love to see my blog in the position yours is.
Are you able to live off your blog earnings?
HiFi Guy
- 27th Feb, 08 06:02pm
Yep congrats, you become famous over the internet :p
Mike Huang
- 27th Feb, 08 08:02pm
Dang, you’re SOOO LUCKY! I’m rank #2 for my name “Mike Huang”, but there are 397,000 results when I search it. I also did some research on the #1 link and it seems like the domain has a longer age (9 years), so that is probably why I’m #2. Hopefully I’ll be able to get to #1 and brag about it
-Mike
David Airey
- 28th Feb, 08 04:02am
Nice one, Nate! You deserve it, so well done.
Thomson Chemmanoor
- 28th Feb, 08 08:02am
Congratulation! Well Done.
Actually I typed in your name Google and I saw Site Links before reading this post. Good Job. I think Consistency is key in blogging to get an authority listing. I have couple of other sites which have Authority listing, I think links from quality sites are important for that kind of listing.
Tyler Ford
- 28th Feb, 08 09:02am
Great job! How can I get http://www.ride-strong.com to have an authority listing?
Can you do a post on how to go about getting an authorithy listing?
TradeCommodityOptions.com
- 28th Feb, 08 10:02am
I am sure there are few of my searches in that. good work.
Bullfrog Music
- 28th Feb, 08 01:02pm
So that’s how those types of search results appear. Thanks Nate – I figured it was based on pagerank & site depth but also thought there was an element initiated by the site owner. Guess not.
Well deserved perk.
Regan
Nate Whitehill (author comment)
- 28th Feb, 08 09:02pm
Authority listings are only given out by Google. It seems to be a combination of having a lot of searches for your site’s name, plus many people linking to that site over at least a year period of time, because that is how long it took me. I will write an article about some other key factors that go into that.
Nicole Price
- 29th Feb, 08 03:02am
Congratulations Nate. I’ve been blogging a couple of months now. Long way to go to get an authority listing.
Recliners
- 1st Mar, 08 06:03pm
Hey, good for you, getting that authority listing from Google, actually i didnt know that it could make that much of a difference, so your post was an eyeopener.
That seo guy
- 3rd Mar, 08 06:03am
Wooow nice! I thought you had to be like top 100 Alexa sites or so to get this listing.
Jake Cohen
- 3rd Mar, 08 07:03pm
That’s great! An authority listing is something to be proud of…
http://www.TalkPrice.net
Eli
- 4th Mar, 08 01:03am
Congratulations, Nate! My site recently received that treatment (got 7 links underneath the listing) and the site is nearly 2 years old. Not as many links as your site I guess!
Stefanie
- 5th Mar, 08 11:03am
Very cool – We just noticed the same thing here at my day job, and I was definitely more excited than I should have been. Apparently, there’s a foreign rum with the same name as the company, so it took a while to build things up to that point.
Deron Sizemore
- 5th Mar, 08 07:03pm
Congrats Nate! I hope to have one of those myself one day! Keep up the good work
Israel
- 6th Mar, 08 09:03am
Congrats man. Good stuff. I had one for a site I had, I sold that though. Keep it up man.
Webhosting Trends
- 8th Mar, 08 06:03am
I understand that this happened when your site is already well-spidered by Google and you have many quality backlinks. Authority Listing helps Internet searchers in determining that there are more pages behind what is shown on top a search result.
Kurtlar Vadisi
- 16th Mar, 08 07:03pm
Congratulations1 That’s quite an achievement.
Bargain Discount Shopping
- 24th Mar, 08 05:03am
Good job. It also means now you have a good site you could use to send some link juice to a new site helping it to rank.
Prosperity Writer
- 30th Mar, 08 06:03pm
good for you nate! i looked at my blog, nope, its not an authority yet.
Israel
- 19th Apr, 08 10:04pm
Hey, looks like I got mine now too. Awesome!
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=fat+man+unleashed&spell=1
Or you can do a search for fat man unleashed, it’s been a little less than a year since I launched the blog.
James
- 30th Apr, 08 10:04pm
Great and congrats, on the same, my website is still very new, but not yet got Google authority listings.
Waiting for my side to be happen the same as much as early as possible.
John
- 30th Apr, 08 10:04pm
Authority site means, the website is one of the best website in it’s topic.
Congratulations for having your website an Authority site from Google.
Jon Marks
- 7th May, 08 06:05am
Good article. Lately I’ve been hearing more and more about reputation management on the web. Ranking well for your name is step #1 – I have a rather common name but I’m working on it
Neil Duckett
- 9th Jun, 08 02:06am
Looks like i got mine too …. noticed it today for some reason … still don’t know what it really means though … guess time will tell.
Carnival of Making Money Online
- 8th Jul, 08 07:07pm
I thought you could activate those via webmaster tools. Did they create that one for you? If so, i think it means they had a real person come to and evaluate your site.
Jack Payne
- 30th Aug, 08 09:08pm
Last year one of my Con Man’s Blog pieces (how they do it) was selected as a Google “Blog of the Day.” Does that count?
suicidalsam
- 21st Sep, 08 11:09am
how do u determine if you site has been given the authority by google? is it that you have to rank no 1 for your site name? mine ranks in no 2 rite now. I am confused as how to determine an authority site?
Cheap used cars
- 21st Apr, 09 12:04am
Nate one has to do lot to get “authority listing ” you got from google.Its an reward for your outstanding performace.All the Best for your future.