Google's John Mueller: "We Don't Use Authorship For Ranking"

Oct 1, 2013 - 8:12 am 15 by

larry page google+ authorshipYes, Google's head of search spam, Matt Cutts did say rel=author can help search quality but he did also say Google is currently not using it.

John Mueller, a Google web trends analysts confirmed this one more time during a Google Hangout a few days ago. He said:

We don’t use Authorship for ranking

Mark Traphagen transcribed that part of the question. Which you can see in the video at 48 minutes and 24 seconds into the video.

Q: Why can't Google+ authorship prevent scraper sites from showing up above us in the search results?

John Mueller: Well, we don't use authorship for ranking, so it's not... because it's written by a well-known author, or it looks like it might have been written by a well-known author, that we'd show it higher up in the search results....

Q: Could you repeat that once more...

JM: We don't use it for ranking, at the moment. If you're seeing a situation where scraper sites are showing up above you, that's something that I would treat separately from any authorship markup that we have on your pages....

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
- YouTube
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: September 15, 2025

Sep 15, 2025 - 10:00 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Google Search Console Reporting Change Since 100 Results Broke

Sep 15, 2025 - 7:51 am
Bing Search

Bing Places Update Coming Soon: Navigation, Experience & More

Sep 15, 2025 - 7:41 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

PSA: Most Third Party Google Search Tracking Tools Are Broken

Sep 15, 2025 - 7:31 am
Search Engine Optimization

Structured Data Does Not Help With Visibility In AI Search

Sep 15, 2025 - 7:21 am
Google News

FTC Investigating Google Over Ad Pricing & Terms On Websites

Sep 15, 2025 - 7:11 am
 
Previous Story: When Government Shuts Down Yosemite National Park Google 123rd Birthday