Adding Authority to Website On-page

[gouri]

Google respects websites that have achieved authority. It helps to rank well in the SERP.

I was wondering what would be some ways to add authority to a website on-page? Might mentioning things that you have studied or years of work experience help. What are some other things that might be helpful?

I find that you can know a lot about a subject but it would be nice to appear as more of an authority on the subject if possible.

[tedster]

As far as I know, authority is an off-page characteristic. In other words, it depends on what others say about you, how often good sites link to you (freely given editorial links) and things like that.

So what you do on-page is only going to have an indirect effect for your authority status. Others still must read you, like what they see, and give you links, quotes, etc. That said, a little bit of old-fashioned marketing of your site will help you get read by the right people. I'm thinking of things like getting press coverage, offline and online. Being referenced in a Google Scholar article or Knol would be another.

On-page, I'd say it helps to "look" authoritative. Certainly the first impression made by your site is essential for attracting the kind of attention you need. Typos, awkward layouts, cross-browser troubles etc all would detract.

Essentially, if you ARE an authority, you need to display that in every way that you can. It will take lots of content so that you begin to be the "go-to" destination for information in your area of knowledge.

[gouri]

Thank you for mentioning some of the things that can be done on-page to add authority to a site.

Also, thank you for the offpage suggestions.

[Asia_Expat]

™

;)

[Asia_Expat]

... to expand on my above post... judicious use of the 'TM' html, which can be used in a title tag, galvanizes your brand perception. It will also show a litt 'TM' in next to your website name in the SERPS... i.e. think CTR improvement/surfer perception of your site.

[JS_Harris]

I'm fairly positive that the algorithm has not been taught about respect, it can be brutal :-)

That being said make sure you have a privacy policy and a personalized and descriptive about page. Should your site trigger a flag or filter that requires a human to come and take a look the human will spot real quality from an attempt to make it look like quality in less than a heartbeat.

[edited by: JS_Harris at 11:56 am (utc) on Mar. 18, 2009]

[gouri]

It will take lots of content so that you begin to be the "go-to" destination for information in your area of knowledge.

I agree that having a lot of content about a particular subject is important in being considered an authority.

But I was also wondering how you guys might feel about experience. Say you made a website on building widgets and you have been building widgets for 20 years, would mentioning that help to be considered an authority?

[tedster]

Anyone can publish any words they choose on their site - so that's not going to affect Google's algo. If it affects someone who already IS authoritative to link to you, that would be an indirect but postive effect.

[gouri]

I hear what you are saying. That is good thinking.