Working  in the world of digital marketing, I read a lot of blogs every day. When I login  to my email every morning I find my inbox full of new articles. All sorts of  blogs are talking about everything and anything to do with digital marketing and  beyond.

One  thing I know is that Google+ is still a hot topic.

Those  of us who advocate this social platform talk about it as the future of social  media and content marketing. We discuss the benefits of using it for business,  about claiming authorship markup and publisher markup and how it has a great  impact on search rankings and click through rates.

Then  there are the sceptics who say it’s boring. Some say it’s a bad version of  Facebook. Others say it’s not user friendly and it’s just another tool created  by Google in its quest to monopolise all things internet  related.

What is Google+ about?

Most people in the digital marketing industry agree that Google+ has become  an essential part of social media marketing. But it still surprises me when I  speak to people (in my industry) who are still not using Google+, still not sure  what it’s all about. Many see it as not  being a useful marketing tool for  their business.

What is eye opening is when I research things in the digital industry I am  presented with a Google SERP (search engine result page) in which only a handful  of results have a Google+ cover photo next to it! If we’re in the digital  industry, and blogging extensively, aren’t we all supposed to be using Google+  and claiming authorship?

Why Google+ authorship is important

Surely, we all know what Authorship Markup is by now? Could  it be that many blog authors dismiss it as not important or not relevant? It’s  not exactly a lengthy process to claim authorship, but perhaps many bloggers are  not active on Google+? There could be numerous reasons why adoption rates appear  low, but to me it’s a no brainer. So why aren’t more bloggers claiming ownership  of their content?

If you’re doing it right then you should see the following.

• An increase in search rankings
• Improvement in CTR (click through rate)
• More people with access to your other work

So why wouldn’t you adopt this practice?

Judging from what I’ve read, Google is planning to develop this further and  elaborate on author rank, where influential authors appear higher in SERPs, even  if their post is published on a lower ranking website. All this seems very  exciting. So the earlier we start claiming authorship and using Google+ to  establish a reputation, the sooner we will reap the benefits.

Read more at http://www.jeffbullas.com/2013/10/01/why-arent-more-bloggers-claiming-ownership-of-their-content/#IgqfHGDspqHHzRwO.99