My Top 10 Posts by “AuthorRank”

After what some called “the authorship apocalypse”, I actually looked inside Google Labs to see just what author stats were saying about the content I’ve self published online. These are not necessarily my best posts, they are not necessarily my most popular posts, they are posts that Google thinks are authoritative or potentially authoritative and thus could do well in their latest greatest search engine algorithm.

I’m not trying to win any popularity contests, I’m not trying to sell any banner ads, I’m just trying to be a little more professional in what I publish online. 2013 is coming to a close and I have ambitions for 2014, they don’t involve a lot of blogging. This isn’t a bad thing, considering I’ve already blogged far too much. Here are my top 10 posts according to Google’s WIP AuthorRank algorithm:

1. 30 Level 1 CFA® questions a candidate should be able to answer
2. Excel Spreadsheet for planning a new business
3. CFA Level 1 Study Advice
4. FREE CFA Level 1 Study Materials
5. 5 Assumptions to Markowitz Portfolio Theory
6. My Top 10 CFA Level 1 Tips
7. Google Analytics + Multiple Domains + iFrames FTW
8. Covariance of A & B on BA II Plus
9. Passed CFA Level 1 Exam
10. The Largest Employers in Vancouver

One of the advantages of the Google Authorship system was, it wasn’t limited to a single domain. Some of those links above are actually on another blog hosted on WordPress.com. If you’ve studied statistics at all you’d note there is a definite selection bias in the above list. I’m not sure Google’s exact timeframe but it is definitely the last month or so, so anything to do with the CFA Level 1 exam was inordinately popular. Just looking at my blog posts here in Google Analytics for the previous week shows a different set of most popular blog post.

Popularity ≠ Quality

Social Media has a huge influence on web traffic especially temporary increases in web traffic these days. Google Authorship stats or AuthorRank probably does not consider tweets, pins, likes, etc. but the main Google search algorithm might. Writing for Googlebot is still different than writing for Klout.

If you’re looking to take advantage of Google Authorship and the mysterious AuthorRank algorithm, you’d do well to write more content similar to the posts that Google considers authoritative. The two most important qualities to strive for in your writing are still timeliness and timelessness.

AuthorRank is no more

What is a big deal in publishing online is WordPress and I’ve been using it since 2005. That is over 20 years of experience if you’re innumerate. This is another opportunity I did not take advantage of. I’m beginning to think I should never have done an MBA or at least never have left IT. Now I’ve managed to pass all three CFA® exams but that too has not led to fame and fortune.

Brevity may be the soul of wit but the trend in blogging is longer posts that can not be succinctly summarized and tweeted. Especially now that AI has arrived, people no longer read, they get their personal agent to summarize. The blogosphere has been scraped and largely left for dead, however these longer posts can become evergreen or cornerstones of your overall search engine optimization strategy, or so I’m told. I’ve dutifully edited hundreds of posts and repeatedly linked to those I thought were high Quality but my writing is too unfocussed.

Whether Google Labs?

In 2024 and 2025 I continue to revise my taxonomy and edit old blog posts to improve the Quality. I’m not sure if Google Labs is even a thing, I know I now have Google Site Kit telling me what it and others think are my most popular or highest quality posts. I have my own opinion of my greatest hits. As this year comes to a close I’m trying to leverage this blog more, write about the professional development I’m doing, but I just don’t have time anymore for the latest search engine optimization trends. If you have thoughts on timeless or trendy Google search result improving techniques you can leave them below.

This entry was originaly posted on December 28th, 2013, it was last edited on August 30th, 2025 and is filed under: Technology and tagged: Google, Quality, Top 10.