Best Hoax Award goes to ..."Author Rank Calculator".

Selected answers from the Dumb SEO Questions Facebook & G+ community.

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  Jim Munro: Adding for discussion during this Thursday night's Dumb SEO Questions Hangout on Air #60
  
  I realise this does not fit our rules for posting but I think this is an important  ;topic that should be discussed.
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  Dumb SEO Questions: Best Hoax Award goes to ..."Author Rank Calculator". :)
  
  Winner: +Terry Simmonds ;Runner up: Virante Marketing.
  
  This was not easy. It's hard to fairly assess the worthlessness of something that conjures up a value for something that doesn't exist with parameters of unknown weight.
  
  Both artifices provided by the candidates use a webpage to accept a Google+ profile and both return a number that means absolutely nothing so it was not possible to differentiate on the metrics.
  
  While it was conceded that Virante Marketing had obviously put more effort into their hocus pocus, it finally came down to a choice between misleading people for fun and amusement or misleading people for profit. I wanted to give Virante Marketing bonus points for a widget that includes a linkdrop but it was felt that bad behaviour should not be rewarded, however low. We were there to judge the brazenness of the hoax, not cheap tricks.
  
  The winning site can be found at: ;http://www.sim64.co.uk/checker/
  
  Warning regarding so-called "Author Rank Calculators".
  
  "Author Rank" is not a Google term and no way does "Author Rank" represent anything that Google does or necessarily will do.
  
  
  #authorrank  ;
  Photo Credit: FaceBook.com
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  David Kutcher: I'm not sure who would get more riled up by this post, +Al Remetch or +Mark Traphagen
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  Jim Munro: We'd all love to have you join us, +David Kutcher ;:)
  
  I think it would be healthy to discuss this issue deeply and look under every rock. ;
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  David Kutcher: See me where? Btw, Virante's calculator states it doesn't measure Author Rank pretty clearly. So you had quite a bit of misrepresentation there.
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  Jim Munro: It's the heading of this post. You are welcome to join our discussion, whatever your viewpoint might be.
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  David Kutcher: Virante AuthorRank is not Google AuthorRank. It is our own metric built to assess the relative search ranking strength of content produced by an individual author that is linked from that author's Google+ profile using Google Authorship.
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  Jim Munro: Oh, I imagine that there might have been some feverish cleaning up and clarifications published, David, but sometimes we miss the basics when we do things in a hurry. :)
  
  The site's homepage still displays this title: "Author Rank | A central place to learn everything about Google's Author Rank"
  
  The title is misleading and deceptive. There is no such thing as "Google's Author Rank"
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  Sasch Mayer: Why Jim? Controversy? I cannot believe it...
  
  It's bloody Thanksgivukkah this week over here, but I might just be tempted out of my cage for this one... despite being outnumbered about the whole forum-thang.
  
  I really do like your marketing approach. ;-)
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  Jim Munro: Aaah, mate. :)
  
  We'd never dredge up old posts and there's nothing new to complain about this week so you won't be outnumbered on that front. Your invitation is in the mail. :)
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  Sasch Mayer: What time are you going live? It's much easier when I'm in Cyprus. I have no bloody idea how it translates to Central Time.
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  Jim Munro: here's a world time link, Sasch. We chat in the Green Room for about an hour before the public broadcast.
  
  http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?iso=20131128T22&p1=240&ah=4
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  Sasch Mayer: 5AM?!
  
  'ck!!
  
  Still... This is a really contentious topic I have an opinion on, so it could be fun.
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  Jim Munro: We have a runlist that we can adjust to suit. I cannot schedule it too late because +Micah Fisher-Kirshner ;has to leave about  ;midway through to drive to work but would 7am suit you better? That would be about 60 minutes into the public broadcast.
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  Sasch Mayer: I'm driving back from Houston on Wednesday afternoon/evening, and I might get back into Fredericksburg late. If that's the case, 5AM ain't gonna work. If I get back at a sensible hour, it will.
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  Micah Fisher-Kirshner: This Thursday I may be able to stay on later than normal since I'm on call for thanksgiving in the morning. :-)
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  Micah Fisher-Kirshner: Kinda make up for missing last week that way, heh
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  Jim Munro: Oh, nice. Someone reported the image and it's under review. It's a well-known hoax picture of a female elbow. You can view it and read the story here if you have not seen it before.
  
  https://www.google.com/search?num=100&newwindow=1&q=facebook+elbows&tbm=isch&tbs=simg:CAQSZRpjCxCo1NgEGgIIPQwLELCMpwgaPAo6CAESFKsErgemBOYD5wXiBOUDgQXMA6UDGiDSukhaq5P0lvI4ifmYZLiEqCQUugrIhMXpGZlYibiQwgwLEI6u_1ggaCgoICAESBDhe4wEM&sa=X&ei=_VuUUt2OMJGNkgWh8oHoDw&ved=0CCcQwg4oAA&biw=1730&bih=909&dpr=0.75
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  Jim Munro: Hmm - it looks like it passed the review, as it should have. :)
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  Mark Traphagen: The Virante office is becoming huge +Jim Munro fans. It's fun to be trolled so creatively and relentlessly. ;-)
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  Jim Munro: We wish Virante all the very best, Mark.
  
  I sincerely hope you do well, as long as you don't have to con people to get to where you want to be.
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  Mark Traphagen: Thanks +Jim Munro. I assure you that we have no intention of conning anyone. BTW, the fact that our title tag says "about Google Author Rank" was a good catch on your part. That was put in a year ago when we bought the domain and had very different plans for it. As soon as I get to the office I will change that.
  
  Our intention with authorrank.org is to broaden the discussion about "author rank" beyond the narrow definition that some have applied to it (a semi-mythical Google algorithm incorporation that they may or may not ever actually use). We believe the concept of an "author rank" as in author's gaining and making use of real authority online is a valid concept, and has usefulness far beyond the Google term (which isn't even a term Google themselves have ever used!).
  
  Our tool is actually a first attempt at broadening the topic.We're not even attempting to measure the factors stated in the Google Agent Rank patents. Instead, we're trying to provide a metric that says, "this is the relative aggregate search ranking power of the content connected to a given author as per industry-respected metrics such as those from Moz."
  
  In the coming months, you'll see content on authorrank.org from a variety of respected writers on anything and everything related to how content creators get, build, maintain, and use authority and influence online.
  
  Despite our bit of pushing and shoving these past couple of days, I truly do enjoy your wit and what I believe is a sincere desire to "keep it real." In truth, you have helped us already, pushing us to better define ourselves and clear up unintentional misunderstandings. So thanks!
• 
  Jim Munro: You are welcome, Mark.
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  Mark Traphagen: That title tag is fixed now. Working on an FAQ to cover many of the questions that are coming up about the tool. All feedback (even from lovable curmudgeons) still appreciated!
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  Jim Munro: OK. Well, if you are really interested in feedback then I reckon if you did a search/replace and swapped out "yet" with a blank space you might address most concerns, Mark. :)
  
  I can't remember a specific example but things like "There is no such thing as Google Author Rank , yet". might make people think it is only a matter of time.