I make no claims to true expertise in SEO, but because it’s key to findability for great content, I try to keep an eye on what the Searchies are talking about. This post in the Social Media Insider blog really caught my attention. It’s about a new piece of metadata you can add to content, called the rel=author tag.
Essentially what it means is that the creator of the content can get credit for creating it. When someone googles a content creator’s name, any stories, images, info graphics–whatever they’ve uploaded to the web–they’ve tagged with the rel=author metadata will show up in the results. No matter where those pieces of content were posted. It’s essentially an opportunity for creators to make their google results their online portfolios!
As the blog notes, that new way of categorizing content can be big for websites that want to enhance their search results. But what I see as most interesting here is the opportunity for great creators to sign their own work, to create a meaningful byline for the web.
It means if you are a person who makes great stuff, google can help you prove it.
Jen Loves Content 
Soon I will be able to obsess not only about my Klout score but also my AuthorRank…
The notion of Google-as-portfolio is fascinating. And of course, it’s portable. The work an author does is forever that author’s work.
I also realized the other day that this probably helps google rank “legit” authors over content farms–even more fantastic stuff for content creators.