A report from Google's Webmaster Central Blog detailed a new Author Stats feature, which webmasters can use to inform decisions on which content writers drive marketing results.

Google software engineer Javier Tordable reported on Wednesday that Webmaster Tools now includes the ability to track statistics based on each author creating content for a website. On the Webmaster Central Blog, Tordable said that the move has been in the works for some time since content writers and marketers requested this capability.

The update is one of many recently developed features Google has added for authors that might help businesses enhance their content marketing efforts. Google now allows users to the see the author of an article and +1 these writers and their content from Google News SERPs. With the added ability to measure site content pages’ success by author, Google will provide Webmaster Tools users to make informed decisions based on which writers are producing the most effective articles in terms of page views for their sites.

The feature is currently available in the Labs section as Google looks to make improvements before fully rolling it out.

As more businesses turn to content marketing, the ability to gauge the popularity of certain content writers (or types of content depending on which writers produce what) and those developing extensive readership and driving quality traffic to a website.

With author tools, marketers can also – get a better understanding of the trust certain writers have established with their audiences, and becoming a reliable site is increasingly important for search engine optimization. Brafton recently reported that Google distinguished engineer Matt Cutts named trust as a critical component of a website’s SEO success.

Joe Meloni is Brafton's former Executive News and Content Writer. He studied journalism at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and has written for a number of print and web-based publications.