UPDATE: Google have now removed profile pics and circles from search results. You can still add authorship using the steps below, but only your author name will appear.
Google started using ‘Authorship markup’ for content publishers in mid 2011, whereby content authors can have their Google+ profile pictures displayed in the Google Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) next to their content. I’ve been using authorship markup for the past year or so for my WordPress blog, enjoying seeing my cartoon style author profile picture appear next to each of my blog posts.
Here’s a screenshot of www.tomelliott.com in Google for one of my blog posts – position #1 😉 – showing my profile pic alongside title, description and Author info.
If I had more people in circles, the text ‘- in XX Google+ circles’ would appear next to my name. (If you want to add me to a circle, I usually add back!). Update: the text ‘in X Google+ Circles’ seems to appear when 20 or more people add you to their circles.
Getting you’re author profile pic to appear next to your blog posts in Google SERPs is straightforward and requires the following steps:
Create a Google+ page if you already haven’t done so and make sure your Google+ name is the same as your Author name used for blog posts.
If you have Author information on each blog post.
Most blogs have Authorship information on each blog post, such as ‘By Tom Elliott, Dec 2012’. If this is the case, you can link directly to your corresponding Google+ page using the ?rel=author parameter.
An example would be:
By <a title="Tom Elliott on Google +" href="https://plus.google.com/113434671014173399264/about?rel=author">Tom Elliott</a>, Dec 2012.
If you’re using WordPress, you’ll need to find and edit the corresponding code (usually in functions.php or single.php) that adds this link to the WordPress blog post. Alternatively, you can download a plugin that lets you control Author details for each post such as Author Box
Google blandify the web by removing profiles from search »
I don’t yet have an author page up on my blog/website, so I’ll link to my Google+ profile at the bottom of each of my blog posts. Our blog has multiple contriibutors.
So in my Google+ contributor section, is it okay to just link to my blog’s homepage (even though none of my posts may be showing on a given day) or do I have to link to each of my blog posts individually? (I’ve read this on other guides)
Thanks!
Tom,
Thanks. You are the first person to answer why my Google+ Circles are not showing up when people see my articles. So, if you were to follow the link (https://www.google.com/search?q=%22michael+cohan%22+and+evaluation+criteria&oq=%22michael+cohan%22+and+evaluation+criteria&aqs=chrome..69i57.856j0j8&sourceid=chrome&espvd=210&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8) you would see an article “By Michael Cohan” but no “14 Google+ Circles” after it. You can see that Paul Napoli’s “32 Google+ Circles” shows up. Also, presently your article shows your “44 Google+ Circles” at (https://www.google.com/search?q=creating+a+custom+jquery+twitter+feed&oq=creating+a+custom+jquery+twitter+feed&aqs=chrome..69i57j0.5825j0j7&sourceid=chrome&espvd=210&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8). Was there anything you did to change this or did it just automatically change over time as more people added you to their Google+ Circles? Incidentally, I have added you to my Google+ Circle so can you do the same?
Thanks,
Michael
Hi Tom,
You mentioned that cartoons or corporate logos won’t appear and that Google + scans these images using facial recognition. Will photoshop ‘stylized’ pictures work? These are recognizable pictures but have been stylized so they look a bit cartoonish. I’d like to hear your thoughts on this.
A nice post here.Tom, I have followed these instructions. It all works fine but it doesn’t show the number of circles I am in. So, people can not see my Google Plus account? Is there a limitation of reached circles or where I did wrong ? Any suggestion ?
Hi Tom, I’ve followed these instructions & all works fine BUT it does not show how many circles I am in so people can’t click and get to my G+ account?
What did I do wrong?