A couple weeks ago I was Googling something and noticed that a handful of search results on each page had a small profile image next to the listing. See above.
You’ll notice that there’s an image of me, along with the number of people who have circled me and a link to more content by me.
When I saw the images on that search page, I thought “wow, that’s pretty cool and I bet it helps increase click through rates.”
So I did what all intelligent people do when they don’t know how to do something.
Phone a friend.
In my case, I emailed a buddy who happens to be one of the top SEO people on the planet and asked him how it’s done.
Who I asked isn’t important, but how it’s done is… so here are the steps I took to get Google to display my profile in their search results.
1. Create an Author Page
This was an easy step for me, because like most people, I have an About page. Typically most bloggers have a page on their site where they include biographical information and things of interest to them.
In addition to that, a lot of folks have links to their social media profiles so they can increase their follower count on those platforms.
On my About page, I included a link to my Google+ account, which has a rel=”me” attribute on it. Here’s the code that I used for this link:
<a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/109450535379570250650/posts" rel="me">Google+</a>2. Setup a Google+ Profile
In case you don’t have one, you’ll need to create a Google+ profile. Once you have an account setup, you’ll need to edit your profile to add a link in the Contributor to section that points to your Author page.
Here’s a screenshot which shows the contributor to settings:
I have a link called My Blog and that points to my About page where my Google+ link (with rel=”me” attribute) exists.
3. Link to your Author Page
The Author (or About in my case) page needs to be linked to with a rel=”author” attribute added to it, in order to “prove authority” of the content on the site.
Since I used WordPress custom menus to build my site navigation, adding this attribute was quite simple.
Go to your custom menus screen, and make sure the Link Relationship (XFN) option is checked in the Screen Options section. (There’s a gray tab labeled “Screen Options” in the upper hand corner of your screen when you’re in the dashboard.)
When you add/edit a custom menu link, there’s a Link Relationship (XFN) input box where you’ll need to place author in.
Here’s how the custom menu link for my About page looks:
4. Be Patient and Confirm You’ve Done it Correctly
It will usually take a few days (sometimes longer depending on the site) for Google to re-index your Author page, as well as hit your Google+ profile page.
After some time has passed, you can use the Rich Snippets Testing Tool from Google to see if things are working properly.
If they are setup properly, you’ll be able to submit a sample page to the tool, and you’ll see a report that looks something like this:
Alternative Methods
It’s worth noting that the steps mentioned above were the ones that I took to get Google to display my profile in search results.
Of course there might be other methods that can get this to occur, so this is not the only way to get this to happen. Do some Googling on this if you want.
In fact, just the other day Joost de Valk published a blog post that appears to be a much simpler way to accomplish this.
Either way will work, so choose the method you feel most comfortable using.
A simple method is to use the plugin at http://www.authorsure.com.
Yep, that’ll work too – but as I mentioned in the post, I wanted to tell the story of how I did it.
I like your way of doing it better, as I only have to use my current accounts and not sign up for yet another site just to use their plugin. Thanks!
Just to say – you don’t have to sign up to our site just to use our plugin. It is only if you want the tutorials that we ask you to do that.
Could you please show how you did it. Thanks
Dear Herman. I used the way you suggest 2 months ago, but i have problem with Missing Warning :required field “updated”.
Warning : Missing required hCard “author”. can you tell me how to fix it ?
your article is great, but i don’t want to show about me page in index of website. Do you have any convernier Brian ! thank you so much
Hi Herman
Thanks for mentioning our plugin. It works really well with Genesis sites.
Liz
Hey Brian, thanks for mentioning my post! I just included that method in my WP SEO plugin, which got a major update today.
You betcha. I specifically pointed out that this post was how I did it for me, just so that you didn’t yell at me.
In other words, I wanted folks know how I did it, but also point out the easier way as well.
Joost, so I understand correctly, your plugin will now do this instead, so I don’t need to hardcode it?
Yes it does, and it’s cool!
Hi Guys & Gals; Been trying to figure this all out the past few days, did upload the current new version WP SEO plugin – pic is showing in google snippets but I’m getting all these warning errors (see at end) & for the life of me cannot figure out what to do about them, my theme doesn’t have an author.php page & don’t know enough about coding to make my own any help or direction to yet another plugin to create author page (or do I really need one) is gratefully appreciated
Peace & Blessings
Linda Lou
hfeed
hentry
Warning: At least one field must be set for HatomEntry.
Warning: Missing required field “entry-title”.
Warning: Missing required field “updated”.
Warning: Missing required hCard “author”.
hentry
Warning: At least one field must be set for HatomEntry.
Warning: Missing required field “entry-title”.
Warning: Missing required field “updated”.
Warning: Missing required hCard “author”.
hentry
Warning: At least one field must be set for HatomEntry.
Warning: Missing required field “entry-title”.
Warning: Missing required field “updated”.
Warning: Missing required hCard “author”.
hentry
Warning: At least one field must be set for HatomEntry.
Warning: Missing required field “entry-title”.
Warning: Missing required field “updated”.
Warning: Missing required hCard “author”.
hentry
Warning: At least one field must be set for HatomEntry.
Warning: Missing required field “entry-title”.
Warning: Missing required field “updated”.
Warning: Missing required hCard “author”.
If you are seeing those results on your “pages”, then it is something you can disregard. The meta tags they are referencing don’t exist in pages, while they do with posts.
Thanks! I am getting the same set of errors.
I’ve followed all your instructions, but I’m getting “Warning: Missing required field “updated”.” on all my posts when I run them through the Google Webmaster Structured Data Testing Tool.
From what I know the rich snippets won’t work for my blog posts unless this warning disappears. What could be causing it?
I’m using the Genesis / Balance theme.
The biggest mistake I see folks make – is that they don’t have their contacts in their Google Account, thus, Google doesn’t know who they are connected to socially.
Yeah, it’s amazing all of the things that need to be in place for Google to get it straight. The sad thing is that a majority of bloggers out there have no idea all of this stuff is eve going on behind the scenes.
Thanks for the great tutorial Brian!
It nice to see exactly how the whole process works rather than just the fastest route to make it happen. I’ve always found if you understand the process it’s easier to diagnose when something doesn’t work as you expect it should
That’s exactly why I wrote this out, even though there are shorter methods. Like me, you seem to be hands on and like to jump through the hoops or do things manually.
Definitely, I think it’s the best way. It reminds me of being at School – in Maths we were told to always show your workings-out so even if you got the wrong answer you could go back and see where it went wrong
I’ve found applying that thinking to any form of technology helps a lot.
Hey Brian,
Thanks for the tutorial! I had read a separate post somewhere about how to get this done but it was much more complicated than your method. I’ve gone ahead and done it, hopefully in a few days my results will start showing up like that!
I think it definitely increases clickthrough rates, I know that the pictures have caught my eye on numerous occasions, causing me to click onto pages I may not have otherwise.
Thanks!
Awesome stuff, Brock. Please report back once you know if this worked or not!
Great post – I just followed your instructions and it seems like it all worked smoothly!
Great to hear – will be interesting now to see how long it takes to show your profile image in your search results.
Thanks Brian,
I’ve tried several times to get this right and not had much luck. It’s nice to see how to get it right on Genesis specifically for once.
You betcha. Let me know if it works out for you, as I’d like to have the process validated by some folks!
Hello Brian thanks so much for sharing this tip.
Hi Brian,
Great post! Just saw a similar post by Yoast as he updated his SEO plugin. Thanks for the great work on Genesis.
I’ll try and report back how long it took. Thank you very much!
Done. Just added it to three of my websites. Let’s see if it works…
(Crosses fingers.) Report back when it does.
Ugh, I so wish I had your tutorial when I set this up a few weeks back. You make it seem so much simpler!
I followed some slightly different steps, but (think) I got the same end result.
Thank you for sharing
Sorry about that Natalie.
If you find that your original method didn’t work, then follow these steps!
I am brand new to you and your posts, and the very first one I read is truly useful and of great! value. I am sold… on you
Oh, and noticed you may also be in the Dallas area ?… that would be another ++. Awesome
TY
Well written article Brian. When I implemented this months ago for my authors it took around 24-48 hours to show up in the SERP.
Keep in mind, if your pages are not crawled frequently, there could be a delay in results.
Also, make sure to use a good face oriented photo. Google might not rush to include you if you have poor photo. Take notice of what is ranking. You don’t see many pets, landscape, logos in the SERPs.
Having a Google Plus profile appears in search results is quite amazing though. Especially if you have good and descent posts on your profile. It can be used for business somehow but it’s not very useful compare to other social media sites. But it’s good to have a profile that appears in Google search results though. It’s cool.
Hello,
Sorry , I tell in English faintly .
I made all , I checked already long ago and to this the time the lack of small picture in results .
I checked ” Rich Snippets Testing Tool ” and it is OK .
What about this think ?
Hi Brian!
Thanks for sharing great and simple tutorial and always find useful tips from you.
Just did this. Let’s see if it works!
Awesome, let me know if it does!
This is great info – thanks! Do you also know how to make this work for a Google+ Business Page since they don’t have a “contributor to” section?
Hmm… Tried to add the Yet Another Related Post Plugin and works for posts for not for PAGEs.
The developer says: “YARPP does not display automatically on pages. You have to add the code related_posts() or related_pages() in your theme’s single page display files (probably called page.php). ”
Now how do I do this on Genesis Theme? There is no page.php that I can see when I go to the Editor and look at the Child Theme pages.
Hello Brian,
Should I be concerned about getting these warning from the rich snippet testing tool:
Warning: Missing required field “entry-title”.
Warning: Missing required field “updated”.
Warning: Missing required hCard “author”.
??
No, I wouldn’t worry about that – sounds like you might be running a “page” through – no?
Ahhhh I see, and yes these was from pages! At first all this Google stuff was a mystery to me, but after following your instructions, I’m actually doing it. Thank you so much for all your help and guidance.
Hi Brian,
I’m getting the “updated” and “author” errors as well. They are for posts. Should I be worried?
No, I wouldn’t worry about that.
Thanks for the clear description. Just a question: are all you pages showing your profile photo or just some of them? Or is it just a question of time. Maybe a quarter of my pages seem to have the photo.
Thanks!
Sometimes it takes a while for them all to get indexed with the profile image.
Thank you Brian…
Yes, you were right. At first few pages had the photo, then a long pause of maybe a week. Soon after I asked you the question, almost half of my pages are showing. Today having a photo does increase the traffic, but I suspect very soon everyone will have a photo, real or not, don’t you think? Let’s enjoy while we are still alone on the page. Thank you again!
Re: Auto Post to Google Plus
Hi Brian… Love love love your site, and the tips. I have major blog envy.
Hey thanks for the great tip on google+, but I was noticing on your google+ page
click here to see the pic: http://screencast.com/t/cTorRGww2x
that your posts just “pop in there” . . .
Would you share how you did that?
Bless you … Your fan and sister in Christ…
Angela Chan
Jn3:3/eph 2:8,9
Hi Brian thanks for sharing the tips. Do I have to create an “About Me” or “Author” page? Isn’t there any alternative?
Yes, you do need to create a page like that.
Yes there is alternative (Thanks to Brian that I came to know about new feature in Joost’s plugin). You just need to install “WordPress SEO by Yoast”, it has alot and awesome SEO feature that will be implemented with one click.
After you’ve installed it, go to your profile and fill Google+ profile link, for example : https://plus.google.com/108509721854601807280/posts/
Now go straight to G+ and fill “Contributor to” as your website link where you are doing all this.
And this is it.. verify authorship markup here http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/richsnippets
Hope it helps.
@Brian : As for your information I’ve added authorship markup for our authors and results seems to appear instantly (Not actually!
). After implementing, I can see G+ profile pic & link within 2 days (Maybe, as soon Google crawled it).
Just to point out, you should add in post, that a head shot with clear face is appreciated.
In my case, any cartoon or bad picture will not show up.
And after all, thanks again Brian.
Thank you brian..
but if we don’t make an “About Me” page, could the photo appear in google search ?
because I see some blog without About Me Page , the photo is appear.
can u tell me why this happens??
Thanks for the tutorial, Brian. After much messing around, I finally got everything set up correctly. Google really make you jump through hoops, don’t they?
Always wanted to learn how to do this. I am a professional pianist and I find it important to have my name on the search engine whenever people need to keep in touch with me. I always asked them to follow me on facebook instead but that turned out to be not so much of a good idea…. Thanks man!
My site is quite new so will that effect how long it takes for my profile pic to show in the search results? Will it show it all? I’ve heard some say that there is no guarantee it will show at all.
I did it without using any plugin and it doesn’t require any ‘About’ page. I did this just adding this code “Join me on Google+” to my widget.
Thanks for your posts.
If I look up my name Linda Lou Starr I see my picture there next to my website link but if I type in google Breathe Possibility there is only an incon next to the link not my picture.
I have put the google plus name in my footer as rel=author & at the top of my pages rel=me + rel=author within the same google + link as instructions on the internet have led me to – I do not have an author page – I cannot figure out why results would show my picture after my domain name http://lindaloustarr.com & not after any of the subsequent pages?
Linda Lou
Hey Linda – so sorry, your comment got marked by spam. I do see your Google profile pick on that link. If it doesn’t show on some posts, give it some time. Once in a while it might take a few days or weeks to show up.
Thanks Brian. I was looking for this.
Cant get this work..
https://www.google.com.ph/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=Winzter+Blog
How long ago have you implemented this?
Thank you. yes i had exactly the same thoughts when looking at Google results, how can I get my face there.
Thanks for posting this, i think even I can follow this one.
Hi Brian,
I really was looking for a way to get my snapshot to show up in the search results. I read somewhere that it helps in improving the CTR of that website in the search results. Really thanks for showing how to do this step by step.
Regards,
Anirudh Bahadur
Thank you for your lovely tutorial Brian.
I wondered how to show my face today and ended up your post. Now I did those steps and waiting for google to traverse my blog.
Regards,
Sadullah Ceran
Thank you Brian for these such useful information. Just one clarification.
Is it really necessuary to have an Author page on my site for this to work? What if I linked my home page on my Google+ profile? Can Google tell the difference between my Home page and my About page?
My first website – SMF forum had no problems with this, authorship was verified immediately.
But the second blogger blog keeps showing that missing required field error.. something about dates?
wish i could fix this.
Thank you Brian. I have several websites so I am trying alternative methods on them. I really like yours, so I tried this with the ItsDifferent4Girls site About Page linked here and the BoomerTechTalk site with the About/LindaSherman page. This link seems to be a good resource explaining alternative methods: http://searchengineland.com/the-definitive-guide-to-google-authorship-markup-123218 I THINK you are using the “3-link Method On Sites Using Author Biography Pages”? with the rel=me link. step 3 here, connecting each content page to the page – that is covered by the XFN = author in the menu selection, right? Just in case I also made sure to fill out the user profile bio and put the rel=author link there.
Thanks Brian!
Late to the party as usual, but an effortless exercise. Just hope I don’t get all the errors others are getting. Fortunately, my Google+ account was already fully set up.
That’s good stuff, when we release Genesis 1.9 we won’t even have to follow this tutorial anymore as it’ll be built in.
Thanks for this awesome info Brian. I have just activated google+ authorship on my blog. But i have a ques, is it possible to show G+ Page instead of author profile on search results?
Hm, not quite sure what you’re asking here – can you explain?
Thanks Brian, that was very helpful… been trying to figure this out for a while
Hi – Any idea how long it takes before the photo is put next to your URL? I just added the link to the bottom of my home page and linked it to my google profile. Does it have to be on a specific page or is the general footer ok?
It can sometimes take up to a week or two, so be patient and see how things go.
thank you brian. now my profile has appeared on google. Is google profile appearance can be modified? Thanks brian, sorry my english not good
Hi Brian,
That’s really cool tips, not only That, even you can get more Exposure using Guest Post / Blogging using some Rich Snippet enabled blogs as well.
Great tip thanks. The Yoast link offer a lovely simple way to achieve this.
Thanks a lot sir, i have successfully add my photo to site. checked with structured data testing tool and i can see my photo there.
Thanks Brian..
I would like to try in my blog…
I hope this method can succesfully in my blog..
Hi Brian,
How do you get your social media “share” buttons to align so neatly, like you have done at the top of this page?
On my page they like a dogs dinner at http://www.anicon-design.com/
Paul
Are you using Jetpack? If so, I’d suggest selecting the non-official buttons, as they align nicely.
Brian,
your method seems not to work properly anymore: http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/richsnippets?url=www.briangardner.com&html=
Did Google change anything in this area? My profile stopped showing up in search results too…
Yes, it looks like that is the case. Here’s the updated way to include author information from Google.
The problem is that authorship of my sites was positively verified a couple of months ago using the method Google promotes (and it is still verified), and suddenly the author profile link stopped to appear in search results.
So I wonder if Google has changed its policy in this area.
thanks for your article.
does this work on wordpress.com sites (and those that have a mapped domain…like mine!)
It really depends on what theme you are using.
So far, I’ve tried to implement this on one of my wordpress.com blog which my blog name a subdomain of wordpress.com. When I preview the website in rich snippets testing tool upon implementing the Google Authorship, it appears and shows it is working. However, I still have to wait until when Google will show it in the actual search results. But, at least… I know it is working, at least in the snippets testing tool.
Btw, I implement it through a text widget in the sidebar. I put it along with my other social media icons. So, whichever page or post is viewed as long as that widget is present, the google authorship will appear.
Hope Google will show it in the search results, soon
And last but not the least… The latest version of Genesis theme makes it easy to implement Google Authorship.
Thanks for that feature, Brian…
Author picture finally showed up in search results today– about six months later! Better late than never…
Hi Brian,
Thanks for this post. I followed the steps you mentioned. It’s been 3 days, but still my G+ Pic is not showing for my posts.
How long is takes?
Avadhut
It can take a few weeks, hard to say — it’s all up to Google.
Hi Brian,
After 5 days, Google is showing my pic
Hi Brian,
Google Authorship is Manually Approved by Google right ? I just verified my profile with Email verification method. Still no mail from google! any idea how i can get this done ?
There are many ways at this point to get Google Authorship, check in a few days and it should be there for you.
Brian, I’m curious that since you added this functionality not only for adding character to your Google listing in the search results, but also for SEO to improve your click-through rate – did it help? If so, did it increase your circles on Google+ or have an impact on your traffic?
Really hard to tell if it worked per se, but I do have really good Google search traffic, so every little bit helps.
Brian:
WORKS LIKE A CHARM!!!!! Got a little worried b/c it took about two weeks but as we all know “google is google and they’ll do what they want when they want or when the algorithm allows:)”
I used it for http://www.angelakhomes.com and didn’t have to change anything from your example shown above – just had to be patient.
ADDITIONALLY – love your products (genesis/studiopress) and have used them on at least a dozen sites. I’m very appreciative of your work and offerings to the wordpress community! Keep up the good work!
Thanks so much Kris — really appreciate that!
Hey Brian, great tutorial. I have Genesis 1.9 and I see where it asks who you want to use for profile which I have myself ticked now. I also used your tutorial and followed all the steps. However my image is just still not showing up on search. How long does it take? My site is updated daily. I really want this to work. Your help is appreciated thanks!
Update: It works! Whoo hoo thanks Brian. Question though. You also have your picture showing on your individual posts. How did you do that and not just on the main blog url?
yes this is something i would like to know as well
I am really wondering what is happening here…I set up authorship and when I check the snippets code page it says verified and shows the picture. However, sometimes I see it in the search results and other times not? It seems totally random? Is this normal?
I don’t think there is a true science to to Google Authorship, just takes some time for each post/page to get indexed, and the profile pic to show up.
Thanks for your reply Brian..here’s the thing though..the pic was there all along..for everything and now it isn’t …the REALLY ironic thing is that I hadn’t set it up correctly when it was there…and because it kept coming and going I researched it, did it correctly and now its gone! rich snippets tool says a-ok. I am really wondering if the 2 Google + profiles are causing the confusion…or is that just off? Really would like it back as I rank for some great terms in Jamaica where I have my biz and the image really adds credibility
Hi Brian,
I have implemented your steps and author pic is now getting displayed against few posts. But am getting Warning: Missing required field “updated”. Can you please guide what needs to be done to remove this warning? Does this warning limit the author pic from getting displayed with remaining posts? I am using wordpress with catalyst theme.
Regards,
Vrishali
Hi Brian,
Thanks for you nice clear tutorials. Why did you switch from the color thumbnail to the b&w? The color one is recognizable enough.
Thanks, Ron
I am going through a black and white phase — but it does make sense, so I might consider switching back.
You’re a genius, no surprise. Thanks for the tip on this as well as all of your other blog posts to help us with the Genesis Theme. You rock!
I want my profile to show in search results hope this article will help me
Thanks Brian, will this work for Blogspot too?
Yes, it will.
Hi Brian,
Will Google Authorship work with a subdomain?
I have a client that has a main webpage, but wants the authorship to be on his blog which is created on wordpress.
I don’t see why it wouldn’t work.
Google authorship has worked very well. Don’t know that will it work in the blogspot but it is surely working in wordpress.
Brian
I didn’t put the code in my About Page per se. I added a custom text widget to a profile side bar . Then applied you rel=”me” attribute the link generated with the Google Profile Badge link generator https://developers.google.com/+/web/badge/ . I am hoping this will work. Other than that, I do like you subheadings widget which when I find, I will add next.
I’ve noticed a jump in my CTR in the search results since I implemented Authorship. Well worth taking the time to do it.
Outstanding Grayson, so awesome to hear!