So you wanna know how to get your photo next to your page in Google’s search results? Google is leveraging the tags rel=”author” and rel=”me” to establish the link between post (content) and its author. They refer to this as your authorship information in the Google Web Search or Google New results.

Currently this is in Beta and they are piloting this project, BUT, this is also a good time to get yourself in gear and prepare your website and content for the rel=”author” or rel=”me” if you want your author photo and information to show up in the Google results.

Mine is not actually working yet. I added the link to my google+ profile in the author bio at the end of each post, but here is what it will look like for me, based on the rich snippets tool:

Here are a few live search results [steven levy google plus], [chlorine based life], [madonna], [google authorship], [david pogue nytimes], [pete wentz], [javascript inheritance].

I’m not getting into the details (I’ll give you some links below) but it works like this. Add your Google+ profile, link to it from your website, then add a link from your article to your profile, test it to make sure it works. You can watch the 2 videos below and visting the links I have for specifics.

1) Setup your Google+ profile with a good headshot and bio.

2) Add authorship links to your website or blog content with either an email address or a link to your google profile.
Initially Google was requesting a specific link that ended in a +, it looks like they’ve modified the requirements.

3) Test your setup with the rich snippets tool.

4) Tell Google its setup by filling out their form.

Overview of Authorship Markup

Link Specifics Using URL Parameters

Here are a few links that you’ll find helpful when preparing associating authorship with your content in order to show up in the Google search results.

• rel=”author” and rel=”me” in WP and other platforms (this is what I used for my profile, because I had WordPress stripping the rel=”author” tag from my code)
• Implementing Google Authorship Markup On Your Website very thorough overview
• How To Get Your Author Information & Picture In Google Search
• Google+
• Author Information in Results Article by Google Webmaster Tools
• Rich snippets tool

Next Steps:

• Add me to your Google+ circles
• If you know of other resources, please make sure to leave them in the comment below so I can add them.
• Check out my post on how to visually add your Google+ profile to your website
• Share this article!

Author Scott Barnes  (62 Posts)

The man behind SiteBuilder.ws His goal is to help you build, manage and promote your online business by leveraging Social Media and the proper web design. He provides training, consulting, resources and coaching to help your business reach its full online potential! Be sure to connect with Scott Barnes+