Author Image Showing up in Local Results. How did they do that??

[Jason]

Hi All,

I noticed what appears to be an Author photo showing up in a local business search. There isnt any content associated to it. How do I do that?

 

[Phil Rozek]

Here's my favorite walkthrough guide for how to do that:

How to Implement rel=

I haven't checked that business, so I don't know whether they're using authorship markup legitimately, but IF they have no blog, or no articles, or in general no purely informational content on their site, you can report them to Google here: Report spam in rich snippets - Webmaster Tools Help

 

[Mike Pedersen]

I have set this up exactly as they say months and months ago with no authorship (image) ever showing up.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Thanks Phil!

Here's a collection of the most extensive and complete recent info on the subject too.
http://localsearchforum.catalystema...cal-4-local-author-rank-publisher-author.html

 

[Jason]

Thanks. They do have a blog they use. I have just never seen the Author show up on a local search before. That's a huge advantage. No wonder they are ranking #1. Guess I will be doing the same.

 

[David Deering]

Jason, the homepage for that site has two rel=author tags in it, but they've been placed in the craziest place I've ever seen--they're in the sliders. The anchor text is "Google+", but you can't even see that text in the sliders. So that's pretty crazy. But that's why her image and Google+ profile is showing up in the serps.

I actually had my image showing up in Google serps for my company, but not on purpose. I had originally linked my Google+ social icon in the footer to my personal Google+ profile. Personally, I didn't like that my image was showing up next to the main page listings, especially because it cut off part of the meta description tag. But I wasn't even using a rel=author tag, just a link to my personal profile with the icon. So if a page has a rel=author tag on it anywhere, it appears that Google will link that page to a person's Google+ personal page and show their image in the serps for that page.

 

[Nick.SEOSpark]

yeah, I'm personally really excited that the "authorship" is being showed next to the Local results. They certainly need something to increase Click through rate as there is no meta descriptions to do that (unlike organic).

I recommend you go and read these 2 posts (in December) from Mike Blumenthals blog:

What Makes for a Good Author Photo in the Local Results? (Part 1) | Understanding Google Places & Local Search

What Makes for a Good Author Photo in the Local Results? (Part 2) | Understanding Google Places & Local Search


In terms of time to "active", I've found that when I make the "rel=author" change, it can be about 2 weeks until it goes into effect.

With implementing "authorship" (if you don't have a blog/author pages), I've included some direction (that is currently supported by Google) on this thread:

http://localsearchforum.catalystema...s-othar-hansson-how-establish-authorship.html

 

[Mike Pedersen]

Like I said, I have done everything correctly, and have never had the authorship show up for any of my sites

One of my own main sites is ranked for thousands of long-tail globally and have never had the authorship show up, and I did that one a long time ago, right when google announced it.

Mike

 

[Nick.SEOSpark]

Mike: Have you tried using the Google Rich Snippet Testing tool?

Google Structured Data Testing Tool

If so, are you getting the confirmation that it's verified etc?

 

[Mike Pedersen]

Nick,

I just used that tool and it showed the image and the snippet adn confirmed everything.

I went to google in the SERPs and it did not show.

Hmmm???

Mike: Have you tried using the Google Rich Snippet Testing tool?

Google Structured Data Testing Tool

If so, are you getting the confirmation that it's verified etc?

 

[Nick.SEOSpark]

Nick,

I just used that tool and it showed the image and the snippet adn confirmed everything.

I went to google in the SERPs and it did not show.

Hmmm???

Hmm indeed. I'm not too sure what the problem may be.

One thing I would say though is:

- Try doing the search on a few different formats (so, search from others browsers, your phone etc) and see if it ever turns up. This worked for myself, as it wasn't showing whilst I was signed into Google account for some reason.

- And yes, like I said above, give it a lead time of 2-3 weeks to show (after confirmed in Testing Tool)

- Try doing a branded search (website name) to see if it appears for that. I've found that it appears for some keywords and not others.

Hope that helps. If anyone else has any ideas on the situation, chime in.

 

[Mike Pedersen]

Nope. Nothing.

Even on the branded search.

This has been an authority site for years, so have no clue why they are not showing it.

Gotta love google eh? Not!

Hmm indeed. I'm not too sure what the problem may be.

One thing I would say though is:

- Try doing the search on a few different formats (so, search from others browsers, your phone etc) and see if it ever turns up. This worked for myself, as it wasn't showing whilst I was signed into Google account for some reason.

- And yes, like I said above, give it a lead time of 2-3 weeks to show (after confirmed in Testing Tool)

- Try doing a branded search (website name) to see if it appears for that. I've found that it appears for some keywords and not others.

Hope that helps. If anyone else has any ideas on the situation, chime in.

 

[David Deering]

That's pretty strange, then. Mike, what's your site? Maybe some of us can look into it and try to see what's going on.

 

[Mike Pedersen]

Here's a link to that snippet to for one of my blog posts:
Google Structured Data Testing Tool

That's pretty strange, then. Mike, what's your site? Maybe some of us can look into it and try to see what's going on.

 

[Phil Rozek]

@Mike

Where did you stick the link to your Google+ page? I believe that needs to be in there, but I can't find it in your code. Maybe I'm missing something, but my guess is that URL to your plus page is what's missing.

If you go to my site and "view source," you'll see how my authorship markup looks (which works).

Even if it's implemented 100% correctly, sometimes your pic just won't show up, for reasons nobody understands (or can do anything about).

I think I posted this link somewhere else, but here's my favorite walkthrough on how to implement authorship:

How to Implement rel=

 

[David Deering]

Yeah, I didn't see the rel=author tag on your site either, Mike, unless I missed it. But in the event that it's not on there, the process basically involves linking your Google+ profile to your site and your site to your Google+ profile. So on your Google+ profile, you list the site that you're a contributor on and verify it, as you did, and then you add a rel=author tag on the pages of your site. It can be added to the HTML code if you're familiar with messing with it, or since you have WordPress, you can add it using the WordPress SEO by Yoast plugin. Or instead of linking your name ("Written by Mike P...") to another page of the site, link your name to your Google+ profile with a rel=author tag. Either way, you have several options. Hope that helps.

 

[Mike Pedersen]

As stated before in here, I'm dumbfounded with G+.

Can't get authorship to work at all, and just now typed in my name and "google plus".

The result came up, but with no picture. UGH!

Don't know what else to say, but I'm absolutely flabbergasted with them to say the least.

Mike