Why Your Google+ Authorship Isn’t Showing: New Changes
Frustration is when your Google+ profile picture is no longer appearing in SERPs because Google messed with the requirements of Google+ Authorship, yet again.
According to these instructions from Google, you have to jump through the following hoops:
- Have a decent profile picture of your entire face. There are articles out there talking about how if even the tip of your head isn’t appearing in the photo, the entire authorship won’t trigger. So, make sure your entire ugly mug is there from top to bottom. Maybe show some neck, too.
- Visit the Edit section of your Google+ profile. Make sure your profile is set to be visible to “Public.”
- Here’s a tricky one. You have to be a contributor to whatever domain name is featured in your address. So, if your Google+ profile is bound to the email address “myname@bluewidgets.com” and you own “bluewidgets.com,” make sure you are set as a “contributor” to your the domain name “bluewidgets.com” (this is set in the “Settings » Links” section). Also, this “contributor to” record must be set to be visible to “Public.”
- Every article that you want your Google+ picture to be seen next to in SERPs must include a “by” line somewhere on it that simply says “by Firstname Lastname,” and your first & last name must appear exactly as it does on your Google+ profile (this is a new change!)
- Google requires that you add a markup link to your Google+ profile on these pages, as well. The link is simply one that points to your profile with a “?rel=author” directly after the link. So, it would look like this: “https://plus.google.com/u/0/1234567890?rel=author”. Google doesn’t really say where you’re supposed to put this hyperlink, but most people just hyperlink their full name as seen in step #4 above.
- Lastly, if any page is marked as “NOINDEX,” it will never trigger.
If you’ve lost your Google+ Authorship in SERPs, it’s probably because you didn’t perform one of these tasks. It’s not your fault, because #4 on the list is a brand new one, and it probably broke tons of authorship results when it was made mandatory.
So, go through all these steps, wait it out a little, and your authorship should be back.












