Having just launched Bay Area Webs I face some upcoming challenges against the existing competition. As such I have to take extra steps to be on top, one such step is verifying my Google profile as the author of this website and getting my profile photo showing below. The background benefits of this are not fully explored, but the immediate benefit is that a photo serves as a call to action - especially when competing websites are lacking it.
Let’s get on with it.
How do you get a rel author picture? It is a simple process that took under two days to show results in the case of Bay Area Webs. This is what was done:
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Started off with a verified Google+ name on my profile - something Google did without my intervention. There is no indication that it is a required prerequisite.
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Added a profile photo in which my face is clearly visible.
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Contrary to Google’s guidelines on the subject, I did not make a visible link. Instead I used the Genesis Framework’s built-in SEO features to output the following above the closing
</head>section:
<link href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/106565730495372923305" rel="author">- I added the website
legitwebs.comto the Contributor To section of my G+ profile (to get there: Edit Profile > contributor to > add custom link).
And that’s all it took - now my website stands out against the blandness of my competition.