How to Get Your Picture to Appear in Google Search Results

Posted byDavid Taylor 2 Comments on How to Get Your Picture to Appear in Google Search Results

One of the things I love about the BusinessObjects Analytics community is the camaraderie and fun we enjoy as we help organizations improve through the use of Analytics.  Whenever I need an answer, I can quickly google search and between BOB, SCN, and my tweeps I can often find what I’m looking for.  During a recent search I came across this!

How cool was that?  Not only was this a post from a fellow BOBJ blogger, but there was his picture next to it!  Forget Mick Jagger, I want to be cool like Dallas!

Of course it’s also true that case studies have shown signs that these enhanced results dramatically improving click-through-rates of up to +150%, which in return can result in an influx of both visitors and page views.  You don’t have to be an analytics genius to understand the value of 150% more traffic!

There are four easy steps for setting up your blog so that your picture appears next to the Google results.

 

Step 1 – Create a Google+ Profile

I really didn’t want to do this.  I already have a Gravatar.  Isn’t that enough?  Nope.  (I tested it.)  You must use Google+.

  1. Add a photo to your Google+ Profile
  2. Modify your profile and add Contributor To and reference your own blog.

Step 2 – Add Authorship Markup Code

The next step is in the header of your page, you need to include the authorship markup code.  NOTE:  I was also able to get this working by placing is in the body of my page.

Insert the following link into the head section of your websites code:

<a rel="author" href="https://plus.google.com/116022480808836686834"/>

Replace the red number with your Google+ profile ID.  Google uses this number in combination with the Contributor To information listed in Step 1 to determine a positive match.

Some WordPress bloggers have also used the Yoast SEO plugin to quickly go in and modify their “Titles and Metas”.  It has a section where you can specify the Author metadata.

If you are interested in more details about setting this up I found this post particularly helpful:
http://webfor.com/how-to-implement-rel-author
http://www.daniellawseo.com/rel-author-wordpress/
http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1408986

Step 3 – Test A Few Blog Pages

Now you will want to test that it’s working and fortunately Google gives us a way to do that.  Use the rich snippet testing tool. After you type in any blog post URL,  Google will tell you if the authorship markup code is working. If it’s working, you’ll see something like this:

Step 4 – Check Your Blog Using Google Search

Patience is a virtue that carries a lot of wait.

From time to time go in and perform a Google search that will return results from your blog.  Your picture should show up within a few weeks.

«Good BI»

2 replies on “How to Get Your Picture to Appear in Google Search Results”

  1. Neat trick. I confirmed that you are correct – Google is not using my Gravitar photo. I use a unique photo for Google+ which is what appears in Google search results. But I didn’t do the steps you outlined. Perhaps my Google+ photo magically appeared because I already use Google Adsense and/or Google Analytics?

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