My buddy Logan Thompson recently showed me a pretty cool trick that will place your image next to your site within Google’s search results. Considering there aren’t really any other images in the Google search results, it’s easy to see how this could help increase your search traffic. It’s very easy to setup and only takes a few minutes. It does take awhile for Google to actually add it to their results (Logan said it took 5-6 months for his to show), but I still suggest you do it for your sites. All that is required is a Google Plus account. Speaking of which, you should add me to one of your Circles!
As long as you have a Google Plus account you can setup your site so that your image will be included in the Google search results in just 2 easy steps.
Add Your Website to your Google Plus Account
You have to have a link to your website on your Google Plus account and a link to your Google Plus account on your website. First, head over to your Google Plus profile page (http://profiles.google.com/me/plusones). Once you are there, click Edit Profile.
The reason you need to edit your profile is so you can show the +1s’s tab on your profile.
Check the Show this tab on your profile box if it is not already checked and click Save. This makes the pages you +1 public on your profile. Now, click the About button to edit your About page. Click Contributor to and add your website. Once you have clicked Done Editing you’re all set with changes to your Google Plus account.
Add Your Google Plus Link to your Website
There are a few ways you can add your Google Plus link to your website. You can either add it as a simple link or you can use the Google Plus Badge plugin. I used the Google Plus Badge and the link.
It’s really easy to create. They give you the code you can place on your site or blog and all you have to do is copy and paste it. Plus, by using the badge your visitors can add you to their circles. The other option is to just add a link to your website that goes to your Google Plus Profile and uses the rel=”author” tag.
Copy and paste this link:
1 |
<a href="https://plus.google.com/YOUR GOOGLE PLUS ID?rel=author">Your Name</a> |
Of course, with the link above you will need to change YOUR GOOGLE PLUS ID with your Google+ ID. By adding this link to your site Google will know that you are the author for your website and add your image next to your results.
Make sure it works
It seems simple enough, but Google has a nice tool that allows you to check to make sure that you have done everything properly. The tool is called Rich Snippets Testing Tool. Head over to that page, enter your website URL, and click Preview. If everything is setup properly you’ll see it’s verified:
With the Badge option make sure you are still using the author rel=”author” tag. As long as you are fully verified and approved then your image could start showing up in Google Results within a few months.
Considering that it may be easy to get confused with all that, how about a quick screencast to explain it?
Of course, let me know if you have any questions! :)
“Logan said it took 5-6 months for his to show” is the truth here.
I’ve set this up a few months ago for my site, and still nothing. Not that I blog a lot, so whatever.
I am starting to see some Author Stats in my Google Webmaster Tools, but they are for my stupid G+ profile. lol.. Perhaps you should add that you can basically check on this “feature” and see some stats for it from within GWT.
Thanks for sharing this Google plus tricks, hope it will my explosure.
great tip !! i used it for my blog http://www.kjrocker.com/ and it works perfectly fine , Will wait for Google to index and include my pic :)
Thank you too. I am waiting now to see when my nice high-heels will appear near http://www.partysutra.com/ LOL
I’m having trouble with this. I’ve tried several times to add the Facebook badge to my wordpress blog. But when I click on the badge it takes me to an error message on Facebook rather than the fan page. Any suggestions?
This is not for Facebook. It is for Google Plus.
hello!! How can i get the Verified publisher?!
Do everything mentioned above :)
i`ve done all the thing above but i only get authorship verified
Andre,
you have to open DOMAIN e-mail address. Like info@YOURDOMAIN.COM
Google will send an email to that address with a link to click. On that way you verify that you are the real owner of THAT domain. Make sense?
How Google can know for sure YOURDOMAIN.COM is really yours, unless you are able to create an email address on that domain ( cPanel ).
Thank you so much for this great info. I have done everything as explained, and waiting for my pic to appear :)
What if I’m managing a client’s page (under my personal G+, via G+ pages) and I want to make their logo appear next to their URL?
It might be possible. You would probably need to setup a G+ account for your client.
Dear Luke
i am not seeing proper result on google snippet my website name is http://www.steelcraftutensils.com please please suggest me what i missed in this process.
Thanks and Regards
Susil
It’ll usually take awhile before it updates.
will u plz tell me how much time it will take.
followed your steps for badge and got this…
Warning: Missing required field “updated”.
Warning: Missing required hCard “author”.
doesn’t work for me
hmm, not sure. It worked fine for me and I know a few other people that used my guide and have their image up. It takes a few months to actually show in search results.
same problem with me. I hope it will appear otherwise I have to do deep research. :D
For now I will wait. Thanks for the post Luke.
nice post. i will follow this. [ codefolios.com ]
Great post Luke! I will be tweeting this for my followers and using it on my site http://www.webhelp2go.com Who did your profile pic?
Thanks. I actually won my caricature. Make sure you @LukePeerFly me on your tweet so I can RT :)
Works great on my blog http://alexanderle.com – Thanks for the post!
Awesome :)
Awesome Like, I m gonna show up in search result
Thanks for the information Luke, I just updated my profile. I sincerely hope it does not take that long for my site to load the picture, but we will see.
Hopefully Google automates it more soon :)
osm bro……
Hello,
I have a short question for you. I’ve already managed to make my picture appear in the search results but I was wondering, if I would add the picture of a car or any other picture than mine, will Google still continue displaying my pic?
Does anyone know?
Thanks!
I’m not really sure if they rereview or not.
Thanks a lot Luke, let me try out…
I think that i have got a problem with something, but am not sure. when i’m verifying it says this:
Email verification has successfully established authorship for this webpage.
Email address on the riseinsoul.com domain has been verified on this profile: No
Public contributor-to link from Google+ profile to riseinsoul.com: No
is it ok or wrong?
Appears you’re missing the contributor link on your Google+ profile.