In June, we began highlighting content creators in search results to help searchers identify high quality, authoritative content. Since then, content creators have been able to link to their content with the authorship markup to have their photos appear next to their content in search results and help readers find out more about the person behind the story. After all, if someone searches for [britney spears], they should be able to quickly and easily find not just information about Britney Spears, but also information by Britney:


The response to highlighting authoritative content has been positive, and starting today we've simplified the setup process for content creators who want to participate.

Since many of you authors have your email addresses published in your content, we can use this information to link your content to your Google+ profile. Starting today you can verify your email address directly in your Google+ profile. Here’s where you add your email address in your Profile:


For example, let’s say you write content on a page hosted at http://www.galaxytimes.com. To participate in the authorship program, put your name on your content and your e-mail address:


Then verify your email address sagark@galaxytimes.com on your Google+ profile.

To get started:
  1. Click here to setup your Google+ profile 
    1. Remember to upload a high quality headshot, and fill out some profile information such as hometown, etc. 
  2. Verify your email address 
    1. On your Google+ profile, click on the ‘Edit Profile’ button in the upper right corner 
    2. Scroll down and click on “Work” 
    3. Click the drop-down arrow next to “Phone” 
    4. Click on “Email” 
    5. Put your cursor in the box next to “Email”, and fill in your email address where it says “New contact info”. Use your email address which has the same domain as the main place you publish your work. For example, “sagark@galaxytimes.com”. 
    6. Change the visibility of the section from “Only you” to “Everyone on the web” 
    7. Click on “Save” 
    8. Click on “Done Editing” 
    9. Scroll down and find where you added the e-mail address and then click “Verify” 
We hope this makes things a lot simpler for content creators on the web and continues to help people find high quality content in their search results.

Update 4/18/12: We now have a new, even simpler tool that allows you to verify your email and sign up for authorship at https://plus.google.com/authorship.

Posted by Doantam Phan, Software Engineer