Google Authorship Is Gone: How to Show Authors to Google Today

If you followed a guide to "verify Google Authorship" on your WordPress or Blogger site, you can stop looking for the result. Google Authorship no longer exists. Google announced in August 2014 that it would stop showing authorship in search results, and Google+, the service the whole setup depended on, was shut down for personal accounts on April 2, 2019.

Google still cares who wrote a page, though. Here is what changed and how to show authors to Google today.

What Google Authorship was

Authorship linked your articles to your Google+ profile. You added a rel=author link from your site to your profile, then listed your site in the "Contributor to" section of that profile so the link went both ways. When it worked, Google could show your name and photo next to your articles in search results.

In August 2014 Google announced that authorship would no longer be shown in search results at all. As reported at the time, Google had already removed the author photos a few months earlier, said it had stopped processing the markup (not just hiding it), and had found the information less useful to searchers than expected.

Why the old setup steps do nothing now

Every part of the old method relied on something that has gone:

• Google+ profile links: consumer Google+ shut down on April 2, 2019, and the Google+ APIs on March 7, 2019. There is no profile left to link to.
• "Contributor to" links: these lived on Google+ profiles, so they went with them.
• rel=author markup: Google stopped using it for authorship in 2014.
• The AuthorSure plugin: closed on wordpress.org in November 2025 for a security issue and no longer available to download. If it is still installed, remove it.

Old guides for Thesis theme users, guest posts and Blogger all used the same Google+ links, so none of them apply anymore.

What Google recommends today

Accurate bylines that lead somewhere

Google's guide to creating helpful content says: "We strongly encourage adding accurate authorship information, such as bylines to content where readers might expect it." One of its self-check questions asks whether bylines lead to further information about the author. The same page warns against fabricating creator profiles, such as made-up names, AI-generated headshots or false credentials.

Author markup in structured data

Google's Article structured data documentation lists these author markup best practices:

• Include every author shown on the page, each in their own author field.
• Put only the name in author.name.
• Use Person for people and Organization for organizations.
• Use author.url (or sameAs) for a page that identifies the author, such as a bio page or social profile.

On WordPress, an SEO plugin writes this markup for you.

How to show authors in WordPress

Step 1: A visible byline and an author page

1. Make sure your theme shows the author's name on every post, linked to an author page.
2. Fill in each author's profile in Users: real name, a short bio and links to their social profiles.
3. Make the byline show a real name, not a username like "admin".

Step 2: Yoast SEO

Yoast SEO adds a Person schema piece for the author of your articles automatically. It uses the author's name and can also include their bio, profile URLs and an image. If required details are missing, Yoast leaves the author out rather than showing content as written by "admin". So the main job is completing each user profile.

Then decide about author archives, under Yoast SEO > Settings > Advanced > Author Archives:

• Single-author site: turn author archives off. This redirects them to the homepage and removes the author sitemap.
• Multi-author site: leave them on, so each writer has a page listing their work.

Step 3: Rank Math

Rank Math builds the author entity from the user profile. The sameAs links come from the profile's social links and extra profile URLs, and a description is added only if you set the author meta description (in the user profile, under Edit Snippet).

One setting is worth checking. Rank Math sets the Author Robots Meta option to No Index by default, which keeps author pages out of search. If you want them indexed, switch it to Index. Rank Math's author SEO guide has the details.

Guest posts

The old advice was to link every guest post to your Google+ profile. The idea is the same today, but the link points to your own site:

• Ask for a byline with your real name.
• Include a short bio that links to your author page or About page on your own site.
• Use the same name and photo everywhere.

A note for Blogger users

Blogger has no SEO plugins, so keep it simple. Make sure your template shows the author's name on each post and links it to the author's profile or an About page, and keep that profile filled in with a real name and a short bio. That covers the main thing Google asks for: a byline that leads to more information about the author.

Should you remove the old rel=author markup?

Old rel=author links and Google+ profile links no longer do anything. You can remove them when it is convenient, for example the next time you edit your theme or clean up plugins.

Which option should you use?

• Any site: a real byline on every post, linked to an author page or bio.
• Yoast SEO: complete each user profile, then turn author archives off (single author) or leave them on (multiple authors).
• Rank Math: complete each user profile and switch Author Robots Meta to Index if you want author pages in search.
• Blogger: show the author's name in the post template, linked to a filled-in profile or About page.
• Guest posts: a byline plus a bio linking to your author page on your own site.

FAQ

Can I still get my photo in Google search results with authorship?

No. Google stopped showing authorship in search results in 2014, and no setting or plugin brings it back.

Is the AuthorSure plugin still safe to use?

No. AuthorSure was closed on wordpress.org in November 2025 for a security issue. Deactivate and delete it, and use your SEO plugin's author settings instead.

Do I need structured data if I already have a byline?

The byline matters most, because readers see it. Structured data helps Google understand who the author is, and Yoast SEO or Rank Math adds it once the user profile is complete.

Does a single-author blog need an author page?

It needs somewhere for the byline to lead, such as an About page with your bio. A separate author archive is optional, which is why Yoast suggests turning it off on single-author sites.