Is it wise for employees to be tied to a company's content with rel=author?

[CMC-SD]

We're an e-commerce company that sells consumer goods. We are launching a blog that will have advice, tips, etc. on topics related to our industry. I'd like for us to implement rel=author on the content. If we rel=author the content to an employee, what are the possible repercussions if that employee leaves the company? I know the markup is pretty new and hasn't been widely implemented, but has anyone dealt with this?

[webfeatseo]

Well, if they are the ones writing it then I would be more willing to say go for it. If somebody else is and you just want a name associated then I would not. Your best bet would be to create a Plus page for the ceo or a owner of some sorts. And associate it with that account.

[EGOL]

If you have an employee who is a kickass author think about the effect of saying.... "We don't want to give you credit for your work.".....    or....

If you have an employee who does fairly good work what is the effect of saying.... "Your name and face are going to be on this."

The psychological effect can go to your advantage or not - depending upon how you play it and the mentality of the employee.

If an employee leaves your company how will you handle that.  That kickass employee could become famous and you might enjoy their success through the rel=author association.... and it could go the other way.

So, if you are the type of place who hires top quality people and treats/pays them well enough to stay with you long term then give them credit for their work. Part of being a good place for your customers is having great employees who are good at their job.

If you can't keep employees very long then you should think carefully about how you handle this and other things too.

And... if you are askin' because the boss is to lazy to write his own blog posts then he needs a kick in the pants.

[BrianCrouch]

What EGOL said. It's a given that almost any post author will eventually write elsewhere, and in all likelihood will leave your employ at some point while the post lives on.

"AuthoredRank" is going to be more important in some industry spaces than others.  I can envision some "retainer" arrangement being necessary for continued company presence within an ex-employee's linked profile. That is, once the author leave said company, there's no reason they can't delete the reference/citation from their profile and remove the value of the rel="author" altogether, and of course the rich snippet disappears. If the author achieves enough of an audience or authority, and that helps with direct or search traffic, we may just see ex-employees needing some form of contract. It is their personal profile after all...

[CMC-SD]

Brian, that's a really good point. When they leave, they can disown the authorship if they want to. Which could conceivably happen if they leave to start their own company or go work for a competitor.

[CMC-SD]

It's really not about "lazy," in my opinion. It's about time and skill. When the boss is managing the company for 80 hours a week, and isn't a talented writer, the boss has someone else write. (I say this as the writer, not the boss.)

[danatanseo]

This is a great question. There is a lot of confusion about rel=author. It is my understanding that for e-commerce, if the "brand" is speaking, that rel=publisher is what would be most appropriate, not rel=author. I have the same scenario on our newly revived e-commerce blog. There are times when we will want to list someone specifically as rel=author, i.e. if they are an expert on a particular subject, but most of the time we will want to post as rel=publisher. This is done by creating a brand page in Google Plus as opposed to an author page. Still, Google+ has the problem that a brand page must be attached to a Google profile, which must be an individual person, not a company. I would be very interested to hear others address this whole issue.

Dana

[CMC-SD]

I assume rel=publisher doesn't give you the pretty headshot on the SERP?

[danatanseo]

You are correct. No head shot. But I have it on good authority that very soon Google will begin using a thumbnail of the brand image that's been uploaded to the Google+ brand page. They have a vested interest in doing so. It makes the SERPs more attractive and it also makes Google+ more enticing.

[BrianCrouch]

Dana,

I'm looking forward to seeing that happen. Hope you're composing a blog piece on that topic now: when it's announced that publisher's brand images will appear in SERPS, you'll be able to publish that news and get the lion's share of news cycle traffic.

[danatanseo]

You know it Brian!