How Do I Get Rel=Author to Work Via Wordpress SEO by Yoast?

[cbizzle]

I have read Yoast's tutorial and others on how to get rel=author to work properly on my site (http://injuryattorneyshouston.com). Here are the results I get from the Google Structured Data Testing Tool:

"Authorship is working for this webpage."

"rel=author markup has successfully established authorship for this webpage."

"Publisher markup is verified for this page."

All seems well except for this:

hatom-feed

| hatom-entry: |   |
| Error: At least one field must be set for HatomEntry.Error: Missing required field "entry-title".Error: Missing required field "updated".Error: Missing required hCard "author". |
| Error: At least one field must be set for HatomEntry.Error: Missing required field "entry-title".Error: Missing required field "updated".Error: Missing required hCard "author". |

Does anyone know how to fix this?

[BlueprintMarketing]

It seems to me that you using more than one from of schema or more than one form of Microdata/schema  on the website and if that is the case you. Quite a few errors you want to look at  your code carefully.

hope that helped,

Tom

[BlueprintMarketing]

You made  your profile properly on Google plus correct?

[Christy-Correll]

Hi Chad,

Here's a great thread from Q&A that offers a few different options for addressing your Hatom feed errors: Wordpress Hatom Problem. To be honest, though, I currently need to address the same issue on one of my own sites, and Authorship rich snippets are showing for all of this site's blog posts in the SERPs.

While I wouldn't ignore the Hatom feed errors altogether, I would change your Google+ profile image to a likeness of yourself right off the bat. Authorship is meant for people, and is why it requires reciprocal linking between an author's article/post and their personal Google+ profile. The Google+ profile you are currently linking to is showing a branded image (vs. your smiling face). I've seen Authorship suddenly start showing for people who updated their avatars from a side profile shot to a full-facing one, from an image with dark glasses to a one without, from one with a busy background to one with a background that makes their portrait pop, from a group shot to individual portrait, etc. And while I have occasionally seen logos show as Authorship snippets, this is the rule, not the exception.

The next thing I would do is enable bylines on your blog posts and articles where this makes sense. Then I'd work on regularly publishing useful, high-quality content for your audience on your website/blog -- and build up your personal Google+ profile. Those are good starting points!

Finally, you should also know that Google has never guaranteed showing rich snippets for Authorship in the SERPs, and recently reduced their presence in the SERPs by 15% about a week ago. You can read more about this in this blog post for Virante by Google Authorship expert Mark Traphagen. Work on becoming known as a quality author who posts on quality websites, though, and this shouldn't be a problem. (Easier said than done, I know. But you can do it!)

I hope this helps. Please let me know how things go, and if you need clarification. Cheers!

Christy

[BlueprintMarketing]

Here is a step-by-step that might be more helpful than the original directions

Plug-in

http://www.coolestguidesontheplanet.com/how-to-set-up-wordpress-seo-plugin-by-yoast-for-wordpress-3-31/

Authorship

http://www.coolestguidesontheplanet.com/how-to-set-up-wordpress-seo-plugin-by-yoast-for-wordpress-3-31/#social

&

Video

Sincerely,

Thomas

watch?v=RVg9-5tqjIU

[Christy-Correll]

Hi Chad,

Did any responses help? Would love to have an update, thanks.

Christy

[cbizzle]

Since I was using a logo as the picture, I'm trying to get a picture from my client to use instead. I haven't yet been able to get one, though, but I'll update you guys once I'm able to try it. Thank you for answering my questions! The help is such a blessing!

[cbizzle]

I did. It checks out according to the GSDT.

[cbizzle]

Also, I'm not sure what bylines are or how I can enable them. Do you have a resource you prefer that will teach me a bit about them?

[Christy-Correll]

Hi Chad,

I'm glad your question was answered! Would you kindly mark the most helpful responses you received in this thread as "good answers"?

To answer your last question, bylines contain the name of the author of a story, and sometimes the date published and category. For example, in this post on The Moz Blog, Are You Setting up Wordpress for SEO Success, the byline is "May 7th, 2012 - Posted by Dan Shure to On-Page / Site Optimization".

Bylines are most appropriate for blog posts, news article, editorials, and feature stories. Bylines should not go on press releases, product/service pages, nor sales pages. I peeked at your site, and didn't see any content piece that looked like it should have a byline. If you add a blog to your site with Wordpress, bylines will be enabled by default. Hope this helps, and best of luck!

Christy