Author Rich Snippets

[KJ-Rodgers]

We are going through and adding Google schema to our posts. We did the preview and if looked fine, but didn't include the author image.

Is it mandatory that the author has a Google Plus account to display their image?

[GPainter]

I assume you want the author image in SERPS I've yet to see an author without an image. There is an element of trust if you do have a author image and there isn't much of an excuse as it takes seconds to put one up.

If in doubt you can test here - http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/richsnippets

Worst case here is your name will still appear next to the search result, so it's not technically essential but Google can't display an image that's not there.

[KJ-Rodgers]

Yes. I would like them in SERPS, so I assume you saying we do need to have the authors in Google+.

I know it's easy, but I am thinking our authors may be a bit gun shy to join. That't why i was hoping that we could find an alternate route.

[GPainter]

If you want their image in the Serps there needs to be an image in Google plus.