Rel=author markup in head tag

[Aggie]

Between Google's confusing instruction on implementing rel=author and the volumes of blog posts, I'm sufficiently confused.

We have a bunch of writers on our site that we'd like to expose in search and connect with their content. I'd like their bylines to link to their author page rather than to their Google+ profile.  So, I'm thinking this is what I need to do:

1. Have writers create a Google+ profile linking to their bio page on our site in the "contributor" section of their Google+ profle

2. Add the link rel=author tag to the of their author bio page like this

3. Link their bylines on each story to their author page like this

John Public

Is this right?  I'm working with an inflexible CMS so I have to go through IT, which means I have to get this right the first time.

Any feedback/ corrections/ improvements are much appreciated.

[DanDeceuster]

There is a much easier way to do this now. Simply link the authors name to https://plus.google.com/1000000000000000000?rel=author and Google picks it up. Then they add your domain to their Contributor section of their G+ profile.

If you want their name to link to their profile page on your domain that is fine. Just use their name twice, one with a link to profile page, one with a G+ link. Or you can link their name to G+ and add a link in the bio like "click here to read more articles by john doe" or something like that.

[Aggie]

Thanks, Daniel.

We are a news site that work very quickly in publishing content.  So, we have to automate as much as possible.  As I mentioned we have a rather rigid CMS and strong feelings about linking our author's bylines to their bio on our domain.

So, I'm not sure if having two links from the actual article will be super streamlined.  So, knowing that there's a desire to link the author byline to their bio on our domain, am I going about it the right way or do I need to tweak my process?

Or is there a way to add the link href in the head tag as well as have the visible byline go to their on domain bio.

I know I'm making it more confusing than it needs to be.

[DanDeceuster]

I used to try and to the whole author tag thing in the head section and it never worked. The only thing I have gotten to work is the ?rel=author at the end of a G+ profile link. Here's an idea. Why not include the author's name at the top of the news article and link it to their profile page.

Then at the end of the article have a by line about the author and link their name there to the G+ profile? Or vice versa?

[WebBizIdeas]

As far as my understanding goes, you have most of it right, except on #2,  the link should have rel=me instead of rel=author

but you are right, it is all very confusing