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Yes it helps. Some have seen 150% improvement http://www.quicksprout.com/2012/04/27/want-a-150-boost-in-traffic-then-use-this-idiot-proof-guide-to-google-authorship-markup/ There is a great article on the Moz bog on how you even need to optimize the picture http://moz.com/blog/google-author-photos Don't wait - do it!