Adding photos to Google Search results

If you haven’t noticed while searching on Google you now see photos next to some listings. If you are like most business owners you are probably wondering how to do that for your own site. It is definitely the coolest new feature of Google and another push for why you should have a Google+ for you and one for your business.

Below I will walk you step by step on how to have the opportunity to have your photo shown in the Google search results next to your listing. Note: Even if this is done the way explained in this post you should understand Google makes no guarantees that your photo will be listed in the search. For information about the authorship tag please visit the Google Authorship Page

Step 1) Make sure you have an about us page on your website. I would go a step further and create a page off of that for your own profile page if on the about us page has more than just your information.

Step 2) On your about us, profile page:
add your Google+ url  https://plus.google.com/u/0/USE-YOUR-CODE-HERE/about at the end of the url you will want to add rel=”me” so the full code that you will place on your site will be <a href=”https://plus.google.com/u/0/116035005012171895323/about” rel=”me”>Michael Parente Google+</a> on your website it will look like Michael Parente Google+. You will want to make sure this code is placed on all pages that you are the author of.

Step 3) Go to your Google+ page. Click on the tab ABOUT (see image below)

Step 4) Scroll down the page until you see “Other Profiles” & “Contributor to” (see image below)

Step 5) Click on “Contributor to” and you will see a pop up (see image below)

Step 6) Add the link to your about us page on your website (see step 1) and hit save

Step 7) Verifying your work Go to Google Structured Data Test and enter in your website url than hit preview. If everything was done correctly you should see what is listed in the below image:

Tips to help Google pick it up

Make sure you have an about you profile page on your website or websites you contribute to.
Make sure to add your email address to both the Google+ About page and every post you make.
hint: Email should be the same.
Still having problems? visit Structured Data Troublshooting

NOTE Currently only available with user pages and not business profiles. I have made my profile show up with my Business Logo but changed it back as that is not Michael Parente (though sometimes it feels like my name should be Busy Bee Media…lol)

Hope that helps. If you have questions or need help, feel free to contact me.