Google Highlights Authors within Search Results

As an enhancement to Google’s SERP, authors will soon be highlighted within the search results (the feature is currently being rolled out gradually and will be implemented algorithmically). Google Software Engineer, Othar Hansson, posted, “We now support markup that enables websites to publicly link within their site from content to author pages…. We know that great content comes from great authors, and we’re looking closely at ways this markup could help us highlight authors and rank search results.” So, if you currently have authored content on a website – be sure to learn about Google’s authorship markup in their help center.

Google explains an author page is to describe and identify the author, and can include things like the author’s bio, photo, articles and other links. The author will need to use his or her Google Profile to tie everything together.

Below is an example author search result from Mashable’s Ben Parr:

I feel this is a smart move to promote good quality content on the web. Google is really making a push to combat content farms and content that others do not feel is genuinely “great content”. This is just one more way to validate the value of a piece of content.

Do you agree this is another step in the right direction for Google?