Google Authorship has bugs. Some of them are your fault. Some of them are Google's. So which one is affecting you? An easy read.

1. Google Authorship Bugs
“Oops...Was that supposed to happen?”
By: Sean Murray

2. All I wanted Was a Face
My name is Sean Murray
and I wanted to have my
face accompany my articles
in Google's Search Results.
Everyone else was doing
it... so why not me?

3. So I Followed the Directions
Article by: <a href=”My Google+ Url”
rel=”author”>Sean Murray</a>
And presto!

4. But Then...
My face disappeared for no reason and I was

5. And Then...
It came back even though I didn't change
anything and I was all like

6. And So You Must Know
This happens and there's no reason for it.
Google Authorship is not perfect and
sometimes it actually doesn't show Authorship
on purpose. So don't be all like:

7. Unless
● Your Authorship HTML is busted
● The rest of your HTML is busted
● Your Google Plus photo doesn't meet Google's
guidelines for Authorship
● You have like 10 different Authorship links on 1 page
● Your website sucks really bad
● You didn't add the website to your contributor section
● Check your HTML AGAIN

8. And Once Fixed...
You can apply Authorship to many things besides
articles:
● Social media profiles
● Online presentations/ PDFs
● Forum threads
● Press Releases
● Reviews
Get Creative! Assign your online life's work to Authorship
and let Google decide how to incorporate it.

9. Although
There are oddities. Like when all I did was comment on
this thread but I got Authorship for the entire URL.
First person to include an Authorship link in a forum
thread gets Authorship for the entire URL!!
IS THIS A BUG??

10. And There Are

11. Because
Google started to confuse me with this guy:
A much more
famous
Sean Murray

12. Other People Have Experienced It
In my Webmaster Tools under Author Stats:
I originally had no links to Quora on my Google Plus profile and there was
nothing on this Quora URL that linked to anything about me on Google
Plus. Google's algorithm made an assumption and acted on its own.
This can happen!

13. I Made the Problem Worse
I signed up for Quora and
added a link to my Quora
profile under my Google
Authorship contributor
section.
I though that would fix the
problem but I was wrong.
EVERY Sean Murray on
Quora is attributed to me
now. BUG!!!!

14. And Then it Spread Further
All 398 Sean Murrays
on LinkedIn began to
show my face in
search results.
I still get their traffic
data in Webmaster
Tools. Oh Google,
what have you done?!
BUG!!!! WE ARE LEGION!!

15. Which Means
Things are not exactly
running perfectly over
in Authorship land.
And so sometimes
Authorship problems
are your fault and
sometimes they're
Google's.

16. So Before You Say
“MY AUTHORSHIP IS BROKEN. CALL 911!!!!”

17. Make Sure
Your Authorship is set up properly.
● <a href=”Google+URL” rel=”author”>text</a>
● Google+URL?rel=author
● <link href=”Google+URL” rel=”author”>
Only 1 Authorship markup per unique URL
and don't forget to add the domain to your
contributor section!

18. And WAIT
Google Authorship doesnt appear instantly. It
can take days or WEEKS until it starts to take
effect. So don't sign up and be all like this with
search results:

19. Check it Here
If it works here, it should eventually work in
search results. It does NOT happen
instantaneously!
http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/richsnippets

20. And if All Else Fails
There's a great Community for help.
Google Authorship & Author Rank
Or do what I did, share your story and hope
Google hears you!
By: Sean Murray
Not the one of NCIS