Google autorship in specific field?

[vladokan]

Hi,

I want to ask you about something I 've read about google and authorship. It is written that it is better to show yourself as a author in a specific field.

I myself have knowledge and interest in many fields - like SEO, vegan living, martial arts. And I want to be seen as specialist in all of them.  Does it mean that we are limited to mark with autorship articles in only one field, in order to be seen as expert in a specific field?

f.e. Should I mark with "rel=author" the articles that are about SEO because I want to be seen as author in that specific field for sure.

Iif I mark with "rel=author" articles also about martial arts would these affect the understanding about my expertise in SEO?

[MarkHodson]

I agree with Steve. I would add that it makes sense that you could mark yourself as an author across various niches and sectors. After all, very few of us are interested in only one subject. Many of us have some expertise in multiple fields. So to limit authors to a single subject would be counter-intuitive and contrary to the way the world works. I don't believe Google wants to do that.

[SteveTheWoodsman]

rel=author does help with SEO... no doubt.  However, instead of focusing on it for ranking - look at it for what it was meant to provide: a face next to the result in the SERPs.

Short answer: you can definitely put your rel=author for each separate discipline... but remember the primary benefit - they are seeing your face next to the result (dramatically improving the likelihood of it getting clicked).

See Matt's article on SEJ about the hidden benefits of rel=author -- http://searchengineland.com/google-confirms-hidden-benefit-of-authorship-134526