Ask An SEO: What Should Be On Your Author Pages? via @sejournal, @MordyOberstein

4 months ago 96

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This week’s question astir writer pages comes from Joylyn:

We are moving connected gathering writer pages for our content, would you caput teaching america champion practices for gathering writer archive pages with immoderate SEO champion practices.

A large question and cleanable for maine to reply from a branding perspective.

Author pages service to physique trust, authority, and each of that bully stuff. That overmuch should beryllium obvious.

However, a batch of nuance goes into leveraging writer pages. More than that, I would situation the precise conception of what an writer leafage is and wherefore we request them.

What Should Be On Your Author Pages?

The reply to that depends connected what you’re trying to accomplish.

Yes, you’re to found trust, but however you bash that depends connected a assortment of factors.

Say, for example, your manufacture is perpetually evolving and changing. Harping connected your author’s past whitethorn not beryllium the mode to go.

Instead, spot whitethorn beryllium amended built by focusing connected their caller accolades and accomplishments. It tin beryllium arsenic elemental arsenic showing they person written extensively connected the taxable recently.

In different words, you request to found what “trust” means successful your script due to the fact that it’s not universal.

Think of your writer pages arsenic “About Pages.” There’s a definite communicative to a bully About Page and you tin bash the aforesaid with your writer pages.

Don’t conscionable accidental who the idiosyncratic is, but amusement however they got there.

Trust is often astir contextualization. Don’t deliberation astir lone presenting who the writer is – rather, effort to overgarment a representation that frames them.

Author pages don’t conscionable connection immoderate inheritance astir your contributors but your site. They go a pillar of “who you are” crossed the web. Your authors aren’t conscionable authors – they are representatives.

Screenshot from Google, March 2025

When idiosyncratic runs crossed your writer pages (perhaps by Googling 1 of your authors, arsenic I did with Loren Baker above), they and the leafage connected with them substantiate who you are.

The authorization of a bully writer leafage goes beyond visitors to your site.

If you’re moving a marketing strategy that is dense successful worker advocacy, these pages are a large portion of immoderate outreach program.

If your extremity is to get your ain radical retired determination repp’ing the marque connected podcasts, webinars, league stages, etc., the author leafage becomes a pillar. It becomes the “home” that represents your advocates and you astatine the aforesaid time.

This again speaks to the writer leafage not simply being a database of credentials and accomplishments but arsenic a communicative astir the authors themselves.

If you’re trying to physique your marque and show by leveraging your employees, contributors, etc., you request pages that connection beardown contextualization.

Even if you don’t usage the bio/author leafage arsenic portion of the outreach per se, there’s a precise bully accidental anyone funny volition tally immoderate benignant of hunt and find these pages connected their ain (again, arsenic I did above).

Which brings america to…

Who Needs Author Pages?

Let maine situation the full question. Why are we stopping astatine authors? The question should be, “Who needs radical pages?” The reply is everyone whose institution has immoderate people. So, the reply is everyone.

Every concern needs to contextualize itself via the radical associated with it. That tin beryllium the CEO, CMO, CFO, CTO, oregon COO – I’m retired of “Cs,” but it should not halt there.

When I spot a institution lone database its apical employees, it comes disconnected arsenic 1 elephantine ego stroke. So, ngo accomplished: You person contextualized your business. I present cognize you’re a clump of narcissists.

Even if you’re a solopreneur, determination should beryllium contented that successful a consciousness parses retired who you are connected the site.

I deliberation we’ve travel to look astatine “author pages” arsenic being this precise narrowed leafage type. To me, it’s the incorrect mode to look astatine them. It’s not an “SEO” play.

And erstwhile you deliberation beyond SEO per se, is determination truly a quality betwixt an writer leafage and an worker bio page?

Yet, it’s comic due to the fact that we’ll walk each time talking astir however to bolster your writer pages and past make 1 never-ending leafage for the employees that simply lists their names.

How precisely is that adjuvant beyond giving your idiosyncratic the quality to manually look up immoderate of these folks connected LinkedIn (which means leaving your website)?

So, who needs “author pages”? Everyone. The question is, what benignant of “author page” bash you need? Can you harvester your About Page and “author page”?

I bash that connected my ain website since I’m a one-person show, and the format allows maine that opportunity. I felt that having a abstracted leafage was a spot of overkill.

There’s a bio astir who I americium connected my homepage and past a longer conception connected the About Page – bash I truly request to make different abstracted leafage to speech astir maine again? Doing truthful felt similar it would beryllium excessively overmuch absorption connected myself and not my audience.

Again, it’s not a question of “if” you request immoderate benignant of writer oregon bio page, but what benignant and successful what format?

Author Page Best Practices

That said, present are immoderate speedy champion practices I would see adding to your writer pages (and akin “bio” pages). Some of them are obvious, like:

Social links.
Standard bio.
Image.
Recent posts.
Formal manufacture recogniton (such arsenic Search Engine Journal does with its “Certification & Awards” tab).
Areas of expertise.

Some little truthful (and again, it each depends connected your goals):

Conference talks.
Podcast, webinar appearances, and different “third-party placements” (similar to Search Engine Journal’s “Published Works” tab).
Outlets wherever the writer is quoted.
Work acquisition (current and previous).
History of however the writer got into the manufacture and why.
Personal manufacture doctrine (can adjacent beryllium a video).

The past happening I’ll accidental is: Watch the formatting.

99% of writer pages, assuming they are substantial, consciousness similar you’re speechmaking a agelong article.

If you privation to get the astir retired of the writer page, you request to laic things retired truthful that the assemblage tin get a holistic consciousness of things astatine a glance.

Screenshot from Search Engine Journal, March 2025

The Search Engine Journal layout is 1 of the champion I’ve seen online (and I’m not saying that due to the fact that I’m penning this connected Search Engine Journal).

I don’t consciousness overwhelmed by information. It’s each “chunked” successful a mode wherever I intelligibly announcement the assorted areas of accusation without having to enactment hard to spot it all.

That’s wherefore it works.

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Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal