What is Author profile?
An author profile is more than a line under the headline. It has three parts: the full name, that person's remit inside the company, and at least one piece of evidence a reader can look up - a project, a certificate, a talk, a profile on a professional network. Without the third part it is a signature, not a profile.
Technically it includes the `author` field in the structured data, so machines can read the link between person and piece. Editorially it means a page per person rather than a block of tiles, because only then can the evidence be linked to permanently. The profile is where `E-E-A-T` becomes concrete: the framework describes the assessment, the profile is the component on the page.
The most common mistake is making the editorial team the sender. "Team" or "editors" does not answer the question of responsibility, and an invented author with a generated portrait answers it falsely. On forums and social platforms a pseudonym is fine; for a company selling services it is not.
Why does Author profile matter?
Google's published rating guidelines, the General Guidelines of 11 September 2025, state in section 2.5.2 that it must be clear who is responsible for a website and who created the content. Section 5.6 names exaggerated or mildly misleading information about the operators as grounds for the "Low" rating. These verdicts are not a ranking factor, they calibrate the systems. The practical value sits elsewhere: a name with a remit is the cheapest verifiable proof a page can offer.
Author profile in practice
- 01A consultancy replaces "by the editorial team" with the person responsible for each subject area and links a page per person carrying two documented projects.
- 02A blog post names the author in the copy while the structured `author` field still holds the company name - human and machine see two different senders.
- 03An agency removes "over 20 years of experience" from all profiles because it referred to the team's combined total and read as an overstatement on individual pages.
