I have previously posted on how to add the rel=author tag to your posts and articles. However based on a message posted onto the article I did a little digging.
The question was, can i just add the rel=author tag into the footer of the site. NO, that is reserved for the rel=publisher tag.
In Yoast SEO tools there is an option to add your Google+ profile associated with the main author of the Blog.
This will add the author tag to the homepage. Caveat, when Google starts displaying the rel=publisher tag and what could be the logo from your business page, you may need to remove this or Yoast will provide a fix to this.
2 Parts to Post :
Setting rel=author tag in WordPress
Manually adding rel=author tag to anysite
Setting rel=author tag in WordPress
rel=author Step 1
In your WordPress dashboard navigate to USERS, select the user
rel=author Step 2
Add in your Google Plus page URL
rel=author Step 3
Open your Yoast plugin and in the HOME section, in the author metadata section, use the dropdown to select the author name.
In the above image i added my Google+ url to the User ADMIN, therefore select admin, or the user name you added it too.
Manually Adding Rel=Author Tag to Blog Posts, Articles
Adding the Rel=Author Tag to Post
Take the Google+ Url and add :
?rel=author
https://plus.google.com/114669336642325477883?rel=author
This can now be linked to your name, in this instance +Tim Capper
HTML Google+ Rel=Author Tag
If you have to add your code in HTML
Take Google+ URl and add:
?rel=author
https://plus.google.com/114669336642325477883?rel=author
Add your a href code:
<a href=” https://plus.google.com/114669336642325477883?rel=author”>+Your Name</a>
This Can now be added to the bottom of your Page.
Connect Your Goolge+ Account to Author Tag
If you have not done so already, add your websites URL into your Profile.
Specifically the Contributor To section.
Checking Your Google+ Rel=Author Tag
Use Google’s Rich Snippet Testing Tool to test your rel=author tag.
http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/richsnippets
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