14 DAY TRIAL // There's been a flurry of new stuff from Google today, but not all of them have to do with Google+. For example, Google is now testing a feature which will display some authors' photos and profiles for content in search results. Of course, this has to do with the social web, so, in a sense, it's related to the Google+ project as well.
"Today, we will start highlighting the people creating this content in Google.com search results... because authorship is a great way to identify and highlight high-quality content," Sagar Kamdar, Product Manager for Google Search, announced.
"Plus, the web is centered around people. People discovering content on the web often want to learn more about its author, see other content by that author, and even interact with the author," he added.
The idea is to highlight content coming from well known authors, or ones you're more familiar with - once the program gets a wider release, in the search results, making it easier to pick stuff you trust, regardless of the website displaying it.
"We’re piloting this new search experience with a small sample of authors who have linked their Google profile with their content," Google explained.
Google has started working with a handful of authors to test the new feature, so the likelihood of you spotting it in the wild is still small. Once more people are added, it should be an additional information to help you to make a more informed decision.
The new feature is linked to Google Profiles, which, in turn, is a big component of Google+. The authors have to link their Google Profiles with the websites and outlets that they use for their articles.
If the feature sounds familiar is because it's linked to a new markup for authors that Google introduced recently, as part of the Schema.org project.