How to create and implement author boxes in WordPress

In this tutorial, I’ll guide you through creating author boxes using Advanced Ads and implementing them into each author’s content. The process is technologically similar to setting up revenue share management, if you’re familiar with that. The only difference is that we handle code for author boxes instead of ad codes.

Why should you use author boxes to improve E-E-A-T?

Author boxes foster a deep connection between readers and the authors, making the content more trustworthy and emotionally resonant. They offer additional context and authenticity to your content and align perfectly with Google’s E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) principles, which boost your website’s search ranking.

Here’s how author boxes can amplify each aspect of the E-E-A-T guidelines.

Experience

Addressing an author’s hands-on experience within the relevant subjects provides added weight to their content. Using an author box, you can:

• highlight the number of years the author has been active in their field.
• outline specific areas of expertise within their industry.
• mention notable projects, roles, or volunteer work that underline their experience.

Expertise

Showcasing an author’s knowledge and qualifications in their subject matter within an author box can boost their perceived expertise. For instance, you can:

• list any relevant degrees or certifications they’ve earned.
• highlight professional affiliations that back their expertise.
• mention any awards or recognition that verify their proficiency in their field.

Authoritativeness

You can accentuate authoritativeness by detailing an author’s contributions and recognitions within their field. Use an author box to:

• present any contributions they’ve made to other noted publications.
• mention any guest posts they’ve written for reputable websites.
• highlight speaking engagements or other acknowledgments from expert communities.

Trustworthiness

Providing transparency about the person behind your content fosters trust with your readers. Using an author box, you can:

• assert their content’s professional and informative writing style.
• briefly explain how the author’s insights and perspective benefit the readers.
• include links to their social media profiles, establishing them as authentic, trustworthy individuals.

A step-by-step guide to implementing author boxes with Advanced Ads

You can use plugins like Simple Author Box and WP Author Box to insert author boxes into your WordPress site. However, performing this task with Advanced Ads allows you to maintain a minimalist setup and avoid installing additional plugins. In addition, Advanced Ads offers incredible flexibility regarding where and under which conditions to inject author boxes.

Creating an ad for each author

If your website only has one author, you will just need a simple setup. However, if you publish posts from multiple authors, consider repeating the following steps and creating a dedicated ad with a personalized author box for each.

1. Navigate to Dashboard > Advanced Ads > Ads and click “New Ad.”
2. Define a title for your ad. Use descriptive titles that make it easy to identify the ad later, e.g., “Author Box | [Author’s name].”
3. Insert the markup code for the author box into the code parameter field.
4. Optionally add custom CSS code for further styling.
5. Once you have configured the settings for your ad unit, publish the ad. You can change them later if necessary.

Repeat the steps above to create an author box ad for multiple authors. To accelerate your workflow, use the Duplicate Ads feature.

Targeting author boxes with display conditions

If you publish content from different authors, you must ensure that the author and author box match. Follow these steps if an author box should only appear on posts authored by a particular user:

1. Edit each author’s ad unit and scroll down to the Targeting meta box.
2. Add the Display condition ‘Author’ and choose the author’s name.
3. Optionally, add a Post Type Display condition to allow your author box to appear, e.g., only on posts.
4. Save or publish your ad.

Grouping all author box ads

After creating and targeting all author box ads, group all these ads together to prepare their targeted auto-injection.

1. Navigate to Advanced Ads > Groups.
2. Click on ‘New Group’ and enter a name for your group.
3. Choose the Random ads group mode.
4. Add the author box ad units to this group. Make sure that they have correctly configured Author conditions to avoid overlapping injection.
5. Publish the group.

Assigning the group to a placement

In this last step, you need to define where you want Advanced Ads to embed your author boxes automatically. 

1. Go to Advanced Ads > Placements.
2. Create a new placement and select, e.g., the After Content placement type.
3. Give it a descriptive name.
4. Select the group containing your author box ads in the placement’s item dropdown.
5. Publish the placement. 

Now, your author boxes will automatically appear at the end of each author’s article.e.

The standard position for author boxes is typically at the end of an article, as seen on most websites. However, some sites place the author box at the beginning or within the middle of an article. Select a placement other than the above standard After Content placement to achieve this alternative positioning.

Example code for a custom author box

Below is a generalized and commented example of an author box code that provides flexibility for customization:

<!-- Author Box Container: Add a wrapper for styling and layout -->
<div class="author-box">
  
 <!-- Author Image Section -->
 <figure class="author-image">
 <img 
 src="https://example.com/media/example-author-image.jpg" 
 alt= “Author image” 
 width= “100” 
 height= “100”
 />
 </figure>
  
 <!-- Author Bio Section -->
 <p class="author-bio">
 <!-- Example text. Replace this with custom author content. -->
 [Author Name] is an expert in [field]. They have [relevant experience or achievements]. 
 In their free time, they enjoy [personal interests].
 </p>

 <!-- Optional Separator: Useful for visual separation -->
 <div class="author-box-separator"></div>
</div>Code language: HTML, XML (xml)

Explanation and comments

• Container (div.author-box):
  • main wrapper for the author box
  • allows for centralized styling (e.g., padding, margins, borders)
• Image section (figure.author-image):
  • customize the src attribute to load the author’s image
  • the circular design ensures a modern and polished look
• Bio section (p.author-bio):
  • contains the author’s name, bio, or any relevant details
  • replace the text placeholders with your custom description
• Separator (div.author-box-separator):
  • Add styling (e.g., a horizontal line or margin) to separate content visually.

Style adjustments

Use CSS to style elements matching your needs. Remember to add <style> if you inject your CSS enhancements using the custom code feature of Advanced Ads Pro.

Here is an example for further CSS adjustments to your author box:

<style>
 .author-box {
 border: 1px solid #ddd; 
 padding: 15px; 
 max-width: 350px; 
 background-color: #f9f9f9;
 border-radius: 10px;
}

.author-image {
 width: 100px;
 height: 100px;
 overflow: hidden;
 border-radius: 50%;
 margin-bottom: 10px;
}

.author-image img {
 display: block;
 width: 100%;
 height: 100%;
 object-fit: cover; /* Ensures the image fits neatly into the circular shape */
}

.author-bio {
 font-size: 14px; 
 line-height: 1.5; 
 color: #333;
}

.author-box-separator {
 margin: 10px 0; 
 border-top: 1px solid #ccc; 
}

</style>Code language: HTML, XML (xml)

Conclusion

Advanced Ads makes creating and integrating author boxes into your WordPress site easy, removing the need for additional plugins. These boxes boost your site’s credibility by aligning with Google’s E-E-A-T principles—highlighting authors’ expertise, experience, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. Whether for single or multiple authors, the setup process is straightforward and highly customizable.

Following the steps in this guide, you can quickly tailor the placement and style of author boxes to fit your site’s design. This additional information about the author ensures a professional and engaging presentation, enhancing user trust and SEO performance.