Google News Drops Author Search Command

Dec 19, 2011 - 9:36 am 1 by
Filed Under Google

Google NewsGoogle has dropped a feature on Google News to help you locate articles by authors.

The feature was the author command and worked where you typed in the Google News search box, [author:firstname lastname]. Now when you search using that command, nothing is returned.

Google replaced it with the authorship link in the search results.

Google News Author Command Not Working:

Google News Author Command

Google Authorship Link:

Google Authorship Link

This was recently reported at the Google News Help forum and Erik from Google said:

The author: search operator is no longer available. For author-specific Google News content, I would recommend use of the Authorship capabilities in Google News, introduced last month. Integration with Google+ circles means easier following and engagement between authors and readers.

That is true, but what if I want to restrict my search to search for specific stories written by that author? There is no way to do that now.

Plus, the authorship link rarely shows, if ever, in the Google News results. They do show in the web search results.

Forum discussion at Google News Help.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: August 19, 2025

Aug 19, 2025 - 10:00 am
Google

Google AI Overviews Explain Overlay Tests Bottom Tray

Aug 19, 2025 - 7:51 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Why Google Chrome UX Report & Search Console Don't Match

Aug 19, 2025 - 7:41 am
Google

Google Tests Vertical Images For Top Stories (& News Tab)

Aug 19, 2025 - 7:31 am
Google

SEOs, Don't Expect Access To The Google Trends API Soon

Aug 19, 2025 - 7:21 am
Google

Google Merchant API Is Replacing The Content API For Shopping

Aug 19, 2025 - 7:11 am
Previous Story: Google's Chanukah Decorations