(Entry was posted by Joshua Ness on this post in the Dumb SEO Questions community on Facebook, 07/25/2013).

What happens when you link a rel=author tag to a site you contribute to?

So what happens when you link a ?rel=author tag to a site you contribute to, but not necessarily in a blogging or traditional content capacity? And then do all the proper linkage to something like, say, Meetup.com? I`m asking for a friend.

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YOUR ANSWERS

Selected answers from the Dumb SEO Questions Facebook & G+ community.

Justin Y: Honestly I don't think anything will really happen. If I understand you correctly, I think Google will only show your authorship in SERPs if they find it appropriate. If the rel=author tag is applied to a generic type of page, I assume Google will most likely ignore it because it is not being used properly.
I could be wrong, but I don't think there's any value unless you're a contributing to the site.
Neil Cassels: I think +Justin Y ;is right. Having the author markup isn't a guarantee of anything, it just means that Google can ;show your photo in search results if it deems it appropriate.