Add author meta tag for improved LinkedIn and social media embeds

autodescription.php

@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
  * Plugin Name: The SEO Framework
  * Plugin URI: https://theseoframework.com/
  * Description: An automated, advanced, accessible, unbranded and extremely fast SEO solution for your WordPress website.
- * Version: 5.1.3-dev-6
+ * Version: 5.1.3-dev-7
  * Author: Sybre Waaijer
  * Author URI: https://theseoframework.com/
  * License: GPLv3
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@
  *
  * @since 2.3.5
  */
-define( 'THE_SEO_FRAMEWORK_VERSION', '5.1.2' );
+define( 'THE_SEO_FRAMEWORK_VERSION', '5.1.3' );
 
 /**
  * The plugin Database version.
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@
  *
  * @since 2.7.0
  */
-define( 'THE_SEO_FRAMEWORK_DB_VERSION', '5100' );
+define( 'THE_SEO_FRAMEWORK_DB_VERSION', '5130' );
 
 /**
  * The plugin file, absolute unix path.

bootstrap/upgrade.php

@@ -214,7 +214,7 @@ function _upgrade( $previous_version ) {
 		'2701', '2802', '2900',
 		'3001', '3103', '3300',
 		'4051', '4103', '4110', '4200', '4270',
-		'5001', '5050', '5100',
+		'5001', '5050', '5100', '5130',
 	];
 	// phpcs:enable, WordPress.Arrays.ArrayDeclarationSpacing.ArrayItemNoNewLine
 
@@ -967,3 +967,15 @@ function _do_upgrade_5100() {
 		Data\Plugin::update_option( 'homepage_redirect', '' );
 	}
 }
+
+/**
+ * Registers new option 'author_tags'.
+ *
+ * @since 5.1.3
+ */
+function _do_upgrade_5130() {
+
+	if ( \get_option( 'the_seo_framework_initial_db_version' ) < '5130' ) {
+		Data\Plugin::update_option( 'author_tags', 1 );
+	}
+}

inc/classes/data/filter/plugin.class.php

@@ -154,6 +154,7 @@ public static function register_sanitizers_jit() {
 			'alter_archive_query_type'     => 'alter_query_type',
 			'alter_search_query_type'      => 'alter_query_type',
 			'alter_search_query'           => 'checkbox',
+			'author_tags'                  => 'checkbox',
 			'author_noarchive'             => 'checkbox',
 			'author_nofollow'              => 'checkbox',
 			'author_noindex'               => 'checkbox',
@@ -224,6 +225,7 @@ public static function register_sanitizers_jit() {
 			'og_tags'                      => 'checkbox',
 			'paged_noindex'                => 'checkbox',
 			'pint_verification'            => 'verification_code',
+			'post_author'                  => 'metadata_text',
 			'post_modify_time'             => 'checkbox',
 			'post_publish_time'            => 'checkbox',
 			'prev_next_archives'           => 'checkbox',

inc/classes/data/plugin/setup.class.php

@@ -267,6 +267,9 @@ public static function get_default_options() {
 				'post_publish_time' => 1, // Article Published Time.
 				'post_modify_time'  => 1, // Article Modified Time.
 
+				// Author.
+				'post_author' => '', // Author fallback name.
+
 				// Twitter.
 				'twitter_card'    => 'summary_large_image', // Twitter Card layout. If no twitter:image image is found, it'll change to 'summary', radio
 				'twitter_site'    => '', // Twitter business @username.
@@ -281,6 +284,7 @@ public static function get_default_options() {
 				'og_tags'        => 1, // Output of Open Graph meta tags.
 				'facebook_tags'  => 1, // Output the Facebook meta tags.
 				'twitter_tags'   => 1, // Output the Twitter meta tags.
+				'author_tags'    => 1, // Output author meta tags.
 				'oembed_scripts' => 1, // Enable WordPress's oEmbed scripts.
 
 				// Social title settings.

inc/classes/front/meta/generator/author.class.php

@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+<?php
+/**
+ * @package The_SEO_Framework\Classes\Front\Front\Meta\Generator
+ * @subpackage The_SEO_Framework\Meta\Author
+ */
+
+namespace The_SEO_Framework\Front\Meta\Generator;
+
+\defined( 'THE_SEO_FRAMEWORK_PRESENT' ) or die;
+
+use The_SEO_Framework\{
+	Meta,
+	Data,
+	Helper\Query,
+};
+
+/**
+ * The SEO Framework plugin
+ * Copyright (C) 2025 Sybre Waaijer, CyberWire B.V. (https://cyberwire.nl/)
+ *
+ * This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 3 as published
+ * by the Free Software Foundation.
+ *
+ * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
+ * GNU General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+ * along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+ */
+
+/**
+ * Holds Author generators for meta tag output.
+ *
+ * @since 5.1.3
+ * @access private
+ */
+final class Author {
+
+	/**
+	 * @since 5.1.3
+	 * @var callable[] GENERATORS A list of autoloaded meta callbacks.
+	 */
+	public const GENERATORS = [
+		[ __CLASS__, 'generate_author' ],
+	];
+
+	/**
+	 * Generates the author meta tag.
+	 *
+	 * @since 5.0.0
+	 * @generator
+	 */
+	public static function generate_author() {
+
+		// Only output on singular posts/pages where an author is available
+		if ( ! Query::is_singular() ) return;
+
+		$author_name = Meta\Author::get_author_name();
+
+		if ( \strlen( $author_name ) )
+			yield 'author' => [
+				'attributes' => [
+					'name'    => 'author',
+					'content' => $author_name,
+				],
+			];
+	}
+}

inc/classes/front/meta/head.class.php

@@ -118,6 +118,7 @@ public static function print_tags() {
 					'Robots',
 					'URI',
 					'Description',
+					'Author',
 					'Theme_Color',
 					'Open_Graph',
 					'Facebook',
@@ -170,6 +171,10 @@ public static function print_tags() {
 			$remove_pools[] = 'Twitter';
 		}
 
+		// Remove Author generator if author meta is disabled
+		if ( ! Data\Plugin::get_option( 'author_tags' ) )
+			$remove_pools[] = 'Author';
+
 		/**
 		 * @since 5.0.0
 		 * @param string[] $generator_pools A list of tag pools requested for the current query.

inc/classes/meta/author.class.php

@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+<?php
+/**
+ * @package The_SEO_Framework\Classes\Meta
+ * @subpackage The_SEO_Framework\Meta\Author
+ */
+
+namespace The_SEO_Framework\Meta;
+
+\defined( 'THE_SEO_FRAMEWORK_PRESENT' ) or die;
+
+use The_SEO_Framework\Data;
+
+/**
+ * The SEO Framework plugin
+ * Copyright (C) 2025 Sybre Waaijer, CyberWire B.V. (https://cyberwire.nl/)
+ *
+ * This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 3 as published
+ * by the Free Software Foundation.
+ *
+ * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
+ * GNU General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+ * along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+ */
+
+/**
+ * Holds getters for meta tag output.
+ *
+ * @since 5.1.3
+ * @access protected
+ *         Use tsf()->author() instead.
+ */
+class Author {
+
+	/**
+	 * @since 5.1.3
+	 *
+	 * @return string The author name.
+	 */
+	public static function get_author_name() {
+
+		// Only output on single posts where an author is available
+		if ( ! Query::is_single() ) return;
+
+		return Title::get_user_title( Query::get_post_author_id() )
+			?: Data\Plugin::get_option( 'post_author' );
+	}
+}

inc/classes/meta/facebook.class.php

@@ -45,6 +45,11 @@ public static function get_author() {
 
 		if ( 'article' !== Open_Graph::get_type() ) return;
 
+		// Check if author tags are enabled
+		if ( ! Data\Plugin::get_option( 'author_tags' ) ) {
+			return Data\Plugin::get_option( 'facebook_author' );
+		}
+
 		return Data\Plugin\User::get_current_post_author_meta_item( 'facebook_page' )
 			?: Data\Plugin::get_option( 'facebook_author' );
 	}

inc/classes/meta/schema/entities/author.class.php

@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ public static function build( $args = null ) {
 		$entity = [
 			'@type' => static::$type,
 			'@id'   => static::get_id( [ 'uid' => $author_id ] ),
-			'name'  => $user_data->display_name ?? '', // Yes, this could lead to an empty Author entity in a corner case.
+			'name'  => Meta\Title::get_user_title( $author_id ), // Yes, this could lead to an empty Author entity in a corner case.
 			// Let's not; may invoke bad bots. Let's do this via sameas.
 			// 'url'   => Meta\URI::get_bare_author_url( $author_id ),
 		];

inc/classes/meta/title.class.php

@@ -701,7 +701,7 @@ public static function get_term_title( $term = null ) {
 	 */
 	public static function get_user_title( $user_id = 0 ) {
 		return Sanitize::metadata_content(
-			\get_userdata( $user_id ?: Query::get_the_real_id() )->display_name ?? ''
+			Data\User::get_userdata( $user_id ?: Query::get_the_real_id(), 'display_name' ) ?? ''
 		);
 	}
 

inc/classes/meta/twitter.class.php

@@ -207,6 +207,12 @@ public static function get_site() {
 	 * @return string
 	 */
 	public static function get_creator() {
+
+		// Check if author tags are enabled
+		if ( ! Data\Plugin::get_option( 'author_tags' ) ) {
+			return Data\Plugin::get_option( 'twitter_creator' );
+		}
+
 		return Data\Plugin\User::get_current_post_author_meta_item( 'twitter_page' )
 			?: Data\Plugin::get_option( 'twitter_creator' );
 	}

inc/classes/pool.class.php

@@ -174,6 +174,25 @@ public static function utils() {
 		};
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Returns the Author API class as instantiated object with deprecation capabilities.
+	 * This allows for easy API access, and it allows us to silence fatal errors.
+	 *
+	 * @since 5.1.3
+	 * @api Not used internally.
+	 *
+	 * @return \The_SEO_Framework\Meta\Author
+	 */
+	public static function author() {
+		return static::$pool['author'] ??= new class extends Meta\Author {
+			use Static_Deprecator;
+
+			private $colloquial_handle     = 'tsf()->author()';
+			private $deprecated_methods    = [];
+			private $deprecated_properties = [];
+		};
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Returns the Breadcrumbs API class as instantiated object with deprecation capabilities.
 	 * This allows for easy API access, and it allows us to silence fatal errors.

inc/views/profile/settings.php

@@ -49,6 +49,8 @@
 	],
 ];
 
+// Only show authorial info if author_tags is enabled
+if ( Data\Plugin::get_option( 'author_tags' ) ) :
 ?>
 <h2><?php \esc_html_e( 'Authorial Info', 'autodescription' ); ?></h2>
 <table class=form-table>
@@ -75,3 +77,5 @@ class="regular-text <?= \esc_attr( $labels['class'] ) ?>" />
 ?>
 </table>
 <?php
+endif;
+?>