Google+ Profile Picture and Cover Photo Size Guide

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Google+ Profile Picture and Cover Photo Size Guide http://havecamerawilltravel.com/photographer/google-plus-cover-photo

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5 COMMENTS

Google+has a lot going for it as a place to share and show

photos. It has nowhere near the active user base of Facebook,

but it has more photographer-friendly features.

When using images of your Google+ profile page, the image

BY DAVID COLEMAN

LAST UPDATED 2 MONTHS AGO

FILED UNDER: CUSTOM POST HEADERS, SOCIAL

MEDIA TAGGED WITH: GOOGLE


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sizes are generally more logical than the mishmash of image

sizes that is a Facebook Page. But there are still some sizes to

know and tricks to getting the images to look their best.

The cover photo is the large one at the top. Its displayed at an

aspect ratio thats basically 16:9, the same as the HD video

standard. On desktop screen sizes, your image is displayed at

right. At left is an automatically semi-transparent overlay under

your profile picture.

Because Google+ uses a responsive layout that adjusts for

different-sized screens, the actual size that its displayed at

varies quite a bit. The largest your image displays at is 1080 x

608.

The semi-transparent part at left also resizes, and it duplicates

part of your image.


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The ideal size for the image you upload is 1080 x 608(aspect

ratio of 135:76, which is very close to 16:9). The smallestimage you can use is 480 x 270 (aspect ratio of 16:9). The

largest image you can use is 2120 by 1192.

As you reduce the width of the browser window, the cover

photo scales accordingly, until at a certain point when you

make the browser very narrow (as it is on a smartphone), the

layout switches to a different mobile-friendly layout, like this:


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Google+ Profile Picture and Cover Photo Size Guide http://havecamerawilltravel com/photographer/google plus cover photo


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Like the other social media sites like Facebookand Twitter,

Google+ applies some pretty heavy JPEG compression to the

cover photo that reduces the image quality, can make text

blurry, and tends to make colors less vibrant.

But theres a solution. Rather than upload a JPG, upload a


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Google+ Profile Picture and Cover Photo Size Guide http://havecamerawilltravel com/photographer/google-plus-cover-photo


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While theres nothing stopping you from using any image for

your profile picture (as long as it doesnt violate Googles terms

of service), Google recommends that you use a good,

recognizable headshot. And there might be good reasons to

heed that advice. It does seem to make a difference in whether

or not Google shows your profile picture in search results if you

have authorship links properly set up.

Google was, for a time, showing thumbnails in search results if

you set up what is known as authorship links. But that little

experiment has ended.

When a link thumbnail displays at full-width, it displays at 426 x

255. The jagged edge overlay at the bottom is applied

Google+ Profile Picture and Cover Photo Size Guide http://havecamerawilltravel.com/photographer/google plus cover photo

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automaticallytheres no way to remove it.

But not every link you post will include a full-width thumbnails.

g p p g p g g p p

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Theres a list of requirements that the post youre linking to has

to meet before that happens. Criteria includes that the page

has photos meeting minimum width and height requirements

(506px and 303px), a maximum ratio, as well as that the page

(or site) is set up to include various tags in its code. You can

find further details here.

If those requirements arent met and yet theres still an image

on the page that can be used for a thumbnail, its fit within a

box 120px by 120px, like so:

If theres no image in the post, the link box will just contain text.

g p p g p g g p p

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Its not clear to me how Google chooses the initial image to

suggestits not necessarily the featured image if youre using

WordPress, and it doesnt seem to necessarily be the images

tagged in the Open Graph code. When posting and editing you

will oftenbut not alwaysget the option to scroll through some

thumbnail choices when you post the link. To access that, roll

over the thumbnail image in the upload dialog. If arrows appear

over the top left of the image, use them to change the

thumbnail.

The layout that Google+ uses is responsive, which means it will

adjust to the viewers screen size. On wide displays, like a

27-inch desktop display, it will put up to three columns across,

like this:

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On something like a 15-inch laptop display, it might be only two

columns across, like this:

And on a narrow display, like a smartphone or even just a

narrowed browser window, itll go to a single column and the

cover photo layout switches, like this:

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Specializing in Travel, Location, and

Time-Lapse photography. Based in

Washington DC. Traveling all over.

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RSS FACEBOO

K

GOOGLE+ TWITTER

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J.B. Eidsays

September 27, 2014 at 8:49 pm

Good info on the pictures, fyi authorship is no longer.

http://searchengineland.com/goodbye-google-

authorship-201975

Reply

David Colemansays

September 27, 2014 at 8:55 pm

Good point. Thanks. Updated.

Reply

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Tyler Bullocksays

June 22, 2014 at 10:04 pm

This is incredibly comprehensive. I was about to make

my Profile Cover 829553! I am trying to get the hang

of Google+ for SEO, but in terms of driving actual

conversions I dont really see the point unless youre

selling something to other markters or bloggers. The

majority of people actually engaging on Google+ are

just doing it because its the 2nd highest ranking

factor in 2014. Even though thats a correlation not

causation issues.

Anyway sorry, rant over thanks for the awesome post!

Reply

SusanWsays

May 26, 2014 at 10:45 am

Excellent piece on the Google+ Cover photo/image and

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making others aware that Google has made it

responsive. Your input on using PNG is good too. We

provide Google+ training, how to setup and use your

profile, page or both. Most people and businesses want

a nice cover photo some attempt to do it and other

outsource the task.

Google+ guidelines are important along with what the

cover image should convey to others. I belong to the

Plus Your Business Community on Google+ and asked

about guidelines on the cover photo; whether or not you

can add your phone number, website address, or list a

couple of your services. They came back and said it

was OK, that theres no violation on Googles Policy to

do this. What do you think it is better to have your

cover photo/image be simple and not look like an

advertisement? I like your cover photos because you

simply put your business, slogan and website.

The cover photo also adjusts when someone hovers

over a person or business name when they post

something. As you hover over their name the cover

photo appears with the profile photo on the center ofthe photo or image and below is their contact details.

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They call it the Hover Card in Google+ land : ).

Heres the link to Google+ Policies

http://www.google.com/+/policy/pagesterm.html

Oh, and thats me you used in the Google Authorship

example, thank you. It goes to show how important it is

to have a Google+ Profile so that you can setup

authorship which has been working well for me. How to

and informational blog posts such as this one that you

have done are the ones that Google seems to be

displaying in the searches.

Reply

David Colemansays

May 26, 2014 at 11:02 am

Hi Susan. Thanks for your note! Ive not seen

anything in Googles terms of service about not

including textual contact information in the profile

pic. My interpretation is that so long as it isnt

misleading, offensive, or obviously spammy there

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should be no problem. But Im glad to hear the

results of your inquiries to Google about it.

Facebook used to explicitly frown on it, but it seems

they might have quietly dropped that restriction.

And after reading a number of guides to setting up

Google Authorship I found yours to be the one that

worked best for me. So of course happy to link to it

and I expect others will find it very useful too.

Reply

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Specializing in Travel and Time-Lapse

photography. Based in Washington DC.RSS FACEBOOK GOOGLE+ TWITTER

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Google+ Profile Picture and Cover Photo Size Guide