Author links are auto-redirecting

[Dee]

Hi,

The author pages on my site (site.com/author/ursename) are redirecting to either the last post of the author or site.com/user/Firstname%20middle%20LastName.

I tried deactivating all the relevant plugins but this doesn’t seem like a plugin issue. How to enable author archives?

Thank you

[andrii]

Hi,

Please disable third-party plugins and customizations (if there are any) and check if this issue persists. If you use a caching plugin, make sure that caching is disabled for logged-in users. Also, please refresh permalinks: How to refresh WordPress permalinks - HivePress Help Center

[Dee]

Hi Andrii, I already tried that before writing to you - turned off each plugin and checked.
But is there some setting in the theme that causes the author link to be redirected to user?
Login | HSTS Redirection Community → Login | HSTS Redirection Community

Also, I don’t see the memberships in Hivepress settings. Is it a paid extension?

Thank you

[ihor]

Yes, this is expected behaviour since the recent update, we added a redirect because empty author pages duplicate HivePress profiles and usually harm SEO (e.g. WooCommerce also does this redirect by default).

Sorry for the confusion, I guess Andrii meant to send this link How to refresh WordPress permalinks - HivePress Help Center

[Dee]

Thanks for clarifying iHor. Google’s kicking our ass and it seems we’d be better off keeping the author profiles separate. Can you please advise on how do I turn off the redirect?

Thank you

[andrii]

Hi,

The easiest option is to comment out this line: hivepress/includes/components/class-user.php at master · hivepress/hivepress · GitHub

Also, can you please provide more details on how exactly Google reacts to the fact that a page’s authors have disappeared?

[Dee]

Thanks Andrii. That worked.

Ever since Google rolled out the HCU and with the rapid growth of AI, EEAT seems to have become even more important and author profiles are a big part of it.

All the sites that I see winning have clearly defined author profiles. We’re also looking to make it clickable as that seems to be working for most sites.

Also, in some cases, Google now includes the author in SERPs. Meta description starts with “by XYZ author” as below.

Industry experts as Brian Dean stress on it: Google E-E-A-T: How to Create People-First Content.