We have been running the WPBeginner blog for 15+ years, and our team has collaborated to write thousands of WordPress posts. In terms of authorship, we like to share credit as a team under ‘Editorial Staff. ‘ While this works great for us, it might not be right for your WordPress blog.
If you run a news site or work with lots of guest bloggers, you might need a different approach. For example, you may want to add multiple authors for posts in WordPress. But, by default, the platform only lets you add a single author to a page.
As WordPress blogging experts, we’ve tried and tested lots of tools that help streamline publishing workflows. And we found that the best way to add multiple blog post authors is by using a plugin. This way, you can give credit where it’s due and keep all your writers happy.
In this article, we will show you how to add multiple authors for posts in WordPress.
How to Create Multiple Authors (Co-Authors) for Posts in WordPress
The easiest way to add multiple authors to a WordPress post is by using the free Co-Authors Plus plugin.
In the following image, you can see that this plugin allows you to credit any user who is already registered with your WordPress website.
Co-Author Plus also adds a new Guest Authors user type, which lets you credit any authors who don’t have an account on your WordPress blog. This can be super handy.
First, you’ll need to install and activate the Co-Authors Plus plugin. If you need help, then please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Once the plugin is activated, you simply need to edit the post where you want to credit multiple authors.
In the right-hand tab of the content editor, simply scroll to the new ‘Authors’ section and give it a click to expand.
In the ‘Authors’ tab, you can click on the ‘Select An Author’ field. Then, simply type in the name of the registered user who you want to credit.
When the right person appears in the dropdown menu, just click to add this author to your post.
You can now add multiple co-authors by following the process described above.
By default, WordPress will show these co-authors in the order you added them to the post. If you need to change this order, then simply click on the up and down arrows that appear next to each name.
If you want to remove a co-author from the post, then simply click on the ‘X’ icon next to that person’s name.
Once you’ve credited all of your co-authors, you can publish or update this post. For help with managing your authors, you can see our guide on how to effectively attract and manage guest bloggers in WordPress.
Showing Multiple Authors On Your Multi-Author Blog
Depending on your WordPress theme, this plugin may not automatically show multiple authors for posts in WordPress. This means you’ll need to edit your theme files.
If you haven’t edited these files before, then please see our guide on how to copy paste code in WordPress.
Before editing your theme’s code, it’s also a good idea to create a backup. Backups allow you to quickly restore your WordPress site in case something goes wrong.
There are many free and paid WordPress backup plugins that you can use, including Duplicator. For a detailed walkthrough, you can also see our guide on how to back up your WordPress site.
Once you’ve created a backup, you’ll need to edit the code that’s responsible for showing the author’s name.
This code is usually either the_author() or the_author_posts_link() function.
Depending on your theme, you might find this function in your theme’s single.php, content.php, or functions.php file. For more information, see our guide on how to find which theme files to edit in WordPress.
Once you’ve found one of these functions, you’ll need to replace it with the following snippet:
if ( function_exists( 'coauthors_posts_links' ) ) {
coauthors_posts_links();
} else {
the_author_posts_link();
}
Let’s see how you can create a multi-author blog using the popular OceanWP theme.
If you open this theme’s functions.php file, you’ll find a the_author_posts_link function:
public static function the_author_posts_link( $link ) {
// Add schema markup.
$schema = oceanwp_get_schema_markup( 'author_link' );
if ( $schema ) {
$link = str_replace( 'rel="author"', 'rel="author" ' . $schema, $link );
}
// Return link.
return $link;
}
To show multiple authors in WordPress, we just need to replace this section with the code snippet below:
public static function the_author_posts_link( $link ) {
// Add schema markup.
if ( function_exists( 'coauthors_posts_links' ) ) {
coauthors_posts_links();
} else {
the_author_posts_link();
}
// Return link.
return $link;
}
After adding this code, scroll to the bottom of the screen.
You can then go ahead and click on the ‘Update File’ button.
Now if you visit your site, you’ll see multiple authors credited on your WordPress post.
Alternative: Instead of editing your theme files, which can break your website, you can safely add the code above using the WPCode plugin. For step-by-step instructions, see our tutorial on how to easily add custom code in WordPress.
Adding Guest Authors to Your Multi-Author WordPress Blog
The Co-Authors Plus plugin can look up and show registered users on your multi-author WordPress blog.
But what if you wanted to credit a guest author who doesn’t already have an account on your website?
While you could create an account for authors, this isn’t always the safest option.
Even though WordPress has user roles and capabilities, giving someone access to your admin area or writing privileges on your website always comes with a risk.
For more details on how to protect your website, you can see our ultimate WordPress security guide.
With that in mind, you can use Co-Authors Plus to create guest authors. You can then credit multiple guest authors on a single post without them ever having access to your WordPress admin area.
To create a guest author, head over to Users » Guest Authors. From here, you can click on ‘Add New.’
On the next screen, you need to type all of this person’s information into the ‘Add New Guest Author’ form.
You can also upload an image that will act as this author’s avatar. As long as your theme supports avatars, this picture will appear alongside the author’s name on your website.
If you don’t upload an avatar, then WordPress will look for any Gravatar that’s linked to the guest author’s email address. For more information, please see our guide on how to change the default Gravatar on WordPress.
Once you’ve typed in all of this information, go ahead and click on the ‘Add New Guest Author’ button.
WordPress will now create this person as a guest author. To credit them as a co-author, simply follow the same process described above.
Expert Guides: How to Better Manage WordPress Authors
Here are some additional expert guides to help you better manage authors in WordPress:
- How to Change the Author of a Post in WordPress
- How to Limit Authors to Their Own Posts in WordPress Admin
- How to Rewrite Guest Author Name with Custom Fields in WordPress
- How to Restrict Authors to Specific Category in WordPress
- How to Prevent Authors From Deleting Posts in WordPress
We hope that this article helped you learn how to add multiple authors (co-authors) for posts in WordPress. You might also be interested in our guides on how to limit editors to only edit certain pages or how to disable Gravatars in WordPress.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
Syed Balkhi
Hey WPBeginner readers,
Did you know you can win exciting prizes by commenting on WPBeginner?
Every month, our top blog commenters will win HUGE rewards, including premium WordPress plugin licenses and cash prizes.
You can get more details about the contest from here.
Start sharing your thoughts below to stand a chance to win!
Lisa Thompson
It looks like the Co-Authors Plus plugin is semi-abandoned. There aren’t any responses on the support forum. Can you recommend another plugin with this capability?
WPBeginner Support
Not at the moment but we will keep an eye out and update our article should we find a plugin we feel would be a good fit!
Admin
Dennis Muthomi
hi, I’m about to hire my first inhouse writer for my website, and I want to make sure they get proper credit for their work. I noticed that in this article, you have “Written by:” and “Reviewed by:” sections at the top.
It’s a great way to acknowledge the different roles people play in creating content. I’m curious – are you using a plugin to achieve this, or did you add a custom code snippet?
WPBeginner Support
For the moment ours is a custom snippet.
Admin
Dennis Muthomi
thank you for responding and confirming that you’re using a custom snippet to display multiple authors sir.
well, I will just have to use the Co-Authors Plus plugin, it will get the job done.
AL
How to add “Updated By” or in this article, “Reviewed By”? Is there a specific plugin for this? Thanks.
WPBeginner Support
For the moment that is something we are testing, if we have a way we would recommend adding it we will be sure to share, for the moment you would need to modify your theme’s templates.
Admin
Muhammad Qamar Shafique
Hi
I want to add 2 profiles to a blog, 1 for the author who wrote that blog and the second for the editor, who reviewed that blog. Is there any way to do so? Any plugin?
WPBeginner Support
Unless we’re misunderstanding, you can use the method from this article
Admin
Kadon Hodson
For the site I am trying to use this plugin on, I don’t care about showing the multiple authors somewhere on my post. In fact, I am using it on a custom post type that does not show the authors on the front-end, anyway. What I need is for two authors to have the ability to edit the post in the back-end. When I set the plugin up, only the top author is able to view or edit the post. Do I still need to change the code to make it work? Or is there some other code that needs changed?
WPBeginner Support
You would sadly need to reach out to the plugin’s support if it is not giving access to the coauthors to edit.
Admin
santiago
Guys,
im having troubles with the name displayed on the post.
for example i have added an author filling the fields how the pluging recommend. Display name Aaaa Bbbb, name Aaaa, surname Bbbb, email etc.
And the post display “aaaa-bbbb” and don´t display name “Aaaa Bbbb”.
Im using Zeen themme. Do you know what´s happening here?
Thanks-
WPBeginner Support
You would want to ensure that you replaced the correct tag in your theme’s files. If you reach out to your theme’s support they should be able to point you toward the correct template tag
Admin
sumit
Hi Techies,
So to get both author in posts you have to customize single.php
Cedric N
I found the single.php file but it contains no “the_author_posts_link” line
I’m using the poseidon theme
Is the theme simply incompatible with the plugin?
WPBeginner Support
Hi Cedric,
Your theme may be using template parts, in that case you may need to edit the template references in single.php file. Many WordPress themes use their own template_tags to display author bio, in that case you will need theme author’s help to add this.
Admin
uday
Hello sir,
I want select 2 authors by default.
When I have add new post the me as authors selected right…but I want 2 different author selected….
Antoninf
Hi, always wondering how can I place the co-authors’ box below the articles. Using this plugin for many time but still only for the top name. Can you help me out? Thanks.
Rustyn Rose
I am not sure why anybody would promote this plug-in. The only real point of co-authors is for them to get public credit. A plug-in that only does the back-end and requires coding for the front-end defeats the point of a plug-in which is for people who don’t know how to do coding. That and they don’t keep it up to date anyway. How is this plug-in helpful?
Stacey P
In addition, the plugin performance has degraded since recent WP upgrades. It uses a wp_query using SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS, which, on large sites, causes huge processor overload. I’ve read good things about the BYLINES plugin, which has recently been acquired by the folks at PublishPress.
But I’d love to explore other options as well to get around the problem.
Cedric N
Are there any alternative plugins though?
Waqas Ahmad
is there any one have idea about Genesis framework single.php file because i design my theme in Genesis framwork and there is only this code available genesis(); in single.php so how to add this code?
if ( function_exists( ‘coauthors_posts_links’ ) ) {
coauthors_posts_links();
} else {
the_author_posts_link();
}
Ally
Hi! So I installed the plugin and added the guest authors, but I can’t quite find where to insert the code. My site is ran by WordPress, so the only place I can insert code is in “additional CSS,” and this doesn’t seem to do anything. Any ideas?
WPBeginner Support
Hi Ally,
If you are running a self hosted WordPress.org site, then you will find the code in single.php, content.php, or a template tag in your theme’s functions.php file. On the other hand, if you are on WordPress.com, then you cannot directly edit the theme files. Please see our comparison of WordPress.org vs WordPress.com
Admin
John Romaine
Useful if you have only a few authors, but on large sites with hundreds of authors, this plugin is pretty much useless, especially if you have no idea who contributed to the post.
I cant understand why you have to “search” for the authors. Shouldn’t this software be smart enough to know who contributed???
saad
Hi this is great plugin but can we show on which date we added the new author
Joe Ferris
I’m using a child theme of the SuperNews theme. I’ve searched the entire theme directory for any mention of the word ‘author’ and found none.
How can I make it work if I don’t have that template tag in my theme?
Svend Rugaard
I cant seem to get it to work – my theme is “Premium” – but i cant seem to found what files to edit, i have put that command in functions.php –
I can choose persons but it only show the “original” poster on my post.
I have try to look for those files you mention, but they doesnt exist, or i dont exactly sure what i should look for
My Theme is “Gauge”
WPBeginner Support
Hey Svend,
Please contact your theme’s support they will be able to tell you which files you need to edit.
Admin
Umair
i have installed Co Authors Plus and added guest author successfully,
after assigning post to guest author, when i click on author name, instead of showing all posts from that guest author, it redirects to main home page
Fahad Ur Rehman Khan
This is a great tutorial!
Jennifer
This plugin’s functionality should be baked into WordPress. It’s staggering that WordPress continues to tout itself as a CMS (no longer just a blog), but it has no concept of groups, or multiple authors working on a piece of content. Staggering. Good plugin though. Thanks
Matus
Could you please make a tutorial on how to use, create and embed dynamic favicons?