Google News has stopped supported the “author:” search command, reports Search Engine Roundtable.

Instead, Google appears to be focusing more on efforts such as the “rel=author” tag to filter news content by author (click the link to learn more about this, though be warned it’s a bit technical).

By way of further explanation, a Google employee wrote in a support forum: ”The author: search operator is no longer available. For author-specific Google News content, I would recommend use of the Authorship capabilities in Google News, introduced last month. Integration with Google+ circles means easier following and engagement between authors and readers.”

Earlier this year, Google announced it would introduce close integration between Google News and journalists’ Google+ profiles.