As I use the Structured Data Testing Tool, I noticed that the preview does allow my website logo to be appeared in the Google search result instead of the author's headshot:
Although I've implemented rel="publisher" on my Google+ badge, if I'm not mistaken, the rich snippets "by MalaysiaTraining.net" and "More by MalaysiaTraining.net" are actually came from rel=author, which is to be implemented as the URL paramter to a Google+ profile URL but not the rel="publisher" attribute in the anchor tag (correct me if I'm wrong).
In order to achieve the exact effects as shown in the preview, I wonder if I can do something like that:
<a href="https://plus.google.com/my-page-id?rel=author" rel="publisher">
<img src="my-google-plus-badge.png" alt="Follow us on Google+" />
</a>
If this is illegal due to the author vs. publisher conflict, what if I remove the rel="publisher" attribute, leaving the rel=author parameter to be used only with my Google+ business page URL? Will this violate the Google SEO guidelines and cause a penalty?
Please advise me and thanks in advance!
Well if i get this right, rel=author links to your private and personal Google+ page. And the rel=publisher tag links to your Google+ business page. I think it's not possible to use both of them, because you're trying to mix a google+ profile and business page.
Edit (short): It's possible
Edit (long): It's possible, because with the rel=publisher you confirm that the website is the publisher (of the given g+ page) and the rel=author confirms that you're the author (of the content). These snippets are very useful if you're having a website with multi-authorship.