diff --git a/lib/jekyll-seo-tag.rb b/lib/jekyll-seo-tag.rb
index 9fed5e4..c2e443f 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll-seo-tag.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll-seo-tag.rb
@@ -17,20 +17,12 @@ module Jekyll
 
     def payload
       {
-        'seo_tag' => { 'version' => VERSION, 'author' => author },
-        'page'    => page,
-        'site'    => site
+        'seo_tag' => { 'version' => VERSION },
+        'page'    => context.registers[:page],
+        'site'    => context.registers[:site].site_payload['site']
       }
     end
 
-    def page
-      context.registers[:page]
-    end
-
-    def site
-      context.registers[:site].site_payload['site']
-    end
-
     def info
       {
         registers: context.registers,
@@ -53,28 +45,6 @@ module Jekyll
         File.expand_path './template.html', File.dirname(__FILE__)
       end
     end
-
-    # Returns a hash representing the post author
-    #
-    # Sources, in order:
-    #
-    # 1. page.author, if page.author is a hash
-    # 2. site.author, if site.author is a hash
-    # 3. site.data.authors[page.author] if page.author is a string
-    # 4. page.author if page.author is a string
-    def author
-      author = page['author'] || site['author']
-      return if author.nil?
-      return author if author.is_a?(Hash)
-
-      if author.is_a?(String)
-        if site['data']['authors'] && site['data']['authors'][author]
-          site['data']['authors'][author]
-        else
-          { 'twitter' => author }
-        end
-      end
-    end
   end
 end
 
diff --git a/lib/template.html b/lib/template.html
index 23ca2bf..62ab874 100644
--- a/lib/template.html
+++ b/lib/template.html
@@ -39,8 +39,18 @@
   {% assign seo_description = seo_description | markdownify | strip_html | strip_newlines | escape_once %}
 {% endif %}
 
-{% if seo_tag.author %}
-  {% assign seo_author_twitter = seo_tag.author.twitter | replace:"@","" %}
+{% assign seo_author = page.author | default: site.author %}
+{% if seo_author %}
+  {% if seo_author.twitter %}
+    {% assign seo_author_twitter = seo_author.twitter %}
+  {% else %}
+    {% if site.data.authors and site.data.authors[seo_author] %}
+      {% assign seo_author_twitter = site.data.authors[seo_author].twitter  %}
+    {% else %}
+      {% assign seo_author_twitter = seo_author  %}
+    {% endif %}
+  {% endif %}
+  {% assign seo_author_twitter = seo_author_twitter | replace:"@","" %}
 {% endif %}
 
 {% if seo_title %}