H Card – Page Ranking
H card is a microformat used for publishing someone’s contact details on the web, which can directly result in higher page rankings. For example the name of people, companies, organizations, places, addresses, postcodes, telephone numbers etc (in (X)HTML, Atom, RSS or XML). The information is identified using HTML classes and relative attributes, and H card allows parsing tools, e.g. other websites, Firefox and Internet explorer to extract the details and display them using some other websites or mapping tools.
In May 2009, Google announced that they would be parsing the H card, using them to populate search-result pages. It is therefore fair to state that if using H card on your websites then theoretically, your website should receive higher Google page rankings. However, to what extent can H card help page ranking and how important is this microformat?
hen used on business sites, microformat data will be used to help confirm that your business name, address, phone, etc, are all correct in Google’s database of local places. Data confirmation may help clear up problems in your listing – and may also encourage the engines to rank your business higher in the local search results.
The hCard Format
In order to add microformat information to your listing, Google mentions encoding it in the hCard format.
Here is an hCard – the code is on the left, and the way it displays on your website is on the right: (Don’t worry, I’m going to show you how to create this easily)
To create something just like this for your site, go to this hCard creator (if that one doesn’t work, try here). You don’t need to fill out all the boxes – just complete the relevant blanks, and it will generate the code for you. I would make sure to fill out all the information exactly the way it is in my Google Places account. You can copy and paste the generated code into your website, and you’ll be all set. If using WordPress, you can put it in a text widget, or paste it into the html editor.
The one caveat to these automated creators is that they don’t add geo-location data. Geo-data could be helpful, particularly if Google tends to mis-locate your business on its map. For Google’s overview on adding this information, go here (open the subheading on microformats for hCard information).
Other Possible Uses
On Google’s main rich snippets for local search page, it’s clear that their new support for the format is not just targeted at business owners.
They are also collecting local information regarding reviews, people, and events. This may help Google pull-in reviews of your business from more sources, or list events happening at your location. It also may help freelancers show up in local searches (Google shows an example of LinkedIn data being displayed).
Conclusion
Adding an hCard to your website is not going to be game-changing, but could provide some benefit in the local search results. The other uses of hCard data will further enrich local search, making it that much more important to be sure that your business is properly represented. For more on that subject, take a look at my guide to Google Places.
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