 As discussed in an earlier post, there are many factors to consider when optimizing your Web site for localized search. These factors affect how your site appears in local results for the big search engines as well as the smaller local engines. Today, I will go into more detail specifically about how to use the hCard microformat to optimize your site for local search.
What is it?
The hCard microformat is a Web-standards compliant way to provide an electronic business card on your Web site to represent yourself, your company, or your location. Like a vCard, which is an application-based electronic business card readable by many applications (i.e. Outlook and iCal), hCard is structured such that online apps can look at the format, recognize it as a valid form of identification, and parse the elements of it accordingly.
Since the hCard format is based on the vCard standard, spiders or other aggregators are able to retrieve the information and automatically convert it to a vCard, and enable it for use in any vCard application or service.
What format does it use?
The hCard uses a simple semantic XHTML format for creating a 1:1 representation of the same values contained in a standard vCard, and it's suitable for embedding in many online file formats including XHTML, XML and RSS to name a few.
The hCard format allows designation of key values to identify yourself or your business such as URL, address and telephone numbers. It uses classes and actual HTML tagging (i.e. "abbr" for abbreviations) allowing businesses and individuals to embed hCards directly in their Web pages, and style them with CSS just as you would with any other HTML code. In addition, hCard enables online apps to retrieve information directly from Web pages without having to reference a separate file.
Unfortunately, since the format is not yet widely adopted across the Web, the major search engines claim that it's not used as a primary indicator when indexing sites. That said, local search engines (including Yahoo and Google Local) value the hCard implementation and use it as another level of verification in their local search listings. For instance, Google Maps uses it directly in its application to properly identify site/business locations, as do many local-focused search engines.
Why should you be using it?
1) The more sites that adopt the hCard format, the more likely it will become a standard protocol for the Web, and eventually it's bound to become another key indicator used by the search engines to determine relevance. So best to start using it now!
2) Having an hCard on your site provides a quick and easy way for users and spiders alike to find and parse important information about you. As well as finding it, many applications will allow linking directly to your hCard and storing of the information - much the same as a vCard in your Outlook signature.
3) If localization and local search targeting are important to your business, having an hCard will be vital to your success. As mentioned above, many local search engines (including the big players) put value in the hCard format and often will use them to validate business location.
4) The ability to include a nickname on your electronic business card allows for additional personalization and clarification. This is especially important if you're a user of social media - in social media spheres aliases and nicknames are often used instead of given names or business names.
hCard Property List
Here's a quick-reference cheatsheet (adapted from the Microformats Wiki) of the required and optional hCard properties with corresponding sub-properties (in parentheses).
Required:
-
fn - functional name
-
n 1 (family-name, given-name, additional-name, honorific-prefix, honorific-suffix)
Optional:
-
nickname, sort-string
-
url, email (type, value), tel 2 (type, value)
-
adr (post-office-box, extended-address, street-address, locality, region, postal-code, country-name, type, value), label
-
geo (latitude, longitude), tz
-
photo, logo, sound, bday
-
title, role, org (organization-name, organization-unit)
-
category, note
-
class, key, mailer, uid, rev
An Example hCard:
-----Front End Look and feel EXAMPLE-----
Example Company 123
Some St. City, CA
90210
USA
Work +1-555-555-5555
Fax +1-555-555-5555
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
-----Front End Look and feel EXAMPLE-----
-----Back-End HTML CODE EXAMPLE-----
-----Back-End HTML CODE EXAMPLE-----
###
About the Author
Jeff Jones is a Web-optimization specialist. He helps companies improve their Web sites, SEO results and PPC-campaign performance. Connect and collaborate with him on Twitter.
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