Google Search already shows you information cards for celebrities, Internet-famous personalities, and other material things. You do not see cards for your best friend or YouTube creators that you like to follow. Google is looking to change this today with the introduction of ‘People Cards’ in India. This will give people looking to build an online presence to highlight their existence in Google Search.
Describing the People Cards, Google in its official blog post says – “It’s like a virtual visiting card, where you can highlight your existing website or social profiles you want people to visit, plus other information about yourself that you want others to know.” The card will display your name, location, profession, and social media links.
The company is said to have been testing this feature for the past couple of years. It was initially spotted in action by the folks at XDA earlier this year. Since we will be submitting our own cards, Google has put some protections in place to prevent its abuse. You can create only one ‘People Card’ per Google account and will need to authenticate them via your phone number.
So, if you are someone who wants others to see a ‘People Card’ when they search for them on Google, then follow the steps below to create a people card for yourself:
How to Create People Card for Google Search
1. In the Google Search bar on your Android phone, type in ‘add me to search’ to see a search result that reads — ‘Add yourself to Google Search.’ Click on the ‘Get Started’ button in this search result.
2. You will be taken to the ‘Create your public card’ page, where you have to enter all your details including your location, job details, website link, social media links, and more.
Note: This process is for the creation of individual people cards and businesses need to follow a different procedure to see their cards in search results.
3. Once you’ve entered all the details, click on the ‘Preview’ button at the bottom to see how your ‘People Card’ will appear in search results. If you’re satisfied with the details, simply hit ‘Save’ and your information will start showing in Google Search within a few hours.
Google itself has shown off the complete ‘People Card’ creation process in a handy GIF, which I’ve attached below. You can see a quick recap of the steps involved right here. It is a super easy process that requires you to fill in the details, preview the card, correct any issues, and make it live in search results.
Apart from the phone number verification, the search giant also has in place ‘a number of mechanisms to protect against abusive or spammy content,’ as per the official blog post. You can also report low-quality information or a card that you believe was created by an impersonator, you can tap the feedback link to let us know.
Finally, if you ever decide to stop your people card from appearing in search results, it is possible to delete the same at any time. I already tried creating my own People Card, as you see above. Now, why don’t you go ahead and give it a try? It will be interesting to see how influencers or socially active users will use this to their advantage.
