Google has come up with something new and unique as they launch ‘People Cards’ in India.
What is it?
With the help of people cards, users can create their own profiles which will appear on the search engine.
You can add your name, occupation, education, website. You can also add your phone number, and social media account links. An about section is also present to describe yourself and that is an important section to fill.
This feature feels more like a Linkedin thing. Linkedin is a platform where people create accounts to make connections and share their work and achievements. The profile structure on ‘People cards’ is somewhat similar to your Linkedin account structure.
The company said it has rolled out the feature, called people cards, first in India because of the special affinity people in the world’s second-largest internet market have shown toward looking up their own names on the search engine. People cards currently only support English.
Here is an example of a card.
How to create your personal card?
It is a fairly easy process. There are two ways. One way is you can google your name and the first thing you will see a template asking you to create your own card. Click on the get started button and add all the information which you want on the card to appear.
The second way is you can search ‘add me on google’ on google and it will show you the same template.
Google said the more information a user provides, the easier it would be for others to find them on Google Search. You can only create one card with one google account.
You would think about how safe this feature is. Is it okay to expose your profiles or mail id or phone numbers on google search, For this, Google has stated that “We have a number of mechanisms to protect against abusive or spammy content, and if you come across low-quality information or a card that you believe was created by an impersonator, you can tap the feedback link to let us know. If you no longer want your people card to appear in Search, you can delete it at any time,”
You have the option to hide your details like mail id and phone number to yourself. You can not fill it at all as email id and phone number are optional. Your name and about section are the required fields.
If you have already created your own card, you can delete it and opt yourself out of it.
The purpose of this feature
The prime purpose of people cards is to allow individuals to have a public profile on Google Search that will be displayed on top of all results
Google claims that with people cards, it is aiming to provide “helpful and reliable information” to the public.
Lauren Clark, Product Manager for Search at Google said “For the millions of influencers, entrepreneurs, prospective employees, self-employed individuals, freelancers, or anyone else out there who wants to be discovered, we hope this new Search feature will help the world find them.