If you search for famous people on Google, it’s easy to find information about well-known personalities: search their names and you’ll often find knowledge panels that organize information about them from trusted sources, all in an easy-to-digest format. But what happens when you search for people who aren’t famous - or even search for your own name? It’s not always easy to find the person or information that you’re looking for. After all, there are many people who share the same name, and it’s hard to know who’s who on the internet.
If you’re a content creator, business professional, or anyone looking to build up your own online presence, you might have a website, social profiles, and other information spread across many sites. If you’re just getting started, you may not have a website or much of an online presence at all. Today, we are solving these challenges by expanding a feature called people cards to the region. It’s like a virtual 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.
Creating a people card is easy. First, sign into your Google Account, then simply search for your name or “add me to Search” and tap the prompt that appears. To start building your people card, you can choose to include the image from your Google account, add a description of yourself, links to your website or social profiles, and, if you want, a phone number or email address. The more information you provide, the easier it is for people to find you.
Our goal with Search is to always make sure people can find helpful and reliable information, so we have a variety of protections and controls in place to maintain the quality of information on people cards. Only one people card is allowed per Google Account, and a phone number is required to authenticate the account. 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.
If you’re trying to find someone on Search, these new cards make it quick and easy to find the right person. When you search for someone’s name and there’s a card available, you’ll see a module with the name, profession and location, which you can tap to see their card. For people who share the same name, you’ll see multiple modules, and the information can help you distinguish between the different individuals to find who you’re looking for.
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. For people in Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa searching on mobile phones, people cards are rolling out in English starting today.