The fastest and easiest way to gain influence in Google is to enter the query: **Add me to search**.
If you live in India, Kenya, Nigeria or South Africa, this command will prompt you to create a person card for Google Search.
All you need is a mobile device with internet access, a personal Google account, and web and app activity turned on in your account settings.
A personnel card is like a virtual business card that shows up in Google when you search for your name.
This article walks you through the steps outlined in Google with your own people card in minutes.
How to create a staff card
step 1
Enter the query “Add me to search” and you’ll see the option to create a person card at the top of the screen.
Click “Start” to start creating your card.
Step 2
Fill in your information. Click the button to start. You will see the following screen:
Screenshot by author, April 2022Required fields come first and they are:
Below the required fields, you will see a section of additional information that you can include if you wish.
The fields shown in the screenshot below are all optional. You can add as much or as little content as you want.
Screenshot by author, April 2022Google will allow you to add links to the following social profiles:
- sound cloud
- YouTube
In most cases, you will be able to enter all the information manually. There are two exceptions – email and phone numbers.
Google will automatically populate the email and phone number fields with information from your Google Account. You can’t change the email or phone number on your personnel card unless you do it in your Google Account.
Of course, if you don’t want to reveal your personal email or phone number, you can choose not to display these fields at all.
Step 3
After filling out the fields in the second step, the only thing left to do is preview the card before it goes live.
Once you’re happy with how your card looks, save it and it’ll be indexed in search results right away.
To see what it will look like in search results when it goes live, just look up your name.
Screenshot by author, April 2022It’s all here. Remember, only searchers in India, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa will see Google’s People Cards.
Google hasn’t indicated whether this feature will come to other countries. However, if you set one up now, you’ll be ready for wider deployment.
Not in India?
People located outside India have managed to set up their own personnel cards by using a VPN.
Aleyda Solis shared on Twitter a screenshot of her card being successfully added to the search results:
Got my person card on Google… Funny thing is when I specify my social presence in Twitter or Facebook I get an error saying to try something more specific 😅 pic.twitter.com/1QGkyggdtb
— Aleyda Solis 🇺🇦 (@aleyda) August 11, 2020
Solis points out that she can do this by accessing the mobile version of Google through a VPN.
What is a Google Staff Card?
It can be challenging to appear in search results as an individual, especially for someone who is unknown or shares the same name with many others.
For searchers, if they don’t have a specific person, it’s hard to find their information strong online presence.
Google aims to solve these challenges with people cards:
“…we’re addressing these challenges with a new feature called People Cards. It’s like a virtual business card where you can highlight existing websites or social profiles you want people to visit, and what you want others to know about other information about yourself.”
Character cards are designed for business professionals, performers, influencers, entrepreneurs, job seekers, freelancers or anyone looking to grow their presence online.
People cards can include links to websites, links to social profiles, and anything else you want people to know about you.
When you search for someone’s name, if they have a person card, you’ll see a module with their name, occupation, and location. The module can be clicked to view the complete card.
General Guidelines for Google Personnel Cards
Once a person card is created, it must be kept up to date in order for Google to continue showing it in search results.
Google may stop showing your card if it has been a long time since the card was updated or verified.
You can edit and change what is shared on your people card at any time Your Google Search Contribution Pageor by searching for Edit My Staff Card.
It usually takes a few hours for your person card to appear in search results. However, Google doesn’t guarantee that everyone’s cards will be displayed.
The more information you provide, the more likely your card will appear in search results. So if it doesn’t show up after a few hours, try editing it to include more details.
More resources:
Featured image: alexdndz/Shutterstock
