Microformats are a way of adding simple markup to human-readable data items such as events, contact details or locations, on web pages, so that the information in them can be extracted by software and indexed, searched for, saved, cross-referenced or combined.
Microformats are a way to use (X)HTML for data and a logical next step in the evolution of web design and information architecture and a way of thinking about data which combines html, content and presentation .
From the SEO perspective the most commonly used microformat is the integration of Hcard for the contact address on your website contact page.
If I write the contact address of my company without the using the hCard the HTML will be as follows:
If you are using the hCard it is advisable to put only one address on the page but if you have to put more than one the change the div id=”” class=”vcard” tag accordingly for every address.
The code can be generated by using the hCard creator on the following link:
http://microformats.org/code/hcard/creator
Reference Reading:
http://www.microformats.org/wiki/hcard
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HCard
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2009/05/introducing-rich-snippets.html
Bharati Ahuja is the Founder of WebPro Technologies LLP, an SEO and digital strategy company she established in 2001. With over two decades of experience in search engine optimization, digital marketing, and ethical web strategies, she has been at the forefront of helping businesses build sustainable visibility online.