Markup processing rules

These are the rules that decide whether markup is read the way you intended — and they are where most hCard implementations go wrong.

Combining classes

hCard classes may be combined with ordinary CSS classes freely, on the root and on properties alike. Two restrictions:

• A vcard root element must not carry another hCard class.
• Do not nest properties. A tel inside an adr may be processed incorrectly. The exception is nesting the standard explicitly allows: country-name, region, locality, street-address, extended-address and postal-code inside adr; latitude and longitude inside geo.

The nesting rule is easy to break by accident, because the visual layout of a contact block often puts the phone number inside the address paragraph.

How values are extracted

Normally the value is the visible text inside the element. Two exceptions carry the whole practical technique:

• <abbr> with title — the value is the attribute, not the text. <abbr class="tel" title="+7 (890) 123-45-67">123-45-67</abbr> shows a local number and publishes the full one.
• <a> with href for URL-valued properties — url, email, logo, photo — where the value is the link target.

The alternative to markup entirely

Yandex states that submitting contact information through Site geography → Addresses and organisations in the console is equivalent to marking up the pages: the data goes to Yandex Business and appears across Yandex services either way. Two doors, one database.

Choosing between them

Markup keeps the site as the single source of truth and updates automatically when the page changes. The form gives faster updates and visible moderation status. For a business whose details rarely change, the form is less work; for a branch network that changes often, the markup pays for itself.