Though its role is quite simple, the address element seems to be easily forgotten, or even misunderstood – it is named somewhat misleadingly. In short, you should use it to indicate the contact info for a web page, like an email or website address.

The spec is crisp about it: The address element represents the contact information for its nearest article or body element ancestor. If that is the body element, then the contact information applies to the document as a whole.

(For example, I wrapped the “contact me” link on my homepage in it.)

Have a look at the address element in the HTML standard, it’s a short read.

Important note: Don’t use the address element for marking up addresses in general, such as postal addresses (unless they represent the actual contact, of course). For that purpose, use the adr format, a property of the hCard microformat.