Does my about page actually matter?
It is one of the most visited pages on most sites, and one of the few things both people and machines use to judge whether you are real.
Yes, more than most people assume. It is routinely among the top visited pages, it is what someone checks before buying or citing, and it is where search engines and assistants look to establish who is behind the content. It is also the page most often left as placeholder text.
Who reads it and why
- Prospective customers deciding whether you are a real business before parting with money.
- Journalists and researchers establishing who they would be quoting.
- Potential hires, for whom it is often the deciding page.
- Search engines and assistants, which use it to connect the site to an entity and to judge whether content is attributable.
All four are asking the same question: is there anybody actually here?
What it needs to contain
- Who you are. The legal entity, and the people if it is small. Names, not "the team".
- What you do, in a sentence, before any history.
- Who it is for. Being specific about your audience is more persuasive than claiming to serve everyone.
- Why you. Experience, credentials, track record — specifics rather than adjectives.
- Where you are. A location, even just a city and country.
- How to reach you. Repeat the contact details here.
- Photographs of real people, if you have them. Stock photos of a fictional team are worse than none.
What weakens it
| Pattern | Problem |
|---|---|
| "Founded on a passion for excellence" | Says nothing. Every organisation claims it. |
| No names anywhere | The most common and most damaging omission. |
| Stock photos presented as staff | Frequently recognised; being caught costs more than an empty page. |
| A wall of company history | Almost nobody wants it. Lead with what you do now. |
| No contact route | Undermines the entire purpose of the page. |
| Vague scale claims | "Trusted by thousands" without a single name. |
Make it machine-readable too
<script type="application/ld+json">
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Organization",
"name": "Example Ltd",
"url": "https://example.com",
"logo": "https://example.com/logo.png",
"email": "hello@example.com",
"address": {
"@type": "PostalAddress",
"addressLocality": "Bristol",
"addressCountry": "GB"
},
"sameAs": ["https://www.linkedin.com/company/example"]
}
</script>The sameAs links matter more than they look: they connect your site to profiles elsewhere, which is how an entity gets corroborated.
What our audit reports about this
Every item below is measured directly, not inferred. Run it against your own site and the result names the exact rule or header responsible.
- Whether an about page exists and is linked from the page audited.
- Whether organisational identity, location and contact details are present.
- Whether
Organizationstructured data is declared, with logo and sameAs links. - Whether content is attributed to named people.
For agents and scripts, the same measurement is at
/api/v1/credibility?url=yoursite.com —
see the API documentation.
Related questions
I am a sole trader. Should I use "we"?
Say "I". It is more credible than a one-person operation writing as a corporation, and readers notice the mismatch immediately.
Do I have to publish my address?
A city and country is usually enough. A registered or service address covers legal disclosure requirements without publishing where you live.
Should the about page rank in search?
It often does for your brand name, which is exactly right. It is not usually a traffic page — its value is in conversion and credibility.
Read next
How do I make my website look trustworthy?
The signals people and machines actually use — most of which cost nothing and are missing from most small sites.
ReadShould I put my email address on my website?
Yes. The spam argument is weaker than it was, and being uncontactable costs more than the spam does.
ReadWhat is structured data and do I need it?
Machine-readable facts about your page. Worth adding where it genuinely describes the content, worthless — and occasionally harmful — everywhere else.
ReadDo I need a privacy policy on my website?
Almost certainly yes, and probably a cookie notice too. What actually triggers the requirement, and why generated policies often make things worse.
Read