The often forgotten footer
A friend DM'd me the other day (met on Instagram, as with all great friendships in your 30s): "i fixed my website footer like you said and googled my biz name again and it's NUMBER 2. Shook."
All she did was update her website footer. Added her brand name, a short bio, links to all her pages, and a few other relevant bits. That's it.
Here's the thing about website footers: everyone forgets about them. You spend all this time on your homepage, your about page, your services. By the time you get to the footer, you're tired. So you throw in a copyright notice, maybe a few random links, and call it done.
But your website footer actually matters for both user experience and SEO.
People actually use footers (I know, wild)
I learned this at Net-a-Porter. Footers aren't just decoration. People actively scroll down there looking for stuff.
Sometimes it's because they read your whole page and didn't find what they wanted. So the footer becomes their last resort. Maybe they're looking for a careers page (guilty—I love snooping on careers pages). Maybe they need to contact you but couldn't find the link. Maybe they want to see your other services.
Or sometimes people just know that certain information lives in footers. Contact details. Full page list. Company information. Social links. They scroll straight down there because that's where they expect to find it.
And here's something I noticed: when someone's already at the bottom of a long page, they'll use the footer for navigation instead of scrolling back up. It's just closer.
Either way, your footer needs to actually do something.
What to include in your website footer (and why)
Brand name and a short bio
Like two sentences about what you do. Good for website footer SEO (see: my friend showing up at #2 on Google), but also reminds people who you are and what you offer. Especially useful on blog posts or service pages where someone might land without seeing your homepage first.
Links to your main pages
All of them. Not just the ones in your top navigation. Include things like your blog, resources page, that "work with me" page you buried three clicks deep. Give people a full map of your site.
Ways to contact you
Email. Social media links. If you have a physical location, that too. Don't make people hunt for this.
Newsletter signup
Another chance for people to stay connected. Some people aren't ready to book a call, but they'll sign up for a newsletter.
Trust stuff
Accreditations, awards, client logos, testimonials—whatever builds credibility for your business. Not everyone needs this, but if you've got it, the footer's a good spot for it.
The boring legal stuff
Privacy policy, terms of service, accessibility statement. Required, but also just good practice.
Look, not every website footer needs all of this. But most footers need more than "© 2025 Your Business Name."
Common website footer mistakes
Just a copyright notice with nothing else
You're wasting space on every single page of your site.
No mention of who you are
If someone scrolls to your footer and there's no brand name or description of what you do, you've missed an opportunity. That short bio helps with footer SEO and reminds people why they're on your site.
Links that don't work
Broken pages, social media accounts you abandoned two years ago, that email address you don't check anymore. If you're including links, make sure they actually work.
Forgetting about mobile
Your footer needs to work on phones. Those tiny links that are impossible to tap? Not helpful.
Why you should care about this
Your footer shows up on every page of your site. Homepage, about page, services, blog posts—everywhere.
That's a lot of chances to help people find what they're looking for, or sign up for your newsletter, or actually contact you.
Most people treat footers like something you fill in because you have to, not because it does anything useful. But when you make it useful, it works for you.
My friend's website footer helped her show up on Google. Yours could do the same. Or help people find your contact page. Or discover a service they didn't know you offered. Or sign up for updates.
Go check yours right now
Seriously, scroll to the bottom of your homepage.
Does it have your brand name and what you do? Links to your important pages? Ways to contact you? Newsletter signup?
Or is it just copyright text and maybe two random links?
If it's the latter, fix it. Your footer doesn't need to be fancy. It just needs to be useful.
(And who knows, maybe you'll end up at #2 on Google too.)