About Us Pages Get Prominence, Demand Attention

“About Us” pages often receive high prominence in website navigation and architecture. They should, because About Us tells an important story about the site’s brand and mission.

Any credible website publishers who care about their brand and reputation want to put forth the best possible impression. A good About Us page is a small but important part of any website marketing strategy.

That’s why publishers often put the About Us link in the main navigation bar at the top or bottom of each page on the site. Sites without an About Us page may raise a few suspicions about its credibility.

Publishers logically assume at least two types of people will click on those links. One group is curiosity seekers who want to learn more about the publisher, which is important in establishing credibility with visitors. The other group wants to contact the publisher.

The group that wants to contact the publisher is especially important for several reasons:

1 – They may want to tell the publisher something about the site, such as an error, complaint or problem.

2 – If the site is selling services, they are potential clients with a question or who want more information. This company has landed many clients from these kinds of visitors.

3 – If the site is selling products, they also are potential clients who may want to buy the product but have a question or problem.

About Us Page Examples

About Us pages should have detailed information about the publisher. A person’s actual name and photo make it more human and engaging. A brief or even somewhat detailed biography about that person is another chance to establish some credibility.

The detail ideally has enough information to exceed the 300 word minimum that many SEO experts recommend in order to improves the chances of being indexed in search engines. The content of course should include keywords that are relevant to the site’s theme.

For example, this site has a broad focus about online publishing, so that phrase appears in both the About Us title and body copy.

Links can go to relevant pages such as a LinkedIn profile or other social media accounts. But any external links to social media accounts show have the “nofollow” tag to avoid passing “link juice” or page authority from the About Us page to external sites that don’t need to acquire that extra benefit.

An About Us page is not likely to dominate the total page views of an entire site. But it is likely to attract important visitors who will develop a strong perception about the site and its publisher from what they see on that page. So publishers may find some benefit in creating an impactful About Us page and revisiting it periodically, even if it’s only once a year. Brand, credibility and reputation are at stake.