We seldom think about a website footer because it appears at the bottom of web pages. However, once you grasp how many chances it provides, you will be amazed at how much you can accomplish simply by developing the appropriate website footer.
This insignificant aspect of a website boosts user experience and conversions. It also has a great impact on SEO!
Yes, that’s correct. Optimizing your website’s footer may boost its SEO. You’ll learn how to accomplish that shortly.
What is a Footer?
A website footer is the bottom area of a webpage and is often regarded as a web design standard. This element provides consumers with essential information such as the phone number, physical address, and services of the company or brand to which the website belongs.
Website footers may also feature social media widgets, maps, or newsletter sign-up forms.
The type of website dictates the items included in a footer. This implies that while you may – and should—anticipate certain comparable components to exist in this portion of a website (e.g., contact information, privacy policy, terms of service), it is extremely unusual that you will see two identical footers.
The strange thing is that, although an essential part of a website, the footer is rarely given much attention. That’s unfortunate since, together with the header, the footer appears on practically every website page.
However, before we see how this lowest row of your website layout might help you rank higher in SERPs, let’s review some dos and don’ts of website footer design. Here are two website footer samples:
Example of a Good Footer:
As you can see, this is Delante’s footer.
Why is it an appropriate example of a website footer? Mainly because of it:
- Only vital information, such as contact information, a sitemap, and the services supplied, are included.
- It is not crowded with hyperlinks.
- The links are organized into distinct categories for easy navigation.
- Uses a lot of whitespace for clarity and neatness.
- Contributes to E-A-T: Expertise (latest on our blog), authority (awards + clutch), and trustworthiness (social media + complete information on all Delante physical locations).
Example of Bad Footer:
The footer you see here is an old footer from the US government website.
Why is this a poor example of a website footer? Mainly because of it:
- Is filled with hyperlinks.
- Overuses keywords (keyword stuffing).
- A clearer hierarchy would be helpful.
- It resembles a navigation bar rather than a footer.
- The plethora of links diverts attention away from the social media connections and the contact form.
What Should a Footer Contain?
The footer can contain more than a dozen components. Ideally, each one should improve your website’s SEO. Which website footer components do you have at your fingertips?
1. Sitemap
A sitemap has proved quite valuable for both visitors and Google. This area provides consumers with your website’s most important and clickable sections.
The nicest part is that the sitemap is accessible regardless of the page the visitor is currently on.
Google likes sitemaps because they help robots comprehend the relationships between each piece of information. This is especially beneficial for multi-page websites, where sitemaps can be an alternative to global navigation bars.
2. Contact Details
This one appears to be noticeable.
Everyone understands that an address, phone number, and email address should be included on a website, and the optimum place for this is in the footer.
What may need to be more apparent is that adding these features to the code boosts your website’s reputation.
3. CTA
It’s never a bad idea to inspire your visitors to take action.
So, why not utilize the footer for that?
This is where you may invite people to sign up for the newsletter, view your offer, or request a quote. Adding a CTA to the website footer improves conversion rates. If a person makes it to the bottom of your page, they likely liked what you gave them.
4. Latest Blogs & Articles
If your business strives to provide value-added information to visitors, adding the most recent blog/articles section to the footer can be a smart suggestion.
This allows you to highlight the stuff that your visitors would otherwise overlook. Regarding SEO, including the Latest Blog section in the footer promotes internal linking and boosts the rating of specific blog entries.
You may significantly alter this area to offer readers the highest-rated articles.
In this manner, you introduce kids to stuff that others find fascinating, entertaining, or informative. Alternatively, you may try displaying the articles that answer customers’ most often asked questions, lowering the number of requests your customer care department must handle daily.
5. Navigation
Why do you need navigation if you already have a sitemap in the footer?
To help people who didn’t locate what they were looking for. Some of those who got to the bottom of your page did so because their eyes missed the one thing they wanted to learn about. Instead of frustrating them and causing them to leave your website, change the main menu somewhat.
Extract the most significant categories and links from the top and include them in the footer. In this manner, you can guide people who require further assistance.
6. Copyrights
The word “Copyright” or simply © followed by a current year and the name of the person who owes the rights to the information published on the website—which is you—is practically all you need to say clearly that no one may use any element included on the website.
Having it in the footer may deter inexperienced users from utilizing parts of your material to their advantage.
The Takeaway
It is a common fallacy that a website footer is a place where you can insert links that do not fit anywhere else. The fact that it is positioned at the bottom of a page does not imply that it is the least significant aspect of web design.
The extremely low position should be viewed as a tool that allows your users a second chance to locate stuff they missed a few seconds before.
Optimizing your footer for the proper keywords and leveraging it to develop logical internal linking earns additional points for your website with Google. Even if other SEO criteria have a higher influence on rankings, it would be absurd to ignore the power of the website footer.
FAQs
1. What is a website footer, and what is its purpose?
A website footer at the bottom of a webpage often contains important links, contact information, copyright notices, and, in some cases, a brief site description. Its goal is to make finding vital resources easier, improve navigation, and reinforce branding, all while boosting user experience and SEO.
2. What content should be included in a website footer?
A website footer should include contact information, social network links, copyright notices, links to privacy policies and terms of service, navigation to key pages, a brief company description, and, in some cases, a newsletter registration form. These components assist consumers in finding crucial resources while also reinforcing your brand’s reputation.
3. How does a well-designed footer impact user experience and SEO?
A well-designed footer improves the user experience by offering rapid access to key information and navigation links, making it easier for visitors to discover what they need. It may help with SEO by improving site structure, increasing keyword relevancy, and ensuring correct search engine indexing, contributing to higher search ranks and exposure.
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