You open your About page, and it is either blank or it says you are "committed to excellence." You know somebody will read it before they decide to call you. You also know that line tells them nothing. The hard part is not typing; it is knowing what belongs on an about us page when you do not want to brag, and you do not want to post your life story either. The good news is that visitors are not looking for poetry. They are checking a short list of facts, and usability researchers have written that list down. Once you know it, the page mostly writes itself from things you already know about your own business.
Key Takeaways
Nielsen Norman Group's About Us research (May 26, 2019) found visitors look for purpose, history, people, what you sell, location, contact details and signs the business is legitimate.
A named owner or team with a real, current photo answers the first question a stranger has: who is behind this business?
A short origin story earns its place only when it explains why your business fits the customer. Practical facts come first.
Every About page should close with an obvious next step, such as a link to your contact page, a phone number or a booking form.
Know What Visitors Check Before They Get in Touch
Start with what the research says, because it takes the guesswork out of the blank page. In its study of About Us information, Nielsen Norman Group observed more than 70 users and published 85 guidelines (May 26, 2019). Visitors went to About content looking for a company's purpose, its history, the people behind it, its products or services, its location, its contact information, and evidence that the business is real and legitimate.
They also wanted that information to be clear, authentic and open. And they did not take a company's word for everything: users compared what a company said about itself with third-party reviews. That matters for a small business, because your About page is being read next to your Google reviews, not on its own.
So, your page has one job. It answers the questions a careful stranger has before handing you their money or their home or their project. Each item on the NN/g list turns into a line you can write.
| What visitors check | A line that answers it |
|---|---|
| Purpose | One sentence naming what you do, for whom, and the problem you solve |
| People | The owner or team by name, with a real, current photo |
| History | When the business started and one fact about how it got here |
| Products or services | The main things you do, in the words your customers use |
| Location | Where you work, or the area you serve |
| Contact information | A clear way to reach you, at the end of the page |
| Signs of legitimacy | Current licenses, memberships or qualifications you can back up |
Trust went up in the research when a page identified real people, said plainly what the business does, gave specific evidence, and made contact easy. Doubt went up with vague claims, stock images, anonymous writing, exaggerated awards, and testimonials that looked hand-picked. You can use both halves of that as a checklist.
Fill In a Simple About Us Page Template in One Sitting
A structure beats inspiration when you are writing alone at the end of a long day. The template below follows the research order: what you do first, then who you are, then why you can be trusted, then how to reach you. Write one short paragraph for each part, using facts you already have. If a part does not apply to your business, skip it rather than padding it.
Open with what you do and who you help
Your first sentence should name your service, your customer and the problem you fix. For example: "We repair and replace residential garage doors for homeowners who need them working again the same week." That is a made-up example to show the shape, not a business to copy. A visitor who lands here from Google should know within one line whether they are in the right place.
Name the person behind the business
Give the owner's name, or the names of the people a customer will actually deal with. Add a real, current photo if a photo suits your business. You do not need a studio portrait. You do need the photo to be you, not a stock image of smiling strangers presented as your staff.
Say how long and where
State when you started and where you work. If you serve an area rather than running a shop, describe the area. A service-area business can explain its coverage without implying a staffed office in every town, and you never have to publish a home address to do it.
Show the proof you can back up
List current licenses, certifications, memberships or qualifications that matter to your customer. Leave out anything expired, anything you cannot verify, and anything that needs a paragraph of explanation to mean something. One relevant, checkable credential does more than five vague ones.
Add a short story, if it helps the customer
A story is welcome when it explains why your business is a good fit. A line in the shape of "I spent years fixing other companies' mistakes before starting my own" tells a customer something useful. A page-long autobiography does not. Keep it to a few sentences, and cut it entirely if it is only there because a template said you needed one.
Close with a clear next step
End with a link to your contact page, your phone number, or a booking form. Nielsen Norman Group also publishes guidelines for Contact Us pages, and the same idea applies here: once a visitor trusts you, the way to reach you should be obvious.
That is the whole template. Six short paragraphs, each built from a fact. It will not win a writing prize, and it does not need to.
Sound Credible Without Bragging or Oversharing
The fear of bragging usually comes from adjectives. "Best," "top-rated," "unmatched quality" and "committed to excellence" all sound like boasts because they are claims with nothing behind them. Replace each one with a fact. "Licensed by the state" is not bragging. It is information.
These are the lines worth cutting on a second read:
- Interchangeable phrases: Any sentence a competitor could paste onto their own site without changing a word.
- Unsupported superlatives: "The best" or "number one" with no evidence a stranger could check.
- Stock photos presented as staff: They read as a warning sign in the NN/g research, not a reassurance.
- Invented or stretched history: Only the years, jobs and milestones you can stand behind.
- Credentials without an explanation: Acronyms a customer will not recognize, with no word on what they mean.
- Too much autobiography: Personal detail that does not help the customer decide.
Testimonials deserve their own care. The Federal Trade Commission's Endorsement Guides, revised in 2023, say an endorsement must reflect the endorser's real opinions, findings, beliefs or experience, and the guides also cover misleading presentation. On an About page, that means using real customers' real words, with their permission, and not trimming a mixed review into a glowing one.
Oversharing has a simple test. Ask whether a detail helps a stranger decide to hire you. Your years in the trade, the area you cover and why you started the business usually pass. Your home address, your family's names and your personal history usually do not, and nothing in the research says you owe them to anyone.
Keep Google's Guidance on Who Is Behind a Site in Proportion
Google has written about this too, and it points in the same direction as the usability research. Its page on creating helpful, reliable, people-first content asks site owners to think about "Who, How, and Why." Under "Who," it asks: "Is it self-evident to your visitors who authored your content?" It also asks whether pages carry bylines where readers would expect them, and whether those bylines lead to more information about the author.
The same page describes E-E-A-T and says trust is the most important part of it. It also says, in so many words, that "E-E-A-T itself isn't a specific ranking factor." Keep both halves together. A clear About page helps visitors understand who is responsible for your site, which is what Google says it wants. It is not a switch that moves you up the results, so do not buy or build it as one.
In practice, that means you write the page for the person reading it. If it answers their questions, you have done what both the researchers and Google describe.
Borrow Ideas From Real About Us Page Examples
Examples help most when you study why they work rather than how they sound. Basecamp's "Where we came from" page is a useful one. It names Jason Fried, says how long he has been running the company, and explains the business problem that led to the product. The story is specific. It connects the company's history to the problem customers have, which is exactly the test for whether a story belongs on your page.
The company behind it, 37signals, takes a similar approach on its own site: the people are visible, and the page says what the company makes and how it works.
You do not need to copy their tone, length or informality. A plumber, a bookkeeper and a bakery will each sound different, and they should. The ideas worth borrowing are the structure and the specifics: a named person, a concrete reason the business exists, and a plain statement of what it does. If you want more about us page ideas, look for pages that answer those three things in the first screen, and notice how little the rest has to say.
Run a Fifteen-Minute Check on the Page You Have
You can test your current page tonight without any tools. Set a timer and work through these steps in order.
- Read it aloud: Hearing it makes the filler obvious, because filler is hard to say with a straight face.
- Mark the interchangeable sentences: Underline every line a competitor could also say, especially "committed to excellence" and its cousins.
- Replace each marked line with a fact: A year, a place, a credential, a type of job, a customer you serve.
- Check for a real person: Does the page name at least one person responsible for the business?
- Check the photo: Is it real and current, or is it stock?
- Check the opening: Would a stranger know from the first sentence what you do and who you serve?
- Check the ending: Is there an obvious way to contact you at the bottom?
- Check the facts: Are the years, credentials, locations and customer claims all accurate today?
This check cannot prove the page will bring more inquiries. It can show you where the page is anonymous, vague, unsupported or missing a way to get in touch, and those are the gaps visitors notice first.
Among the website copywriting tips that apply everywhere, this one carries over best: read your own words as a stranger would, and cut anything that stranger could not check.
Decide Whether a Factual Edit Is All You Need
Start with the free route. If your page is short on facts, the fix is usually to gather them and swap them in for the adjectives. You do not need a redesign for that, and you do not need to hire anyone. The template and the fifteen-minute check above are enough.
Outside help earns its place in a few situations. The facts may be hard to pull together, for instance when a business has several owners or a long history. Several people may need to agree on how the business describes itself. The business may serve different audiences that each need something different. Or the page may need to fit a wider rebuild, with consistent wording, real photos and a contact path that works on every phone. In those cases, the work is interviewing, organizing and checking claims, then building it into the site properly. It is never about inventing a personality.
If the page only needs a factual edit, a small copy or web design job is the right size. A full rebuild is only worth it when the rest of the site has the same problems.
Is your About page answering the right questions?
Pick an answer to begin.
1. According to Nielsen Norman Group's 2019 About Us research, what do visitors look for?
2. What does Google say about E-E-A-T on its helpful content page?
3. Your About page says "We are committed to excellence." What should you do with that line?
Frequently Asked Questions About about us page
What should an about us page include?
Your purpose, the people behind the business, what you sell, relevant experience, where you work, evidence you are legitimate, and a clear way to contact you. Those match what Nielsen Norman Group found visitors look for.
How long should an About page be?
There is no required length. Make it long enough to answer a careful visitor's questions, and stop there. Six short paragraphs covers the template above.
Do I need a founder story?
No. Include one only when it explains why your business is a good fit for the customer. Practical facts matter more than a dramatic origin.
Should I put my photo on my business website?
A real, current photo helps a visitor see there is a real person responsible for the business. It should be accurate, and it should never be a stock image presented as your staff.
Will an About page help my Google ranking?
Google asks whether it is "self-evident to your visitors who authored your content," so a clear About page supports what Google says it wants. Google also says E-E-A-T itself isn't a specific ranking factor, so treat the page as a trust tool, not a ranking trick.
Do I need to show an office address?
Only publish an address that accurately represents your business. A service-area business can describe the area it covers without listing a home address or claiming an office it does not have.
Wrapping Up
Visitors come to your About page with a short list of questions: who runs this business, what does it do, where, how long, can I trust it, and how do I reach them. Answer each with a fact, name a real person, use a real photo, and end with a clear way to get in touch. A founder story is welcome when it helps the customer and optional when it does not. Google's guidance points the same way, without promising a ranking for it.
A page built from facts keeps working after you close the laptop. It answers the same questions for every stranger who checks you out before they call, and it stays accurate as long as you update it when something changes.
If you would rather hand it off, Web Leveling can help. We interview you, pull the facts together, check every claim, and build the page into your site with a contact path that works on any phone, as part of our web design work. If your page only needs a factual edit, we will say so. We work with small and medium businesses across the country and overseas. Tell us about the About page you are stuck on, and we will reply with what it needs.
Terms
About page words in this post
Tap a term to see what it means.
About page. The page on a business website that explains who runs the business, what it does and why a visitor can trust it.
Nielsen Norman Group. A user experience research firm that studies how people use websites and publishes guidelines based on that research.
E-E-A-T. Google's shorthand, described on its helpful content page, for the qualities it wants content to show, with trust named as the most important.
Service-area business. A business that travels to customers instead of serving them at a public shop or office.
Endorsement. A testimonial or review used in marketing; the FTC's guides say it must reflect the endorser's real views or experience.
Byline. A line naming who wrote or is responsible for a piece of content.
