What to Put in Your Website Footer

Almost everyone scrolls to the bottom of a page at some point, yet the footer is usually the last thing a business thinks about. That is a missed opportunity, because the footer appears on every single page of your site.

A clear, useful footer reassures visitors, answers quick questions and quietly helps your search rankings. Here is how to make yours earn its keep.

The essentials every footer needs

At a minimum, your footer should show your business name, address, phone number and email. For a local business this is genuinely valuable — it confirms you are real, nearby and contactable, which builds trust before anyone has spoken to you.

Add your opening hours if they matter to customers, plus links to your key legal pages: privacy policy, terms and any cookie information. These are expected, and on many sites they are required.

Helpful extras that pull their weight

A short navigation menu repeating your main pages helps people who have scrolled a long way down. Social media icons, a small map, accreditation logos and a brief line about what you do can all sit comfortably here too.

A newsletter sign-up box is a sensible addition if you send updates or offers. Keep it to one field and one button — the footer is not the place for a long form.

What to leave out

Resist the urge to cram everything into the footer. A wall of links overwhelms people and dilutes the items that actually matter. Pick the handful of things a visitor is most likely to want and stop there.

Avoid stuffing the footer with keywords or long blocks of location names. Search engines see through it, and it makes your site look spammy to real people.

Design and consistency

Keep the footer visually quiet — smaller text, muted colours and plenty of spacing. It should feel like a calm full stop to the page, not a second homepage.

Whatever you include, make sure it works on a phone. Stack the columns, keep tap targets large and check that phone numbers are clickable so a customer can call you in one tap.