What is a website footer? Design and SEO tips

A website footer is the bottom section of a webpage that usually remains con­sis­tent across all pages. It often contains important in­for­ma­tion such as the impressum (also known as an imprint), privacy policy, contact options, or links to social media. It is a constant in web design and makes sense to be on every website.

What is a footer and where is it located?

The footer of a website is the visual “keystone” of a webpage and is located at the bottom when you scroll down. At one time, website users were con­sid­ered reluctant to scroll. For this reason, the footer received little attention from web designers, pro­gram­mers, and content creators.

Many studies show that users often scroll through an entire website to find the in­for­ma­tion they need. However, when designing a website, there’s a common tendency to overload the header—the top section—out of fear that key content might be missed. This cluttered approach can have the opposite effect: without clear structure, users may become over­whelmed and leave the site quickly.

The clearer the structure of a website, the faster essential content can be grasped. The simple struc­tur­al diagram above il­lus­trates the position of the footer on a PC screen, laptop, or larger tablet. Thus, the website footer enhances the clarity of the website and thereby increases user-friend­li­ness in web design.

With the help of CSS Media Queries in the website code, the in­for­ma­tion can be displayed in a user-friendly manner on a mobile screen as well.

What is the purpose of a footer?

The footer signals to users that the end of the webpage has been reached, implying that there is no more content below. However, scrolling to the footer also means that the viewer is looking for ad­di­tion­al in­for­ma­tion. This is the op­por­tu­ni­ty for the website footer to offer special, valuable, or even enticing content. Moreover, the footer con­tributes to a website’s cred­i­bil­i­ty by con­sis­tent­ly providing essential in­for­ma­tion at the same location.

Concept and design of a footer

To ef­fec­tive­ly in­cor­po­rate a website footer, you should evaluate your content to determine which com­po­nents with recurring in­for­ma­tion need to be added re­peat­ed­ly. It is often useful to include separate menus in the footer, which can be elegantly done using widgets in various content man­age­ment systems. This also ensures that the footer maintains a con­sis­tent design.

The footer area should clearly stand out from the content. This can be achieved with a different back­ground color, a con­trast­ing main color to the website, or even just a line – sometimes a com­bi­na­tion of these works best. The golden rule applies: less is more. Divide this bottom section of a website into two to three logically cohesive sections that offer similar content, like cat­e­gories. There should be suf­fi­cient space – the so-called white space – between these sections to maintain clarity. Equally important is the balance between the unique­ness of the design and the clarity of the in­for­ma­tion presented, as the website footer is often the last visual im­pres­sion users take from a webpage.

What belongs in the footer?

There’s no strict rule for what a website footer must include—only best practices and rec­om­men­da­tions. Typically, the footer contains links to the website’s most relevant content, helping users navigate key in­for­ma­tion easily from any page.

Category list & blog link

A shop can list its most important cat­e­gories in a footer section, for example:

Our Col­lec­tions

• Running Shoes
• Walking Shoes
• Or­tho­pe­dic Shoes
• Shoe Insoles
• Shoe Care Products

For websites with a news character or blogs, a footer widget listing the latest posts is useful to emphasize the website’s time­li­ness.

Mandatory in­for­ma­tion

The website footer is an ideal place to display important legal and trust-building in­for­ma­tion that should be easily ac­ces­si­ble from every page. For US-based websites, this typically includes links to the Privacy Policy—which is legally required if personal data is collected—and the Terms and Con­di­tions, which, while not mandatory, help define usage rules and protect the business. Online stores should also include clear links to their Return and Refund Policy, along with accepted payment methods. To build user trust, it’s helpful to display security badges, customer reviews, and a note con­firm­ing SSL en­cryp­tion of data trans­mis­sion. While an Imprint is not required in the US, including a Contact or About link can further enhance trans­paren­cy and cred­i­bil­i­ty.

Contact options, newslet­ter, app

Another way to highlight the service aspect of a website is to provide contact in­for­ma­tion, including phone avail­abil­i­ty times if necessary. A link to fre­quent­ly asked questions (FAQ) can also be helpful when selling products or services that require ex­pla­na­tion. If your online store also has a physical location, including store hours and a map with di­rec­tions is ben­e­fi­cial. For example, it could be useful to integrate Google Maps.

Use caution when embedding online maps as location ref­er­ences—privacy reg­u­la­tions must be observed. If user data is trans­mit­ted to servers outside the EU, explicit user consent is required. A simple workaround may involve using a symbolic map, a photo of the location, and a clear note informing users about potential data trans­mis­sion. Important: Some map providers, such as Google Maps, ex­plic­it­ly prohibit the use of blurred or altered versions of their maps.

The situation is similar with social media platforms. Facebook, X, and others use servers outside the EU, which may not be as secure. The safest approach is to use the service’s icon with a linked URL. Embedding directly, including unau­tho­rized data trans­mis­sion to such a provider, can con­sti­tute a data pro­tec­tion violation. There are now many web tools available to help ensure com­pli­ance with social media reg­u­la­tions.

The website footer is often used to offer users the option to register for your own newslet­ter—an excellent way to strength­en customer ties through email marketing. If your service is available in an app, it is also advisable to link to the app stores in the footer. With the high per­cent­age of web use on mobile devices, the like­li­hood increases that in­ter­est­ed users will download and use your app.

How important is footer nav­i­ga­tion?

A smart use of menus in the footer makes website nav­i­ga­tion easier for visitors, as they don’t have to scroll back up to reach the top menu (except with a sticky menu). Dis­play­ing the complete sitemap can also be used for internal linking, depending on the industry and topic.

When using a content man­age­ment system, it’s often possible to create multiple menus that can be placed in different positions on the website. This allows website operators to quickly respond if certain areas are not being used as expected by visitors. Op­ti­miz­ing the nav­i­ga­tion structure is a crucial factor for improving a website’s usability.

Website footer and SEO

If important content is offered not only in the top menu but also in the website footer, the like­li­hood increases that visitors will recognize it as important and worth reading. This boosts interest and dwell time, which improves the website’s SEO status. However, search engines are sensitive to duplicate content, or content that appears multiple times on a website. Since the footer is displayed on every content page, extensive text passages are con­sid­ered duplicate content when crawled by search engines. This can be avoided by saving this content on a separate page and only linking to it in the website footer.

Best practices for a website footer

From a vast number of websites, we present some footers here that implement the described re­quire­ments in various ways.

Man­u­fac­tum

The German mail-order company Man­u­fac­tum operates a large online store as well as physical de­part­ment stores at 18 locations. Its website footer is equally com­pre­hen­sive—yet remains well-organized and user-friendly. It also promotes newslet­ter sign-ups by offering a coupon incentive. A narrow gray bar placed above the App Store and social media icons provides subtle prompts designed to encourage visitors to make a purchase.

Zalando

The footer of Zalando is also very extensive, yet remains clear thanks to its well-struc­tured layout. It stands out with a strong service ori­en­ta­tion, featuring links such as “Find the right size,” “30-day return policy,” multiple payment options, and a list of shipping partners. In addition, it includes links to all relevant legal texts, an “About us” section with in­for­ma­tion about partners and job openings, as well as ref­er­ences to Zalando’s mobile apps and various social media accounts.

Back­mar­ket

The online mar­ket­place Back­mar­ket sells re­fur­bished elec­tron­ics from cell phones to epilators. The footer offers some spe­cial­ties. This includes a link to the review portal Trust­pi­lot, whose reviews exude con­fi­dence and si­mul­ta­ne­ous­ly build trust. Similar ad­van­tages are achieved by men­tion­ing the 12-month warranty. In the “About us” footer section, the company’s mission is quickly and precisely outlined.

ARTES Valve & Service

The company for in­dus­tri­al valves from Velten near Berlin in Germany offers a very factual footer on its mul­ti­lin­gual website, focusing on the pos­si­bil­i­ty of quick contact for new customers and service tasks. The two company addresses can be accessed via Google Maps, but only after clicking the link in com­pli­ance with privacy reg­u­la­tions. The website footer is visually separated from the content with subtle contrast and a line.